I don't understand why it's not their place to say? This isn't about team adminstrative policy, this is about team culture. If they can't answer questions about team culture then they should get less public job.
Alleged Sexual Harassment at NYCFC
- Thread starter Mkdaman1818
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Agreed. The question was about what changes have been made and what the club is instituting, since that was in the statement the club handed out to a few outlets. If changes were made, this would be something that the players should be seeing, so it is something that would have been communicated to them.
No questions were asked about the actual matter itself or anything.
Because they're not the decision-makers and they don't know all of what has or hasn't been done. Let's posit that he would have answered, "Yeah they gave us some training, but that's about it."
But for all you know, the team has actually done a lot more than that -- it's just that this particular player doesn't know about all of it because he's not part of the decisiono-making process and is only read in on what he needs to know. Now he has to face heat from the front office for giving an incomplete answer when it wasn't his place to talk about it in the first place. The people that need to answer for this are Reyna, Dome, David Lee, and Brad Sims. That's who needs to answer for this.
Parks didn't arrive until 2019. It sounds like the majority of issues happened before he got here. Would he even know about all the changes? Would he see everything, or only a couple of things? It's like asking a movie theater employee about the reasonings behind why certain movies are in certain theaters. They might give you part of an answer about how the more popular movies get in some theaters, but how would they know about all of the reasoning behind it? It's just not fair to ask players about this.
Keaton's job is to play. Just because the front office doesn't talk, that doesn't mean you have to get a quote from someone, so you ask the players. If the front office refuses to talk, continue to put pressure on them and continue to request them every single day. Don't take no for an answer. Go around PR if you have to. But don't put this on the players to answer. It's not their place, and it's not fair to them.
I still don't really see what is nefarious about asking him this. I totally disagree with your categorization that this was a fishing expedition just to get a quote from anyone.
I know that you have been an NYCFC fan long enough to know that it's hard to take what the decision-makers at this club say at face value. The club made a public statement where it say that the club has taken steps to make sure that this situation doesn't happen gain.
The purpose of this question is not to see if Keaton knows the entire organizational strategy about how the club is fighting sexual harassment in the workplace or to get a gotcha quote. The purpose of the question is to corroborate details in whether or not the club has actually taken steps it has to fight sexual harassment. Since it was a player that did the sexual harassment, a pretty big step would probably be to institute something to make sure you players are not sexually harassing interns.
The movie theater comparison is bad straw-man. If that movie theater was in the news because of a really bad sexually harassment cases, it would be totally fine for a reporter to ask employees if management has actually done the things that they say they did to fix the problem.
My only beef was the timing, right after bad loss, they all heated, this is last in their mind.
I think even Ronny was asked in the press conference before a game no? Could this not be asked in the press conference before Orlando game?
That's 100% on the club. They are very cutthroat with media availability. John never would have had to ask these questions in pre-game or post-game press conferences if the team actually responded to him to his emails or maybe people available for question outside of pre or post game press conference. He has been trying to get the team to comment on the allegations since they first happened and then again after the ESPN story came out. These are literally the only venues that most people that locally cover the team have to ask questions unless you a a sycophant like Glenn Crooks.
Yes it is, it’s been an issue for years. But as mentioned above keep trying or try go around PR because history shows they probably won’t let you ask upfront. I don’t know the business of reporting but there is seems to always be “sources” and other ways they get their info.
I just feel this brings heat to Keaton for something to be addressed by mostly others above him. At best you get a “yes there is new training and protocols implemented” But with the history of Nycfc do we believe him ? He could just as easily been told to give a a generic answer so it almost makes his answer moot from him.
FO And higher ups answer is different as they are the true responsible ones for this and the ones really on the hook to take action when needed.
My point is that he is not the person who should be corroborating those details. His job is to answer on-field questions, not organizational ones. When players in any sport are asked about organizational philosophy, or what they think a team needs to be a winner, they always defer to the general manager. Just because this is a more serious story doesn't mean they should answer any differently. It's just not for the player to answer - and especially 20 minutes after a postseason defeat. Even if Keaton would want to give an answer, he's just not in the frame of mind to give you anything substantial because of how upset he is in that moment over the season ending.
And as for your response about how tight they are with access -- I completely get that, and I completely understand how frustrating it is. Which is why I think asking during pregame media sessions is completely acceptable. Especially of the coach, though he will likely defer to his higher-ups, too, because again -- he's not the one setting whatever new policy they have, so it's just not his place to say. Even if he knew what they were doing, he still wouldn't give you anything because it's the people above him who need to answer for it.
In listening to that exchange that was posted, it also came really close to John badgering Keaton, which is part of what rubbed me the wrong way. I understand the frustration in not getting answers, but to take that frustration out on a player when it's the sporting director or CEO you're actually mad at is a bad look. Just because the CEO, sporting director, and coach won't answer those questions doesn't mean a player should be responsible for. And also -- if there is any player you should ask it to, it's the captain. Not a second-year young player. Even if the captain isn't the one who's made available, that still doesn't mean you should expect a young second-year player to have to answer for something he wasn't involved in.
Access comes at a price. Go look at what Glenn Crooks has tweeted about this today (nothing).
We are just going in circles so I am going to stop, but any player can corroborate details about what is going on inside the team. I don't understand the purity test.
Just rehashing of The Athletic's article...
nypost.com
Ex-NYCFC intern details alleged harassment by David Villa, training staff
Following the completion of an internal investigation that corroborated an ex-NYCFC employee’s sexual harassment allegations against former star player David Villa, Skyler Badillo detailed her dist…
nypost.com
im fucking appalled. I hate the fact that CFG offered a sum to shut her up. I hate the fact that NYCFC is trying to shut this down as quickly as possible. Guess why? QBFC. Also, i think this is why Reyna and Dome left so suddenly. I think this is just the beginning of the barrel of worms this FO has. im embarrassed to wear a NYCFC jersey now.
I get that these are important questions, but what's the point of trying to get our players in a 'gotcha' question after a crushing loss?
Just got to reading the Athletic article. Disgusting from Villa, but I have to say that those other former/current players that said they were with her are encouraging. Obviously they were nameless, but it seems like she even had support from within!
I think one of the most revealing things here is, specifically, the quote where she mentions that almost everyone was fed up with villa in how he treated staff/interns as well as lower-profile players. Everyone says he was a team leader, but clearly he wasn't. And it's probably a very good thing that the team let him go.
I think one of the most revealing things here is, specifically, the quote where she mentions that almost everyone was fed up with villa in how he treated staff/interns as well as lower-profile players. Everyone says he was a team leader, but clearly he wasn't. And it's probably a very good thing that the team let him go.
It's insane to me that you can have a club connected to the New York Yankees, CFG, and MLS and yet an intern being sexually harassed seemingly didn't have one outlet, hotline, or avenue for independently reporting despite being in all of those well established organizations.
Imagine how many people are slaving away at jobs where this happens, feeling absolutely stuck for a paycheck/college credit/etc. It's horrifying.
Why does NYCFC care about QBFC? They’re rivals, if anything.
I don’t buy the Dome/Reyna/CEO conspiracy theories either. The whole problem with this episode is that it wasn’t taken seriously enough by the higher-ups. It doesn’t sound like anyone more senior than her immediate supervisors were ever made aware of the situation, which is part of the reason it's now all gone to shit.
OK but here's the problem with that. A lot of people in the sporting department would have seen it. Trainers, AT's, players, hell, I'm sure any members of the organization who spent time in the training area would likely have seen something. No one reported it or escalated the situation. It's nice that Villa's teammates were texting her support, but why weren't they doing anything about it? Or was Villa just too big to punish?
Were you able read the Athletic article? If not, I'd recommend a read, as it talks about everything you mention here. It seems it's the latter. Villa was too big to punish. Besides, I imagine that if the players were dm'ing her support, they might have been scared to speak up as well. I can understand the thought process going through a player's head in that situation. For that reason I don't think those players are wrong in their actions. It would be praiseworthy if they did indeed speak up, but it's not wrong for them to do what they did.
I did read it. I guess my point is that we can say it was only the training staff and Villa, but was there a culture in the sporting department that allowed a low-level employee to report something like this? If not, then it's bigger than just the training staff and Villa, it's an organizational culture that needs changing.
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