Andy Palmquist describes himself as an “evangelist” for Portland soccer. He estimates he’s brought between 50 and 100 fans to their first match at Providence Park.
Monday evening, he took the streets not to preach the good word about the Timbers and Thorns, but to condemn the two teams’ front office.
Palmquist was one of two dozen or so protesters who gathered at the entrance of Providence Park to demand action in light of the findings of an investigation by U.S. Soccer into misconduct and abuses across the National Women’s Soccer League.
The investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, found that Portland Timbers and Thorns owner Merritt Paulson and executive Gavin Wilkinson enabled and vouched for former coach Paul Riley even though the coach had been fired for cause by the Thorns in 2015. Riley continued coaching professional women’s soccer until his alleged sexual misconduct was exposed publicly in 2021.
Monday’s report also said the Thorns interfered with the investigation.
A Thorns spokesperson told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday morning that the team would “provide comment upon reading the report later today,” but as of Monday night, the club had offered no statement.
“I’m sick of the fact that nobody has faced any accountability from the Timbers or the Thorns for a year and a half of scandals that are stacking up,” Palmquist said. “I just feel like after the quotes that came out today in that report, there’s no way that Gavin Wilkinson should have a job, there’s no way that Mike Golub should have a job, and I feel like Merritt Paulson owning the team is totally untenable at this point.”
Palmquist brought homemade signs that read “Sell the teams Merritt” and “GW an MG out,” referring to Wilkinson and president of business Golub. Other protesters displayed large, spray-painted banners emblazoned with messages like “boys will be held accountable,” “crush the patriarchy” and “Paulson out.”
To the tune of the team cheer “When I root, I root for the Timbers,” the group chanted, “Merritt Paulson protects abusers.” At one point, they walked around to the west side of the stadium and stood in front of the front offices, “so they can hear us, if anyone is in there.”
Several passing cars honked in support. One of the supporters, Huck Bales, said his goal wasn’t so much to make a statement to the front office as to raise awareness among the general public.
“That’s the pressure that needs to be applied,” Bales said. “We need to get to the point where everyday fans who aren’t involved in reading all the details understand what’s going on. And we pressure the advertisers, the sponsors. They’re part of the revenue stream for the front office. So if we want change, we need to have more people aware and more people speaking out.”
This wasn’t the first time many of those in attendance have publicly expressed outrage with the state of the Timbers and Thorns organizations. Almost exactly a year ago, on Oct. 2, 2021, a group gathered outside Providence Park to demand accountability after The Athletic first published reports of Riley’s alleged abuse during his time in Portland. Some have also spoken out about the Timbers failing to disclose the domestic violence allegations against former midfielder Andy Polo, their red “You Knew” T-shirts a reference to that scandal. A few have protested outside Providence Park, the home to both the Timbers and Thorns, prior to home games this season.
The target of most of the signs and chants Monday was Paulson. The U.S. Soccer report concluded that the owner had been made aware of non-sexual abuses by Riley as early as 2014 but never acted on the information. In 2016, after Riley was dismissed by the Thorns and subsequently hired by the Western New York Flash, Paulson emailed the Flash team president and congratulated him on hiring Riley, saying he had “a lot of affection for him.”
“After reading what I’ve read from the report today, there needs to be new ownership,” Bales said. “Merritt Paulson is the beginning and the end of this, and until he’s gone, we’re not going to see any change.”
Several of the protesters donned Timbers gear even as they railed against the team’s management. They seemed split about whether the series of scandals would cause them to stop attending matches.
Bales said he did not renew his Timbers season tickets in 2022 for the first time since the team joined the MLS due to the Athletic report from last year. Palmquist, on the other hand, has continued using his Timbers season tickets and attending the occasional Thorns game, but he has also not been shy about voicing his desire for reform in the club’s front office.
“Either I’m there voicing dissent — it’s more effective to do that, or to not show up than to give up my ticket and to have somebody else show up in that spot who doesn’t care,” he said. “Because there will be people who don’t care, no matter what.”
One of the prints looming above the protesters on the Providence Park wall depicted a female fan wearing a Timbers scarf and a hoodie that read “women ball too.” One of the most painful parts of the U.S. Soccer report, Palmquist said, was that it spotlighted mistreatment of women even in proudly progressive Portland and flew in the face of the club’s public efforts to appear inclusive.
Portlanders famously love their soccer. But Monday’s protest showed that, at least for a few fans, seeing accountability for the role the Timbers and Thorns front office played in Riley’s abuse will take priority.
“To me, what’s most troubling is that what’s been happening at the top level is not what the community is all about,” Palmquist said. “I just want to be able to be proud of my clubs again.”
-- Mitchell Forde for The Oregonian/OregonLive
MORE
• Bill Oram: Merritt Paulson must sell
• U.S. Soccer investigation: Golub made sexual remark to Cindy Parlow Cone
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