Ireland WNT manager Vera Pauw was accompanied by captain Katie McCabe at the matchday -1 press conference today, although the focus veered strongly away from tomorrow’s clash versus France and instead towards allegations that resurfaced against the Dutch woman earlier this week.
The article, which was published in The Athletic, alleged abusive behaviour by Pauw towards players during her time at the helm of Houston Dash in the NWSL, with particular comments on the weight and appearance of players.
Pauw however has repeatedly denied such allegations, and did so again at today’s media briefing. Below is a transcript of the questions asked at this afternoon's press conference, as well as the responses from both Vera Pauw and Katie McCabe.
Vera Pauw spoke publicly this afternoon about the latest allegations published in The Athletic, from her time at the Houston Dash.
She once again denied the allegations and said that she believes she has the full backing of the Irish team. pic.twitter.com/KpVC0Jvzv1
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) July 5, 2023
Journalist: What is your initial response?
Vera Pauw:
It’s the same story as in December, it is something of a few anonymous players and how can you defend yourself against a lie. I’ve decided to read out one comment I received from the Netherlands, it’s from Barbara Barend. She is the key person who worked on abuse in gymnastics and she sent me this yesterday. I have translated it and asked her if I could use it:
"I don’t put my hands in the fire for anyone. But for you and your pedagogically responsible interactions with players, I do that 100%. I know from so many players how important you are, or have been, inside and outside the pitch. You go beyond everything to choose the best for a person. Everyone can learn something from that. You can’t defend yourself against a lie."
Ands that’s all that I want to say. We are going to a World Cup and we have done phenomenally well with this team and we would never have been able to do that with this team unless we had a bond that was so strong and so positive. So that’s all I want to say about it.”
Journalist: But this story will follow you?
Vera Pauw: “I’m afraid it will follow me during my life and that has been the agenda.”
Journalist: Have you spoken to the players this week?
Vera Pauw:
Of course I have spoken to the leading players and they all said, they came individually to me and said they [have] my back. And that nobody…I have asked specifically if they have ever experienced anything. We are going to a World Cup. And they said no, never. We are going to a World Cup. It is so fantastic.
We lost a European Championship in Ukraine, and back then we were sitting in the dressing room and we said to each other we are going to the World Cup. You have all followed that bond, it has been so close and this team deserves that all that focus is on the World Cup. We have worked so hard to get there. They do everything to be ready.
This distraction, the timing of this is wrong. The allegations are false. That is all I want to say.
Journalist: You approach The Athletic?
Vera Pauw: “I have said it's time that the double standards are looked into. 226 coaches having received the same thing? That is what I said.”
Journalist: What do you mean by that?
Vera Pauw: "What I said in April, that 226 female coaches in the US have experienced the same thing and that is what I said when they came to me with some kind of investigation about player safety, which I fully support and I immediately cooperated in.
“I said, ‘When are you going to do something in support about the coaches and what are you going to do about the double standards?’ That's what I said. Nothing else.”
Journalist: Do you believe then that if it’s male coach there’s a different reaction?
Vera Pauw: “Well go through the allegations and just put Guardiola or Louis van Gaal or Mourihno in that, you’d actually laugh about it because it's all about coaching. It’s all about coaching, it's not about anything else. I don't want to go into the details because it is nonsense. It’s not true.
“As I said before, there is great safety in the truth. That truth is with me and the people around me, the people who know me, the people who saw me working know that it is not true. There's not one single person who knows me for a long time who has put any question mark behind it. So that is my safety and that’s what I’m carrying with me.
“I need to have my full energy for these players. Many players came to me to support and to ask what crap or nonsense it was because they know me so differently - as well as from all the other teams that I've been coaching. I want to leave it with that. I will never win from a lie, that is clear now, whatever you do, you don't win from a lie. I have to live with it and carry it with me for the rest of my life, I’m afraid.”
Journalist: Why did you approach The Athletic three months out from a World Cup?
Vera Pauw:
I did not. They approached me with a survey. I immediately sent it back and I said, ‘when are you going to take responsibility of the double standards for female coaches?’
“I had to answer, I did not want to answer. I said, ‘I’m not going to answer this’ because they were doing the same thing and getting the same allegations in instead of going to the double standards.
“I did not want to answer but then they said, ‘oh well we’re going to write it anyway’. I’ve got a whole list of proof of support of players of Houston dash of what happened that was not used, so there was also there an agenda.”
Journalist: It seemed like the story had calmed down up until now?
Vera Pauw: “I was flabbergasted that this was coming back to me. The only sentence that I said was, ‘when are you going to deal with the double standards of female coaches?’ That’s the only thing I asked."
Amidst the stronghold the allegations took on the press conference, Pauw also provided the update that all players are fit for tomorrow’s fixture, a fact that she is 'very proud' of, and that tomorrow’s line up will bare resemblance to what they will play against Australia given the squad have to start with 'what [they] think is at this moment the strongest line-up'.
McCabe addresses the Vera Pauw allegations
Captain McCabe also responded to questions surrounding the allegations put to Vera Pauw.
Journalist: Katie, your reaction?
Katie McCabe:
We’ve been so busy, even yesterday, when the Off The Ball stuff came out, we were coming from training back to dinner and then over to Farmeligh House to meet the government and the Taoiseach.
It’s a real negative distraction but for us, we’re solely focusing on what we have going forward, a game against one of the top five teams in the world in France. A massive send-off game in front of our fans that I wasn’t able to play two weeks ago so I’m looking forward to leading the girls out. With that, and we’ve got a massive four or five weeks ahead of us in Australia.
Of course, it’s a lot of external noise but our full focus is on the next few weeks and keeping together as a group.
Journalist: And as a group do you fully support Vera Pauw?
Katie McCabe: “Yeah, we’ve built something over the last two or three years. We’ve worked really hard together to contain the culture we have within the group in terms of on and off the pitch.
“We’ve had highs and lows on and off the pitch and our jobs as staff and players is to put in high quality performances for our country and that’s what we’ll be looking to do for the next four weeks.”
Journalist: How do you feel about the allegations and the timing?
Katie McCabe:
The timing of course isn’t great. We’ve obviously went through it back in December. Obviously it's something we've spoken about but ultimately we've got a game tomorrow so our sole focus has to be fine tuned in on that. The timing of the release of the article, it is what it is.
It's obviously frustrating because this is such a massive time in Ireland for women's football. It's frustrating to see that we can't be here talking about our massive send-off game tomorrow and the fact that we're heading to our first major tournament. I know we’ll touch on that but of course takes the sting out of it from the team’s point of view.”
Journalist: Speaking for the team, the entire 23, are they happy with Pauw’s answer to the allegations?
Katie McCabe: "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% 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. And again, of course the article timing is not great but our full focus will be France tomorrow and then going into Colombia next week and then obviously kicking off our first ever World Cup.”
5 July 2023; Katie McCabe during a Republic of Ireland women press conference at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Finally, she too spoke of the match tomorrow and the World Cup encouraging people to “get on the bandwagon.”
“I can drive the bus!” she joked.
There’s a squad there of 25 other players who are so excited to come here tomorrow, to play and to perform. The girls have been tremendous in how hard they’ve worked over the last couple of weeks, through the highs and lows of it obviously with the disappointment of some players.
It’s been a crazy four weeks, lots of hard work and we’re just hoping we can put on a show and showcase ourselves in front of our home fans which is always a really proud thing to do.
I’m so excited. I can’t wait, I want everyone to enjoy tomorrow, it’s going to be a fantastic occasion and I hope it really sets the precedent and the buzz that hopefully we can create for the nation when we go down to Australia.
SEE ALSO: Here's A List Of Every Irish Player That Has Switched Clubs This Summer
