Central figure in soccer abuse scandal disappears from SafeSport list

This story was updated to add new information.

Former Chicago Red Stars coach Rory Dames, who was mentioned almost 400 times in Sally Yates’ damning report on abuse in women’s soccer, is no longer listed in the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s disciplinary database.

SafeSport declined to offer any explanations Wednesday, saying, “the Center does not comment on matters to protect the integrity of its investigations.” The office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who mentioned Dames in a letter last month to SafeSport CEO Ju’Riese Colon that raised questions about the Center’s effectiveness, said it had not received any information about a resolution in the case.

U.S. Soccer, which took the rare step of going public with its concerns that predators were going unchecked because of the way SafeSport handles cases, said it was ‘disappointed’ to learn of Dames’ disappearance from the disciplinary list. Dames’ coaching license remains suspended by U.S. Soccer, but he could coach without one, particularly at the youth level.

‘At U.S. Soccer, the safety of all participants in the sport, from grassroots to the professional levels, is our utmost priority,’ the federation said in a statement. ‘This inaction underscores the urgent need for reform. That is why we are continuing to work with Congress and our fellow national governing bodies to address these deficiencies and ensure the protection of all athletes.’

Paul Riley, another prominent NWSL coach mentioned often in the Yates report, was suspended Tuesday for proactive policy violation and emotional misconduct, according to the SafeSport database. The decision is subject to appeal and is not yet final.

The Dames case highlighted some of the oft mentioned shortcomings of SafeSport, which Congress created to serve as an independent body to handle abuse complaints in the Olympic movement. They include lengthy delays in investigations, a lack of transparency and, if SafeSport closes a case without discipline, the inability of national governing bodies to impose their own.

Dames was once one of the most prominent coaches in the NWSL, leading the Red Stars to the championship game in 2021 and top-five finishes in all but one other season. He resigned in late November 2021, almost two months after U.S. Soccer hired Yates to conduct a wide-reaching investigation into abuse in women’s soccer, and complaints about his treatment of players soon became public.

When Yates released her report in October 2022, the complaints against Dames took up 38 of the 172 pages. Multiple Red Stars players spoke of verbal abuse, emotional abuse and manipulation, as well as a sexualized environment at Dames’ youth clubs that included talking to teenage girls about oral sex.

“All current and former (Red Stars) players that we interviewed reported that Dames engaged in … excessive shouting, belittling, threatening, humiliating, scapegoating, rejecting, isolating or ignoring players,” Yates wrote in her report. “As (Red Stars) player Samantha Johnson put it, at the Chicago Red Stars, ‘abuse was part of the culture.’”

In response to Yates’ investigation, U.S. Soccer suspended Dames and stripped him of his coaching license in January 2022. It also, as law requires, reported him to SafeSport.

But SafeSport lifted Dames’ suspension and modified the restrictions on him so he could, in theory, still coach while he was being investigated. He remained under investigation for more than two years. It’s not clear when he was removed — Grassley’s office said Dames was still in the database when Grassley sent his letter to Colon on Aug. 1 — or why.

“Congress established SafeSport in 2017 with the mission of protecting athletes from abuse. Yet long after SafeSport’s formation, several habitual abusers remain in positions of trust, despite public scrutiny spotlighting their misconduct. Rory Dames is one of those alleged abusers,” Grassley wrote in his Aug. 1 letter to Colon.

The NWSL, which is not under SafeSport’s jurisdiction, along with its players union conducted their own investigation of abuse complaints. The league banned both Dames and Riley for life in January 2023 as a result.