0:00

It's 2016, a year

0:03

after the Thorns let Paul Reilly go with no

0:05

public explanation. And

0:07

now he's back in Portland for the NWSL

0:09

semifinals. But this time,

0:12

he's squaring off against the Thorns. Tensions

0:15

are running high, and in the 40th minute,

0:18

he gets thrown out of the game for hassling a

0:20

ref.

0:21

So the former coach

0:25

of the Portland

0:25

Thorns, now with the Western

0:27

New York Flash, ejected

0:31

after... After seven goals, six yellow cards,

0:33

and 30 minutes of overtime, Reilly's

0:35

new team wins.

0:37

And that is it. The Western New York

0:39

Flash have come in here and

0:42

dethroned the regular season champion

0:44

Portland Thorns.

0:47

Paul leaves Portland victorious. Manashim

0:51

watched the entire match from the bench. And

0:54

Sinead Farley, one of the Thorns' biggest

0:56

stars from the year before, is

0:57

nowhere to be found.

1:03

Thorns leadership investigated Manas' complaint

1:05

that Paul had sexually harassed her. Behind

1:08

closed doors, they concluded that he had

1:11

engaged in inappropriate and unprofessional

1:12

behavior. And

1:15

the Thorns let him go. But

1:17

they never publicly stated what he'd actually

1:19

done. Instead, they thanked

1:22

him for his services to the club.

1:25

I felt totally let down and

1:29

lonely and sad and insignificant.

1:34

Within months, he was coaching again. Mana

1:37

felt like her complaint had been pushed aside.

1:40

And so had she. I didn't

1:42

trust them. I didn't feel good about

1:45

playing for them. So she left

1:47

Portland and went to play in Sweden. I

1:50

could never have a relationship with soccer

1:52

in the NWSL without

1:54

thinking of him and everything that happened.

1:58

It was an incredibly difficult time.

1:59

and she was going through it without Sinead.

2:03

Sinead and I severed our friendship when

2:05

I reported Paul. She thought

2:08

the best way to handle the situation was

2:10

to

2:11

ignore it and play

2:13

out the season.

2:15

After Mona reported Paul, Sinead left

2:17

Portland too,

2:19

but not on her own terms.

2:21

I got traded to Boston. I

2:23

was really shocked. I

2:25

obviously loved Portland so much, I wanted

2:28

to stay there and play my career

2:30

there.

2:31

But she would never play for Boston.

2:34

A car accident sidelined her for the season.

2:36

She spent a year on the disabled list before

2:39

she retired. For the

2:41

first time since she was a little

2:43

girl, Sinead didn't own

2:45

a soccer ball or cleats. She

2:48

got rid of all of it. She

2:50

thought she could leave it all behind her.

2:53

Paul, her teammates who had become

2:55

some of her best friends, the sport

2:57

she'd poured her whole life into.

3:02

Until one day in 2020.

3:06

She's at home watching YouTube when

3:08

she comes across a video that would change

3:10

everything. Los Angeles,

3:13

where the concrete meets the coast. It

3:16

was an ad for a new NWSL

3:18

team, Angel City, run by

3:21

a who's who of powerful women inside

3:23

and outside of soccer. People like

3:25

actresses Natalie Portman and Gabrielle Union,

3:28

and my fellow 99ers, Julie Foudy

3:30

and Mia Hamm. Unapologetic,

3:33

undeniable, unstoppable.

3:36

And I was just like, that

3:38

is what the league should be. What

3:40

Sinead saw was something hopeful, exciting,

3:43

empowered, and nothing like

3:45

her experience in the pros. Rewriting

3:48

the script, writing the wrongs. Building

3:51

a women's football club that lives up to the

3:53

name. Angel City. Welcome

3:56

to the beginning.

4:01

But could they right the wrongs when

4:03

people like Paul were still in the league?

4:06

The introduction of Angel City meant

4:08

the league was growing,

4:09

getting stronger, and

4:11

yet Paul was still there winning championships.

4:14

It made Sinead sick.

4:16

These amazing owners

4:19

and the vision they have for this team cannot

4:21

exist in the same space as Paul.

4:24

They cannot exist in the same space as these

4:26

people that have abused their

4:28

power and have harmed players.

4:32

You can't have it. After

4:35

almost a decade of keeping her secret,

4:37

Sinead was ready to speak

4:39

out.

4:41

I'm Brianne Asguri, and this is Counterattack.

4:45

Stay with us.

4:54

Hi, I'm Josh Levine, one of the hosts

4:56

of Hang Up and Listen, a weekly sports

4:58

discussion show from sleep. Every

5:01

Monday, I'm joined by Joel Anderson

5:03

and Stefan Fatsis for wide-angle

5:05

conversations about our favorite games

5:07

and the people who play them.

5:09

It's a podcast for sports nerds and

5:12

non-fans alike, with topics

5:14

ranging from the legacy of Serena Williams

5:17

to athletes in psychedelic drugs to

5:19

the rise of pickleball.

5:22

Subscribe to Hang Up and Listen wherever

5:24

you get your podcasts.

5:28

Do you remember when I told you about what

5:30

Paul did to me? Soon

5:32

after seeing that Angel City video, Sinead

5:35

called her mom, Janelle. Yeah,

5:38

I think I was on the phone. I was walking up to get my

5:40

car. I was at the garage. So

5:43

I had to stop because I think I was crying at the

5:45

time. Part

5:47

of me is relieved because I felt like it

5:49

had to have been a good release for you. Yeah.

5:58

And they're very sad. But

6:04

to me, to talk about it out loud would

6:09

get your healing started.

6:12

And I think that was very important. So

6:17

most of my feelings I think were just so

6:19

sad for what you had been through and

6:22

by yourself alone.

6:24

But at the same time, very grateful that you had finally

6:27

said something. I thought

6:29

I was going to die with it. So

6:32

I'm so grateful that

6:35

I don't have

6:37

to carry that anymore.

6:39

Sinead finally shared her story at a time

6:42

that was right for her.

6:44

But it also happened to be the right time for

6:47

women everywhere. The

6:49

fallout from the Weinstein scandal is

6:51

reverberating in countless other industries

6:53

as women feel empowered to tell their stories

6:55

for the first time.

6:58

The year after she retired from soccer, the

7:00

Me Too movement took off. The

7:02

way the hashtag exploded on Twitter,

7:05

I think, shows us that while

7:07

we all thought we were alone, we're not.

7:09

And Sinead finally began

7:11

to understand and develop the language for

7:13

what she'd experienced. I just

7:16

went down this rabbit hole of learning about

7:18

power imbalance. I was just learning all these new terms

7:21

and getting to see

7:23

my situation from different lenses and

7:25

perspectives. I went to therapy

7:28

and they were like, it sounds like you were groomed.

7:31

Paul had started by singling her out in front

7:33

of the team. He gave her praise

7:36

and special attention, but then he took it away.

7:39

He gradually made more and more suggestive

7:41

sexual comments and watched her reaction.

7:45

He asked about and listened to her personal

7:47

problems, creating an emotional connection.

7:50

And he demanded they keep their

7:52

secret between just the two of them. And

7:55

now Sinead was putting all these pieces

7:57

together.

8:00

I was fucking livid.

8:06

So was Bridget O'Brien, her best friend.

8:08

Anger, like

8:11

raging hatred for

8:15

the person that robbed you of that

8:18

time and what could have been

8:20

and the experiences and a

8:22

future and happiness.

8:27

For years, Bridget could see her friend was suffering,

8:30

but she didn't know why.

8:39

Bridget had actually met Paul Riley. She

8:42

visited Sinead when she played for Paul on

8:44

the New York Fury. We thought it was

8:46

cool, like we were like, oh my gosh, Sinead's

8:48

coach is like buying us

8:50

drinks and he just paid for our

8:53

whole bar tab and he's

8:55

here like just checking in on Sinead

8:58

and I was like, that's so cool

9:00

that he cares like that. That's how good Sinead

9:02

is. I'm so happy that Sinead

9:05

has Paul. He's so looking out for

9:07

her and she was safe with him, which

9:09

is like the worst part because like

9:12

she wasn't safe with him. It was the opposite.

9:15

I remember when I called you like you

9:18

being so affected by it. Like it just every

9:21

conversation made it more real. I hear

9:23

you, like the Paul

9:25

stuff was one thing,

9:27

like the concrete of the story,

9:30

but to know that you had

9:32

been living with

9:34

shame killed me.

9:38

It helped to tell her mom and Bridget the truth

9:41

and for them to tell her that they understood

9:43

that it wasn't her fault.

9:45

And the more Sinead talked, the more her

9:48

shame and guilt lifted.

9:50

So she kept talking. She called

9:52

up her old friend, Michelle Betos. She

9:54

was her former teammate on Paul's semi-pro

9:57

team and at the Thorns, but

9:59

Sinead wasn't sure how she'd react. Michelle

10:02

had played for Paul since she was in high school.

10:05

Would Michelle believe her or blame

10:07

her?

10:08

Here's Michelle.

10:09

I had this like view of him, of club

10:11

and like what he had done just for me personally, like

10:14

this really like closed in

10:16

vision of him and I

10:18

couldn't see it any other way.

10:20

Remember, Paul had been more than a coach

10:22

to Michelle.

10:23

He was her biggest cheerleader and the

10:26

one who set her on her soccer path.

10:28

And in spite of the harsh ways he talked to his

10:30

players, she'd always been loyal, always

10:33

defended him from critics. Like he

10:35

would lose his mind and locker him and say

10:37

crazy shit and I would be the one defending him. Like,

10:40

but he's a good guy, but he cares, but he

10:42

believes in us. Like, but he just

10:45

knows you can be better or fitter or things

10:47

like that. And I backed him,

10:49

you know, I backed him so much even

10:51

when I didn't agree with the things he did because

10:54

I just had this benefit of the doubt.

10:57

And like meanwhile he was doing that and

11:00

it happened so long ago. I

11:02

thought about all the conversations and interactions

11:05

we'd had since then.

11:06

And that

11:08

had happened. Everything

11:11

I thought about him was in manipulation.

11:15

Michelle says after the initial shock wore off, she

11:17

was devastated. I went

11:19

through like a mourning period of just who

11:22

I thought he was and what he was

11:24

to me and just realizing like I didn't

11:26

have that anymore. But

11:28

it also made Michelle question her own judgment.

11:31

How did I miss this? What did I do to

11:34

help him get away with this? Why

11:37

am I in this position where I'm

11:39

defending men like

11:40

this? Like I see myself

11:43

as like an intuitive person and a

11:45

good friend and I failed at both

11:47

those things.

11:54

their

12:00

coaches. And I just assumed,

12:02

hey, it's two consenting adults, who am I

12:04

to judge? But the thing

12:06

is, maybe we shouldn't be so

12:08

quick to assume it is two consenting adults.

12:13

Because when there is such a huge power imbalance,

12:16

and one person has the ability to control

12:18

the other's career and livelihood,

12:20

their dreams, consent

12:23

gets a lot more complicated.

12:27

Sinead had heard rumors about coaches and players

12:29

having relationships for years. And

12:31

what struck her was the way they were told.

12:34

It

12:34

was always about the player and

12:37

what she had done, never

12:39

what the coach had

12:40

done. And as much as

12:42

Sinead tried to hide her secret, she

12:44

always suspected there were whispers about

12:47

her too.

12:50

Here's Sinead talking with Michelle Betos.

12:54

We've never talked about this. This is hard

12:58

for me. But I

13:01

know people knew that

13:03

I slept with Paul. Did you

13:05

hear rumors about that? I

13:08

had actually heard so many rumors of Paul

13:10

sleeping with players. And

13:12

people had asked me if you had slept with Paul. And

13:15

I would always just be like, I've never heard that.

13:17

Because you had never told me that. But

13:20

if it was real, I thought it was something you wanted

13:23

to do and you shouldn't be judged for it. And

13:25

it was always kind of me like, I'm going to defend

13:27

Sinead.

13:31

I'm curious, like your language when you're saying like,

13:33

you felt like you had to defend me. I'm

13:37

feeling myself getting emotional.

13:41

It like was really hard and is

13:43

really hard for me still. Like

13:47

I was being so judged or

13:49

like misjudged and misunderstood.

13:52

And no one knew my story.

13:55

And no one knew

13:57

my truth or what happened or how. much

14:00

I was struggling. I,

14:05

on some level, knew. But almost

14:07

like within it, still gave him the benefit of the doubt.

14:10

Maybe it's what Sinead wanted.

14:14

And I just should have asked. Hey,

14:16

like, is something going on there? Hey,

14:18

are you okay? You know, like, you

14:21

and Paul seem different. Are you okay

14:23

in this situation?

14:25

I should have known better. But

14:28

I really regret it and I'm just sorry

14:30

that I didn't check in. And

14:33

I'm sorry that I... ...empowered

14:37

a man that could do that to you.

14:39

As strong

14:41

as I know you are, I... ...also

14:46

knew there was pain there. I just didn't know from

14:48

what. I should

14:50

have just never let that happen to you. You

14:53

deserved better from a friend. I

14:57

accept your apology. Also, like, you

15:00

genuinely don't have to apologize. Like,

15:02

there was no part you could control of that situation.

15:05

At the time, Sinead didn't feel

15:07

like she had much control of the situation either.

15:11

But

15:11

that was then. Now

15:13

she was reclaiming her power and

15:15

she would control what would happen next. I

15:18

just needed him

15:20

to know that I finally figured out I was

15:22

wrong.

15:24

That's when we come back.

15:37

As Sinead started talking about what had happened, she began to see

15:39

her whole

15:40

experience with Paul differently and she wanted

15:42

to set the record straight.

15:44

So she called Paul to tell him directly.

15:49

And I was like... What you did to me was wrong.

15:54

What happened with us was wrong. What

15:57

happened with us was wrong. you

16:00

did to Manna was not okay."

16:03

Sinead says he didn't say much,

16:06

and that was just fine with her.

16:07

I didn't want to talk about anything. I just needed

16:10

him to know that I finally

16:12

figured out it was wrong. You know, like I

16:15

didn't, up until that point, I didn't

16:17

know, like really. And so I just

16:21

felt like I for some reason

16:23

needed to tell him that, and he just

16:25

said I know.

16:27

And then he told her one last time,

16:29

we're taking this to our graves, Shay.

16:31

And

16:34

that was the end of our conversation.

16:38

But he was wrong. He

16:40

didn't know it at the time, but Sinead

16:42

was done keeping their secret. She

16:45

texted me and said, I have something I

16:47

really need to talk to you about. That's

16:49

Manna Shim again. And she prefaced

16:51

it with, our friendship might

16:54

not be able to survive this, and I just want

16:56

to let you know that I like love you

16:58

and care about you. And I'm so

17:00

sorry that I'm, that we have to talk

17:02

about this. Sinead

17:04

had wanted to tell Manna everything back

17:06

when

17:07

they played together in Portland, especially

17:09

after that kiss in Paul's apartment, and

17:12

as she watched Manna struggle with her decision

17:14

to report him.

17:14

But at the time, it

17:16

didn't feel safe. And

17:18

now, as Sinead told Manna everything

17:21

that had happened between her and Paul, Manna

17:23

wasn't mad at all. There's

17:25

just nothing to say other

17:27

than I can't imagine how you've

17:31

dealt with this on your own and

17:33

kept this in. I couldn't do that.

17:35

And I had so much gratitude for

17:37

her in that moment that she was

17:40

willing to sit with

17:42

me through what I went through, even though she

17:44

wasn't able to face her own reality

17:46

with Paul.

17:48

She felt more determined than

17:50

ever to make sure he didn't get away

17:52

with it. That was

17:55

the moment that brought us together

17:57

forever. We had each other now.

17:59

We weren't alone and let's

18:02

do something about it.

18:07

They were ready and equipped. They'd both

18:09

had time away from the league to process.

18:12

And Mana was actually now back in Hawaii going

18:14

to law school.

18:15

I just loved it. I loved everything

18:17

about law school. I could

18:19

actually be independently myself and very

18:22

confident and secure and have

18:25

professors respect me.

18:27

Mana worked at the public defender's office and

18:29

saw how sexual abuse cases were handled.

18:32

She gained a clear understanding of how

18:34

systems fail women

18:35

and how the soccer world was failing its players.

18:38

It's not just I played for

18:40

bad clubs or I played for bad

18:42

coaches. It's like everyone

18:45

perceives this as normal

18:48

in this world. And there are other ways

18:50

to do it and

18:52

healthier ways to do it. The

18:54

whole system is screwed up.

18:56

So Sinead and Mana decided that to get

18:59

results,

19:00

they were going to have to go all the way to the

19:02

top.

19:04

First, they went to the league. They

19:06

both emailed the new commissioner, Lisa Baird.

19:09

Dear Lisa Baird, I write as

19:11

a former soccer player in the National Women's

19:13

Soccer League. We always took

19:15

the position of how are we gonna

19:17

best support the league and the players? Right,

19:20

it was like, why not do it gracefully

19:23

and giving them opportunities

19:25

to make change that maybe they didn't realize

19:27

needed to be made? I am deeply

19:30

concerned for the safety of current players, given

19:32

that Riley continues to coach in

19:34

the NWSL. Baird

19:36

responded that the initial complaint was

19:38

investigated to a conclusion, case

19:40

closed. So if the league

19:43

wasn't going to take action, they would have to find

19:45

another way.

19:46

They'd have to go public. We exhausted

19:48

all of these other options and

19:51

you didn't make this easy for us and we're

19:53

sorry, but now we have to put you on blast.

19:57

They reached out to the journalists they trusted most.

19:59

Meg Linnehan of The Athletic. She's

20:02

a beat reporter who's been covering women's soccer

20:05

for more than a decade and even worked

20:07

for the league for a couple of years. She

20:09

knew all the teams, all the players, she knew the history.

20:12

She just has a reputation for knowing everything soccer.

20:15

She knew my stats probably better than I did.

20:17

If the league wouldn't tell their story, then

20:20

Meg could for everyone to see.

20:22

She cared about us and we felt

20:24

like she was going to be kind

20:27

and thoughtful in telling our story. And

20:29

that was most important because

20:31

we didn't know how any of this was going to land.

20:34

Their minds were made up, but they knew their plan was

20:36

risky. Hall

20:37

was still one of the most powerful coaches

20:40

in women's soccer,

20:41

still winning championships and coach

20:43

of the year awards.

20:44

They could face criticism, backlash,

20:47

doubt. It could even threaten

20:49

the future of the league. Sinead's

20:51

mom Janelle felt it too. So

20:54

I was nervous how people would react to you.

20:57

Like I said, do you change your number? Change that? I

20:59

got a new number. Because I was. I

21:01

was very nervous. I

21:04

mean, I've seen these men, they have this

21:06

power over people. Nobody wants to believe

21:08

it.

21:10

My biggest fear was how I would be perceived.

21:13

I thought I was going to be like, toward a pieces.

21:16

I'm going to get annihilated. But

21:18

at that point, there was no going back. Like

21:21

if I get fucking ripped apart, then let

21:24

it happen.

21:29

Mona

21:29

and Sinead shared their story with Meg, but

21:32

that was just the beginning of the process. Meg

21:35

then spent months investigating, interviewing

21:38

players from every team Paul had coached.

21:41

This story could end careers. She

21:44

had to be careful, make sure to get it

21:46

exactly right. So after they

21:48

told Meg everything, Mona and

21:50

Sinead just waited. We were

21:53

terrified. We were like, maybe people aren't going

21:55

to believe us. Maybe no

21:58

one's going to read it. They're all.

21:59

of these possibilities, but I

22:02

did not for a second think it was going to turn

22:04

into

22:06

what it did. That's

22:08

next time on Counterattack. Counterattack

22:22

is hosted by me, Brianne

22:25

Scurry. Jessica Pupleback

22:26

is our senior producer. Josie

22:29

Holtzman is our lead producer. Carly

22:31

Perruccio is associate producer.

22:33

Our editors are Rachel Ward and

22:36

Michael Garofalo. Liz Boyd

22:38

is our fact checker. Tommy Bazzarian

22:40

and Merritt Jacob engineered this

22:42

episode.

22:43

Production support from

22:44

Megan Coyle, Sarah McCrory and

22:47

Sylvie Douglas. Special thanks to

22:49

Victor Bueller, Chelsea Murata, Kevin

22:51

Sullivan, Joe Levin and Dana Hooper.

22:55

Our executive producers are Gotham Chopra,

22:57

Amit Sankaran and Adam Schlossman.

23:04

Counterattack

23:04

is a production of Religion

23:06

of Sports and PRX. If

23:09

you like what you hear, please follow us, subscribe

23:12

and leave us a review at ROS Presents

23:14

Counterattack.

23:23

From

23:28

PRX.