Ireland manager Vera Pauw accuses The Athletic of ‘agenda’ against her on eve of World Cup

Vera Pauw remains steadfast in denying allegations that she was “physically aggressive” and “weight-shamed” Houston Dash players during the 2018 season.

Last December Pauw was banned from coaching professional soccer in the United States following an investigation into systematic abuse by the governing body, the NWSL. The FAI branded this sanction as “unfair” while Pauw is fighting these findings via legal channels. The Athletic revived the investigation by interviewing four former Dash players and three members of staff who all levelled accusations of abuse against the Dutch woman.

The Republic of Ireland manager denies approaching The Athletic, a sports website owned by the New York Times, last April to revive this story.

“I did not approach them,” said Pauw. “They approached me with a survey so I immediately sent it back and said ‘when are you going to take responsibility of the double standards for female coaches instead of only the players?’”

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[ FAI supports Vera Pauw’s denial of fresh allegations she was ‘physically aggressive’ ]

“I did not want to answer questions because it was the same allegations instead of going into double standards,” said Pauw. “I did not want to answer but they said it was going to write it anyway, whether you answer or not. I have a whole list of proof, of support from Houston Dash players saying what happened, but it was not used.

“So they had an agenda.”

Sarah Shephard, co-author of The Athletic piece, told Off The Ball on Tuesday night that the Houston/Pauw story “wasn’t something that was on our agenda or in our thinking at all. I got in touch with Vera in April, I sent her a survey we are doing into women’s football, her having been involved in the game for such a long time I thought it would be useful to get her thoughts.

“She filled out the survey and replied and that’s when she said to me ‘when do you start thinking about the double standards and protecting coaches from players as well as players from coaches?’.

“Obviously that sparked the conversation between the two of us and I asked if she would be interested in doing an interview about this, and she was keen.

“I did not want to do the interview without revisiting what happened in Houston, because I thought it was important to be fully up to speed on that. The ball got rolling from there. It was very unusual I suppose the way it happened, and sparked by Vera coming to us initially.”

Ireland captain Katie McCabe was openly annoyed about the Pauw allegations dominating the press conference before Ireland face France at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night (RTÉ Two, 8pm).

“It’s a real negative distraction for us but our full focus in on France and preparing for the World Cup,” said McCabe.

“The timing of the article is what it is. We have a game tomorrow so our sole focus has to be on that. This is a massive time for women’s football in Ireland and it is frustrating that we cannot be here talking about our massive send off game.”

The Arsenal winger was asked if she and the whole squad support Pauw.

“I can’t answer for each and every player. Of course Vera has a style of management that we’re used to now over the last two years. It’s something we’ve worked together, we’ve argued with each other of course.

“You’re never going to get on 100 per cent with your manager at times. She pushes me and I push her. In my opinion and from my personal relationship with Vera, of course, we’ve clashed many a times but we’re always professional enough to make sure we are fully focused for the team. We know both of our hearts are in the right place in terms of what works best for the Ireland women’s national team going forward.”

Pauw began the press conference by reading a message from Dutch athlete and journalist Barbara Barend before reducing The Athletic piece to “a few anonymous” former Dash players.

“How can you defend yourself against a lie?” asked the 60-year-old, who was manager of Scotland, the Netherlands and Russia before her single season as a club coach in Houston led to a four-month period working with the Thailand squad. But she parted ways three days before the 2019 World Cup and replaced Colin Bell as Ireland manager in September 2019.

“I’m afraid this will follow me during my life and that has been the agenda.”

Ireland departs for their Brisbane training camp on Friday with the opening Women’s World Cup match against Australia on July 20th in Sydney.