Former Matilda Renaye Iserief has backed up claims of a toxic culture within the women’s national team in a series of fresh complaints detailing how football authorities failed to curtail incidents of abuse, bullying, body shaming and intimidation.
Iserief joined Australian Olympian Lisa De Vanna in alleging football’s peak body failed to provide adequate protection against abuse and didn’t investigate a series of incidents that left some players with eating disorders and others self harming.
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It comes as Football Australia announced they were putting together an independent review of culture in collaboration with Sports Integrity Australia, however Iserief believes there are still “predators” in the system the game’s governing body knows about.
Iserief said she sent letters to Football Federation Australia (now FA) over a period of ten years, trying to bring light and change to a concerning culture facilitated by some high performance coaches within the sport.
“This toxic culture has been swept under the carpet for years – and I had to leave because I couldn’t do anything from inside the system to change it,” Iserief told News Corp. “Many of us had to get counselling, and some still do, because of what happened.
“It wasn’t just me, parents also sent complaints to the governing bodies … there just doesn’t seem to be any consequences … I have witnessed terrible abuse. I love the game – I played 30 games for the Matildas, and then coached, but ultimately I had to walk away.”
FA confirmed it has partnered with Sports Integrity Australia to manage complaints which will be run independently of the governing body.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Football Australia met with De Vanna before she announced her retirement last month to discuss several issues.
However, FA boss James Johnson said De Vanna did not raise any of the allegations raised in the News Corp article.
“I can say that we met with Lisa in recent weeks and while it is not appropriate to discuss the details of that meeting, it is the case she did not raise the specific allegations made publicly. Those allegations are concerning. They have no place in our sport at any level,” Johnson said.
Sources told The Herald that De Vanna raised complaints about her demotion from the Matildas contract list in addition to missing out on team selection for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
A Professional Footballers Australia spokesman claimed the union has made several attempts to reach De Vanna following her allegations but is yet to receive a response.
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