In a still-growing league, the can-do attitude in Chicago seemed to provide a buffer for a lack of resources in other areas.īut the team’s success covered up a lot of problems within the Red Stars that increasingly couldn’t be explained away by the usual growing pains of a new league.Īs far back as 2017-well before the Washington Post broke the story about Dames in November 2021-Elby and three former employees who spoke to Defector said that Whisler disregarded concerns brought to him about Dames’s behavior. He was readily available to banter on Twitter and could be seen giving toasts in the parking lot of the team’s stadium at pregame tailgates, chatting with fans about player performances, and even hinting at future roster moves. It has been replaced with this screenshot.įans knew Whisler as a personable presence, both in person and on social media. The video, which had been embedded here, was removed from the team's YouTube channel after the story was published. This screenshot was taken from a video posted to the Chicago Red Stars YouTube channel. He's owned the Chicago Red Stars since the Women's Professional Soccer league folded in 2012, then shepherded the team into the upstart NWSL where they gained a reputation for steady performances. Whisler might not be a household name, but he's been a key figure in professional women's soccer in the U.S for well over a decade. And this issue, like others she experienced, all seemed to trace back to the way Whisler ran the club. This was far from the only thing that seemed unprofessional to Elby once she joined the Red Stars. "He would come try to fix things, or he would be bringing furniture over or doing things like that." The two hit it off, and Elby would stay with Gautrat and her husband for the rest of the season-in a building owned by Whisler. Elby had been in La Grange for more than a week when Gautrat offered her a spare bedroom in the short term. women’s national team midfielder Morgan Gautrat, who had recently returned to the NWSL after a stint with Olympique Lyon in France. She interpreted the tone loud and clear: Despite including her for value in the trade, Chicago was utterly unprepared for her to actually show up.Įlby found a place to stay through the generosity of U.S. She stayed in the hotel for days, while being told that Red Stars majority owner Arnim Whisler was exploring options for her housing. Green then drove Elby to the short-term housing Chicago had put together for her: a Holiday Inn in La Grange, Ill. She was lucky that her college teammate Summer Green played for the team at the time and could personally pick her up from the airport. She had to track down a phone number herself and reached out to the team to get a flight booked to the Midwest. What Elby got initially from her new club was silence she didn’t hear from the Red Stars for 24 hours. Elby knew about Dames’s reputation for having a temper, but still she packed up her things and waited for word on her next steps. Soccer in 20, saying Dames had emotionally abused and manipulated players. In the small world of women’s professional soccer, players were also generally aware of the struggles that their colleagues were having with Chicago head coach Rory Dames, including an official complaint that Press and others had brought to U.S. Chicago was going back on a previous trade in a way, in a triangle of deals moving Sofia Huerta and Taylor Comeau to Houston and Christen Press to Utah-all after the Red Stars had sent Press into exile in Sweden upon agreeing to a previous trade with the Dash that had caused the striker to leave the league entirely. When Brooke Elby found out in 2018 that she had been traded from the NWSL’s Utah Royals to the Chicago Red Stars mid-season, she wasn’t sure what to expect.
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