Why did Vera Pauw’s training methods suddenly only become a cause for concern in the summer of 2023? – Irish weather

When speaking to RTE’s Tony O’Donoghue a fortnight ago, Vera Pauw promised that “this will be the only interview I give” in relation to the end of her spell as Republic of Ireland.

The Dutchwoman is never one to go down without a fight, however, so it remains to be seen whether she will respond to the reasons given by the Football Association of Ireland for not renewing her contract.

In the absence of any explanation for the decision over the past two weeks, the void was filled by Pauw’s account, but FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill and director of football Marc Canham ultimately broke their silence in Abbotstown on Thursday.

Basically, Hill explained, Pauw was fired because of her “training methods, the style and nature of the workouts and her approach to fitness and conditioning.”

Canham, who led the post-World Cup review which involved 31 interviews with “players, team personnel and staff in general”, including two lengthy discussions with Pauw herself, confirmed that his long-held beliefs in sports science “are not what we want.” moving forward with our international teams.”

It all seemed a bit ridiculous, but Hill was unable to substantiate the players’ complaints because the findings of the review are confidential, with the interviews having been conducted “under the promise of confidentiality.”

( Vera Pauw claims FAI undermined her authority at World Cup )

It will then be up to those players, the vast majority of whom would have wanted to part ways with Pauw, to decide whether they want to pursue their issues with her when they gather in Dublin ahead of Saturday’s Nations League. match against Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.

However, everything they told Canham was enough for him and Hill to recommend to the FAI board that Pauw’s contract should not be renewed.

There are echoes here of the dissatisfaction felt by Pauw’s Houston Dash players with her coaching methods when she was in charge of the club during the 2017-18 season.

As The Athletic reported in July, these players complained that they couldn’t maintain their fitness because it banned them from weight training and additional running, limiting them to “the use of small dumbbells taken from a Jane Fonda workout video.” “They trained in secret because they feared reprisals,” the report said.

The difficulty for the Irish players was that Pauw was their international manager, his rigid fitness and conditioning instructions were often at odds with their regimes at club level – and their clubs were their employers.

It’s a question that arose in Pauw’s very first Irish camp, when she challenged Tyler Toland – who she ultimately banned from the international scene, despite all her promises – over her Manchester City fitness regime. For the then 18-year-old, it was a real dilemma: follow the advice of your Irish manager and risk the wrath of your club, ignore it and face international exile.

Then again, Pauw’s methods have remained unchanged since she took the Irish job in late 2019. Why have they suddenly become an issue in the summer of 2023? And didn’t the fact that she led the team to World Cup qualification suggest that these methods worked very well? No response on this yet.

( Karen Duggan: There was too much noise and too many distractions around Vera Pauw as Ireland manager )

While Hill was largely conciliatory in his remarks about Pauw, paying tribute to her for her contribution to Irish women’s football: “she will always be the coach who guided us to our first ever Women’s World Cup, she and players changed the face of women’s football in Ireland forever” – he disputed a number of claims she made in her RTÉ interview.

Pauw had suggested she had been promised a new contract before the World Cup and had subsequently turned down other job offers, but Hill insisted no offer had ever been made. done, although there were informal discussions about it.

Those discussions ended when Pauw “engaged,” as Hill put it, with The Athletic, resulting in the July article that led to the “recast of the NWSL allegations” that had were first made against her the previous December.

“I advised him not to do it,” he said. “I wouldn’t say to Vera ‘don’t do something’, you know Vera, but I advised her not to do it because I thought it would be a distraction – and it turns out some people would. they found. be a distraction.

Among those people was Ireland captain Katie McCabe who could not hide her fury during the press conference ahead of July’s friendly against France, being almost entirely focused on Pauw’s ongoing battle against these allegations that she vehemently disputes.

Hill, while supportive of Pauw’s efforts to fight the accusations, was exasperated by his conversation with The Athletic when he asked that attention not be diverted from the team’s preparations for the World Cup. It was at that point, he said, that he decided to “put aside” any talk about a contract renewal, three days after Pauw claimed to have received a text message promising a renewal.

Hill also rejected Pauw’s claim that FAI bosses had “interfered” in the team’s problems during the World Cup, insisting there was “absolutely no interference in the technical matters of the team, whether it’s team selection or anything like that.”

And he said he did not understand Pauw’s allegation that he had asked her whether she had been examined by the Garda.

“To be honest, I was a little confused about it, where it came from. Just to be absolutely clear, there was no problem with Vera’s status regarding Garda control. She was vetted by the Garda, as are all FAI staff and coaches.

He also rejected Pauw’s suggestion that the post-World Cup assessment was “predetermined”, and that the association had planned much earlier to do without his services.

“It was not predetermined and it was in no way intended as a critical examination of the manager herself. It was just a matter of reflecting on the World Cup campaign in its entirety and determining what’s best for this team going forward.

“The recommendation to the board was based on the findings of the review. We believe this process has been thorough, fair and balanced. This was based on a range of reasons, not just one in particular, all based on evidence. It was, he said, focused solely on football matters, not personality.

Aware, no doubt, of the criticism the players have suffered since breaking ties with Pauw, Hill paid tribute to them. “They are an absolute credit to this country, to the association and to their families. They gave their best while Vera Pauw led the team, always gave their all and were very respectful towards her.

“They made history by becoming the first Irish women’s team to qualify for a World Cup and inspired a nation in the process. Without these players and their enormous efforts, there would have been no World Cup. The same goes for the manager.

“It’s a really important point in the context of the history of the FAI in relation to the women’s team. We all remember what happened and what was expected to happen at Liberty Hall in 2017. At that time, these players did not feel they had a voice and therefore felt obligated to express what they felt at that moment. And everyone was extremely respectful of that and accepted how brave it was of them to do that.

“But it shouldn’t be a matter of courage for any player who wants to speak out on any subject, or even for managers. I think it’s really important that we listen to all of our staff, including the players. It is a reflection of modern organization and leadership that makes this happen.

It was a gentle reminder to those who, somewhat comically, accused the association of sexism for parting ways with Pauw. They listened to 23 other women, respected their opinions and acted accordingly. From Liberty Hall to player power. This has been a long time coming.