Joanne O’Riordan: Storm brewing for Vera Pauw in wake of abuse allegations

Ask a group of coaches if there are any differences in coaching men and women, and you’re bound to start a lively debate. More than likely, some non-PC terms and language would be thrown around. From being around plenty of managers —both at the top of their game and all the way down to those who organise local five-a-sides — there isn’t one good clear answer.

Former Cork women’s football manager Ephie Fitzgerald once opined that although women are more sensitive than men, they tend to be better to take on instruction for the good of the team. That being said, he also claimed that girls take criticism to heart and struggle to forget mistakes gone by.

This could also be looked at in what Prof Ian Robertson would call the bullshitting effect. In simpler terms, men tend to hype themselves up in various ways; for job interviews, they tend to oversell themselves and in sporting events they always believe they could win out, even when it is not looking so good for them.

These topics and conversations came to mind because of the recent Athletic story about the abuse allegations against Vera Pauw

The other side to this is that during men’s matches in tennis, 60 per cent of the winners of the first set tend to win the whole match. Women, on the other hand, despite usually selling themselves short, are usually more capable of bouncing back from setbacks.

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These topics and conversations came to mind because of the recent Athletic story about the abuse allegations against Vera Pauw. Four players and three staff members of the Houston Dash, all anonymous and no longer with the team, brought context to the claims made against Pauw in the NWSL report that focused on a culture of abuse and brought to light how male coaches were sexually harassing and abusing players.

Pauw is in the spotlight as she allegedly got physical twice, was apparently intense about players’ body shapes and weight and tried to micromanage everything.

Even how the allegations are perceived in different places is interesting. In America, friends were incredibly shocked to see the FAI and parts of the public endorsing Pauw, who even went on to win manager of the year during RTÉ's sports awards (disclaimer: I was on the panel and voted for Pauw).

I know of friends here in Ireland and elsewhere who simply claimed the players raising the complaints maybe couldn’t hack elite-level sports and should have left.

It’s worth remembering that at the time of the allegations, the NWSL hadn’t a collective bargaining agreement. Since the publication of the toxic culture report, the NWSL has overhauled its structures.

When Pauw was employed by the Houston Dash, the minimum wage for a player was $22,000, $10,000 below what is considered a living wage in the United States. The minimum wage now in NWSL is $35,000, a significant increase that allows for some financial stability. At the time of the allegations, it was normal for players to live in apartment complexes with coaches in the building. It was normal for one head coach to run the show as resources and funds weren’t there to bring in sports scientists, nutritionists and all the staff needed to run a proper professional team.

And then there is the vexatious topic of how men and women are perceived differently. Pep Guardiola called Kalvin Phillips overweight in a public forum, and fans were relatively not fussed. Most just shrugged — how can an overweight player perform at an elite level? Jose Mourinho regularly criticised Luke Shaw for his weight and rarely faced flak, similar to Guardiola.

Pauw, probably, is quite direct in her manner and I’d expect she runs a very professional set-up with Ireland

Pauw, probably, is quite direct in her manner and I’d expect she runs a very professional set-up with Ireland, given the backing this team has received from sponsors, the FAI and public. There is typically a communication barrier for some time when two different cultures meet, leading to teething problems.

But the truth is, we don’t know what happened behind closed doors; we don’t know what demands Pauw made or how they are perceived by every single player with whom she’s interacted throughout her long managerial career. In the Athletic report, several players say they thought it “was harder to convey why they had struggled under Pauw because there wasn’t one overwhelmingly serious and obvious problem to highlight”.

The original NWSL report outlined serious abuses and toxicity. Abuse comes in all shapes and sizes, and coercive control is as damaging as the more heinous acts, but Pauw being named in that report was worrying, both for her and her career —whether or not it’s found to be true — and also for the FAI who are strongly backing her.

Pauw may simply be guilty of being a woman and defying the social boundaries we put on women every single day. And maybe, we still don’t know how to coach women.