Ireland women’s team coach Vera Pauw reveals she was raped as a player in 1986

Ireland women’s football manager Vera Pauw says she was raped by a ‘prominent football official’ employed by Dutch football early in her playing career in 1986.

Pauw made the claims in a report that was published Saturday in the respected Dutch newspaper NRC and in a statement she posted on Twitter. The official was not identified in Pauw’s statement or the NRC story.

“Even those closest to me have not known of the rape I endured at the hands of a prominent football official when I was a young player,” Pauw wrote.

This has been the toughest thing in my life but, finally, I’m ready to move on and be proud of who I am

Vera pic.twitter.com/27v25nFViP

— Vera Pauw (@verapauw) July 1, 2022

“Later, two sexual assaults by two other men were added to this record. All three men were employed within Dutch football at the time of these incidents.”

NRC wrote that the alleged rape happened at Pauw’s home in 1986.

In an interview with the NRC, the coach said he was ‘stunned by the allegation’ and denied that rape happened.

“Nothing inappropriate has happened in that regard,” he told the newspaper.

Pauw also said that, as a player and as a coach with the Dutch national team, she was exposed to “systematic sexual abuse, abuse of power, bullying, intimidation, isolation, and framing.”

In a written reaction posted on its website, Dutch soccer association KNVB said it was ‘extremely shocked’ by Pauw’s experiences, which she discussed with the association last year, discussions that led to an independent investigation.

The KNVB said that the investigation “shows that the KNVB should have approached a number of issues differently. For example, Vera has unfortunately been confronted in the past with a number of errors (of judgment) and harmful comments from (former) KNVB employees.”