Vera Pauw on US return: ‘If the crowd is going to boo or whatever, I will wave to them’

Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw continues to reject sanctions handed down by the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in America ahead of the Dutch woman’s return to Texas where she previously coached the Houston Dash.

The FAI have confirmed two World Cup warm-ups against the USA in Austin, Texas on April 8th and St Louis, Missouri on April 11th but Pauw’s future employment in America is dependent on the 60-year-old accepting wrong doing following accusations that she weight-shamed Dash players during the 2017/18 season.

Pauw strenuously denies any wrongdoing levelled at her in an independent report published by the NWSL in 2022, where it stipulates that she must accept “personal responsibility for inappropriate conduct” before “demonstrating a sincere commitment to correcting behaviour.”

“There were people asking me ‘do you dare to go back?’ and I am thinking ‘do I dare?’” said Pauw following Wednesday’s draw with China in Cádiz. “But it is not about me, it’s about the players, they need to prepare for the World Cup. They need to get the best preparation that they can get.

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“We get [the US matches] on a plate and I would say ‘no’ because of me? No, I need to go through it. There will probably be nastiness because there are probably people who want to prove themselves because they have been reading what is being said around it by the people who know me. But I will be ready for it.”

The sanctions imposed on Pauw were the least severe of a three-tier punishment, with four male coaches given life bans by the NWSL while two coaches received two-year suspensions.

[ Vera Pauw’s people skills may need improving but she doesn’t belong with the worst of humanity ]

When asked if her ongoing commentary on the allegations could distract from Ireland’s World Cup preparations, Pauw responded: “I will be prepared for it, I will get support for it, but it is about the players. It is not about me, so I need to sacrifice myself and whatever they put on me, fine. All that matters is they have the best preparation for the World Cup and that is why I am here.”

Pauw believes that the fact US Soccer approached the FAI to play two games in April “is a huge compliment and it is a huge compliment to US Soccer and to the head coach Vlatko [Andonovski, the US head coach]. Vlatko knows me, he knows who I am, he knows that this is not me, what has been written.”

“I will be strong, I will be ready for it. We come there to play football, and nothing else. I will be there with full energy, at full capacity for the players… if the crowd is going to boo or whatever, I will wave to them. We are there to prepare for the World Cup. It is not about me, it is about the players.”

In December, following a year long investigation by the NWSL, Pauw was named among other coaches accused of contributing to systematic abuse of female players within US Soccer.

“Players credibly reported that Pauw criticised players for their appearance — for example, saying that some players were ‘too big’ while praising other players for losing weight, with no apparent correlation to performance or health,” the report reads.

[ Ireland v China: Damp squib overtaken by FAI securing USA matches in April ]

“Pauw appeared to want to control and micromanage players’ diets and exercise regimens even when her weight loss directives were inconsistent with sports medicine best practices; for example, players reported that Pauw discouraged them from eating fruit because of its sugar content.”

The former Netherlands and Scotland manager called the accusations an “insult to my personal values” as she and seven other individuals are not allowed coach at professional US clubs without a commitment to participate in a training course that shows “commitment to correcting behaviour.”

“I should deliver that course,” stated Pauw earlier this month.

The FAI are publicly supporting their manager, with association chairman Roy Barrett describing the NWSL findings into Pauw as a “sham.”

“I think it was grossly unfair to have included Vera in that report,” said Barrett in December. “I think it is grossly unfair that she has been involved in sanctions. I think it is a sham process and I think Vera has been really harshly treated. I am 100 per cent behind Vera.”

On the possibility of legally contesting the punishment, Pauw said: “One of the [female] coaches [in America] that I spoke to said to me ‘we are cancelled, the men are recycled.’”