A new RTÉ investigative program will detail allegations from several female soccer players who said they were subject to unwanted or inappropriate sexual advances from FAI coaches during the 1990s.
“RTÉ Investigates: Girls in Green”, a major joint investigation by RTÉ and the Sunday Independent, is set to air on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player at 9:30 p.m. EST on Sunday.
Several former international players and former trainees on Ireland’s first state-funded all-women soccer course have come forward to allege that they were subject to inappropriate sexual advances from coaches.
Five of the women on that Leixlip-based course made allegations against their head coach Eamonn Collins, RTÉ said.
Several women believed they were the “only one” to be subjected to inappropriate advances from Collins and were shocked to learn that other players had experienced similar circumstances, RTÉ added.
Lynn Winters, who was 18 at the time, alleged that Collins put his hand between her legs and “squeezed her crotch” while the pair were attending a testimonial dinner.
Winters was appointed captain of the trainee team and said she felt “obliged” to go on dates with Collins, who was 31 at the time and had just returned to Ireland after playing professional soccer in England.
She said the dates included trips to the cinema, alleging that Collins had his “hands all over me”. Winters told the program that the behavior was “nasty”.
The trainee team was made up of players aged between 16 and 21.
Meanwhile, Adele, who declined to give her real name, detailed how Collins once asked her to stay behind and clean a changing room. Adele, who was also 18 at the time, alleged that Collins then walked towards her and started to kiss her before pinning her against a shower wall.
Then-21-year-old Bridget McDonald, who is gay, told the program that she had sexual intercourse with the coach following a night out drinking with him. She added that Collins warned her that she could be pregnant.
Collins received a stand-down order from the FAI in March while the association carries out an investigation. One complaint against Collins is subject to a Garda investigation.
FAI policy allows the association to issue a stand-down order to any person subject to a complaint or investigation from a statutory body. The order is part of the complaints process and is not an indication of wrongdoing.
Collins has said that he “emphatically and unreservedly denies any improper relationship or conduct by him while he was involved” in the trainee course in Leixlip.
Meanwhile, the program also investigates the experiences of international women’s soccer players while Mick Cooke was manager during the 1990s.
Several players alleged that Cooke created a homophobic atmosphere and that he called lesbian players “vampires”.
Former player Katie Liston said she felt “stigmatized” as a gay woman on the team and alleged that Cooke told her that he was “getting rid” of lesbian members of the squad.
Alice, who declined to give her real name, said she was instructed by Cooke to go to her room in the team hotel where Cooke asked her for a kiss. Cooke was aged 43 at the time, while Alice was 18 years old.
Jackie McCarthy-O’Brien alleged that she was never selected for Ireland again following an unwanted kiss from Cooke after he had asked her to meet him in his hotel room.
Cooke has also been issued with a stand-down order while the investigation is carried out.
He denies all allegations and said he has never kissed any player or made any homophobic remarks. He added that many players who played for him have expressed the view that it was “the time of their lives”.
An FAI spokesperson told RTÉ that the association has met with the women who have made allegations against the two former coaches, adding that the association is “shocked and appalled to learn of [the] disturbing allegations”.
