Vera Pauw has reacted to the allegations made against her in a report into misconduct in the National Women’s Soccer League, saying she has “become very, very angry” over the situation.
And the Ireland manager has said that her request to record a video interview with the investigators was denied, which led to the four-person panel ending the call.
In the report from the NWSL/NWSLPA joint investigation unit, they write that Pauw ‘appeared for but refused to cooperate in an interview with the Joint Investigative Team’.
READ MORE: FAI pledges support for Vera Pauw in wake of report into alleged misconduct
The report adds that she ‘provided a written denial of what she suspected were the allegations against her’.
Explaining the process, Pauw said that on September 28, she received a letter from the investigators and was asked if she would like to participate in the inquiry.
“I immediately reacted,” she said on Friday afternoon, speaking to the media at an FAI press conference at Abbotstown.
“Within five minutes they had a reaction, and I said, ’I want to have it very, very quickly because I want to know what’s going on and I want to know what I am accused of’.
“We had a video call the next morning. There were four people there. One did not put on the camera.
“I asked for a video call because I wanted them to look me in the eyes. I said, ‘Just out of politeness, I’ll let you know that I am recording this’, because there were four [people] sitting there and I was on my own, nobody with me.
“I did not know what I was accused of so I wanted to have a recording and proof of what I’d be saying.
“There was at first silence, and then they said, ‘Well nobody else asked for it, I don’t think we’d agree with that’.
“I said, ‘Well, I need to have – to protect myself – the words that I’m saying, that those are the words we are really using, that you are going to use’.
“They said ‘no you cannot record it’. I said ‘why not, can I have a reason why not?’. [They responded] ‘You cannot record it’.
“I said ‘I’m not going to switch it off without knowing if it’s in your guidelines, if it’s illegal’.
“In Europe you don’t even have to mention that you’re recording it as long as you are part of the talk yourself.
“I knew that because of all the hassle that I had in the last year.
“They said, ‘We’ll break off here, we’ll take a break and come back to you.
“After 15 minutes they came back and said ‘We’ve been discussing it and you cannot record’.
“I said, ‘Then I would like to know the guidelines, I want you to send them to me, because why is this?’.
“They said, ‘We fairly feel you don’t trust us and you don’t trust our objectivity’, and we ended the call. They didn’t even say goodbye.
“I was sitting there, ‘what’s happening here?’.
“I tried to phone, email, no reaction. Then I decided to do the interview myself with the experiences I’ve had in the NWSL in those eight months.
“I have written everything down of what I experienced. Things that were in my opinion out of order.”
Pauw, who submitted a 13-page response to the investigation unit, spoke of her own experiences as a player.
Last July she came out and alleged that she was sexually assaulted and raped during the 1980s.
“If you have experienced power abuse over the last 30 years and you’re accused yourself of something that’s completely the opposite of the way I’ve been treating players all my life, you first ask yourself where it’s coming from,” she said.
“How is this possible that it happens to me? And then you start to become very, very angry.”
Pauw spoke of her conversations with FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill since the report was published.
“What I am really proud of is the FAI did not jump to conclusions without talking to me and investigating a bit further whereas normal practice is if it’s out there and you’re accused, then you’re guilty,” said the Ireland manager.
“Nothing of that is true, it is the opposite of what has been said."
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