REPUBLIC OF IRELAND women’s national team manager Eileen Gleeson has described historical abuse allegations uncovered in recent days as “deeply upsetting”.
Women involved in football in the 1990s have made allegations of unwanted sexual advances, sexual abuse and bullying by a number of male coaches, in a joint investigation undertaken by RTÉ and The Sunday Independent.
A Garda investigation is underway, while three coaches have been issued with “stand down orders”. They have denied the allegations to RTÉ and The Sunday Independent.
Interim FAI CEO David Courell said on Monday that the board of the sporting body is “deeply shocked” by the allegations and that the organisation was first made aware of them earlier this year. Courell, in his Monday comments, did not confirm the names of the individuals when asked at a press conference, but the individuals were named in the RTÉ Investigates: Girls In Green documentary.
Gleeson — and Ireland defender Aoife Mannion — addressed the allegations this afternoon, ahead of the team’s penultimate Euro 2025 group qualifier against England at Carrow Road, Norwich, tomorrow night.
“Obviously [it was] deeply upsetting to watch and to hear the girls,” said Gleeson, who knows some of the former players personally.
“The girls have our full support and solidarity. You have to really commend their bravery in coming forward. Fully support the investigation. Personally, it is deeply upsetting to watch and to listen to their experience that they described.
“Football and wider society, it needs to be a safe place for women. We’re in a football environment, it needs to be safe for everybody. To hear these girls’ alleged experiences, it’s deeply upsetting. It’s sad, but it’s time to be better.”
Gleeson said there has been “open discussion” in the Ireland camp this week. The players were briefed that the documentary was airing on Sunday night, and there was a squad meeting about the programme on Monday with Courell and FAI People & Culture Director Aoife Rafferty.
“It was really important to make the girls feel that support is there if you need it, that you can report whomever you need to discuss. It’s just acknowledging that.
“It was awful to watch and listen to, that can really trigger people with their own experiences so we need to be sure that everybody knows that you have support if you need it.”
Gleeson is confident in the FAI safeguarding and reporting structures currently in place.
“I don’t think safeguarding was a thing in society itself (in the 1990s) and society has changed, it was representative at the time but we have to move [on] from that.
“There’s a big emphasis from us within the FAI around safeguarding, transparency, reporting and responsibly and I think that has to go across all sporting environments. We have to be much better in society in all our environments. Football and sport has to be safe, it has to be safe.”
Manchester United defender Mannion echoed her manager’s words, having watched Sunday’s documentary in Ireland’s Castleknock base.
“It has obviously been a dark week, really difficult. The programme was a really difficult watch and really hard to hear what people have been through, that they should have never went through.
“For players thinking about their time representing their country, it should be really exciting, should be a really positive thing that we can reflect on happily and share memories with our families.
“David Courell emphasised that people should come forward and that this isn’t something that is going to be swept under the carpet, it is going to be an ongoing conversation on policies and procedures and safeguarding procedures are being put in place to make sure, 1. This is everyone’s responsibility and 2. This doesn’t happen again.”
“Even though we switch our focus to the game, this topic of safeguarding and historical abuse isn’t going to go away any time soon and it is going to be part of the conversation, and it should be,” she added.
“Right in this moment, of course we are going to be thinking of the game and our job to represent our country, but that shouldn’t take away from what is going on around us.”
England’s manager Sarina Wiegman also shared her thoughts. “It’s very, very sad that it happened,” the Euro 2022 winning boss said. “And if that’s the case and it comes from the investigation, then of course it is very unacceptable and in the future these things might not happen again.”
Gleeson, the former FAI Head of Women’s and Girls Football, was asked about the game also being overshadowed by the announcement of new men’s manager Heimir Hallgrímsson.
“For us, we’re trying to minimise distractions this week,” she said. “It’s been a dark week with the revelations and the players have had to deal with that as players, as women, me as a coach, as a woman. We’ve been trying to deal with that and support the players around that, but drag focus to the games.
“We’ve got media here so we have to maximise, if you want to ask anything about the game and get the messaging around that and not focus on clashes of announcements because there’s not anything that it changes for us.
“It really is batten down the hatches and take the white noise around away from the players. We have enough to deal with the games that we face so it is tunnel focus towards the games.”
Courell, meanwhile, addressed the matter as Hallgrímsson was unveiled at the Aviva Stadium. The Interim CEO said the FAI communicated news of the appointment to the former players that appeared in the documentary this week, and asked for their understanding.
“Please know our preference would have been to make this announcement at a different time but due to a range of factors we had to proceed today,” Courell read from a prepared statement.
“I wish to stress that we do not want to diminish or try to move on from what is a matter of the utmost seriousness. Despite today being an important day for Irish football, those courageous women remain at the forefront of our thoughts and we reiterate our support for them and commit to ensuring it remains the top priority for the association.”
- Additional reporting from David Sneyd in Dublin.
Written by Emma Duffy and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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