Vancouver Whitecaps

Major League Soccer announced Thursday it's hired the Canadian law firm Rubin Thomlinson to handle an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Hubert Busby Jr. and Bob Birarda, former coaches of the now-defunct Vancouver Whitecaps women's soccer team.

The Associated Press provided a statement from MLS about the scope of the independent investigation:

The investigation will consider the club's internal processes and overall culture at the time of the allegations, including what steps it took in response to the allegations. The review will also consider the club's current policies and procedures and provide any recommendations on preventative measures to ensure that all players and staff within the Whitecaps organization work in a safe environment, free of all forms of harassment and fear of retaliation.

MLS announced plans for a probe into the matter in late October after former Whitecaps player Malloree Enoch detailed her experiences with Busby in 2010 and 2011 to Matthew Hall of The Guardian.

Enoch explained she reached out to Busby about a potential administrative role with the club when the coach suggested she could potentially join as a player. He set up two meetings under the guise of tryout opportunities, but in both cases no other members of the organization showed up.

Instead, he asked her to stay in the same hotel room as him on three occasions. The third came while he was scouting a tournament in Florida, which is when Enoch said the misconduct occurred.

"He was on all fours fully on the bed. He was definitely aroused. He tried to kiss and touch me. The light was not on but I don't think he had his shirt on. I had to negotiate to get him off the bed. I told him I wasn't interested," Enoch said.

Busby denied the allegations in a statement to The Guardian and said his departure from Vancouver after the 2011 season was because of football reasons: "I was offered a contract renewal and we obviously couldn't come to terms. When I went to discuss the contract renewal we decided to go in another direction."

Enoch said she reported the misconduct to Whitecaps soccer development director Dan Lenarduzzi, but the club took no action. A larger group of players later took overarching concerns about Busby and their treatment to the club.

The investigation has been expanded to include allegations against Birarda, who coached the club from 2006 through 2008.

In February 2019, former Whitecaps player Ciara McCormack detailed a wide range of abuse she said Birarda inflicted on her and several fellow players during his time in Vancouver and with the Canadian youth national team.

Birarda was charged in December 2020 with six counts of sexual exploitation, two counts of sexual assault and one count of child luring related to alleged offenses that ranged from January 1988 through March 2008.

"It's obviously been a very long journey for a lot of us," McCormack said. "There's still a part of me that's very upset about all the cover-ups that went on for years and allowed him to be on the field, and all the lives that were negatively impacted by him."

The Whitecaps women's team dissolved in 2012. The franchise continues to exist through its MLS men's team.

Vancouver chief executive officer Axel Schuster previously told the AP members of the front office who were part of the handling of previous abuse allegations and remain with the organization were placed on administrative review pending the outcome of an investigation.

MLS didn't provide a timetable for how long it will take to complete the probe and didn't say whether the results would be made public.

Major League Soccer announced Friday it's going to hire counsel to handle an independent investigation into the Vancouver Whitecaps' response to sexual misconduct allegations brought against former women's coach Hubert Busby Jr. by player Malloree Enoch in 2011.

MLS released a statement about the review, via the Associated Press:

The investigation will include a review of the club's internal processes and overall culture at the time as well as recommendations on preventative measures to ensure that all players and staff under the Whitecaps organization umbrella work in a safe environment, free of all forms of harassment and fear of retaliation. The league and club will publicly release the findings and recommendations of the investigation.

The Whitecaps women's squad competed in the USL W-League until the team dissolved in 2012.

Enoch detailed her allegations to Matthew Hall of The Guardian on Thursday, saying Busby asked her to stay in his hotel room on three occasions between 2010 and 2011.

The first request came after a meeting that was she was told would include other members of the Whitecaps staff, but no one else showed up. The second came when she was flown to Los Angeles to participate in a trial game to secure a squad place, but no other Whitecaps staff or players were present and no game was scheduled.

She said the third, which took place while Busby was in Orlando to scout a tournament that he requested she attend, is when the sexual misconduct occurred.

"He was on all fours fully on the bed. He was definitely aroused. He tried to kiss and touch me," Enoch told Hall. "The light was not on but I don't think he had his shirt on. I had to negotiate to get him off the bed. I told him I wasn't interested."

Enoch, who originally contacted Busby in 2010 seeking an administrative job, signed with the Whitecaps as a player in 2011.

She contacted Whitecaps executive Dan Lenarduzzi to detail some of her allegations against Busby at the end of the 2011 season. She explained why she waited until the end of the season to report the allegations of sexual misconduct:

I was embarrassed and didn't want to compromise being able to play. Of course the right thing to say is no. I know to say no but at the same time I know that with his power he can take away any opportunity I could have whether it was for a job or to play. It would be the end game if I pissed him off or didn't do something. What made me feel safe was that he had the backing of such a renowned club and I was protected.

After the season-end review, Vancouver decided not to extend Busby's contract but didn't provide a reason why, and Lendarduzzi wrote in an email to the players that it wasn't "appropriate to comment publicly on this matter" after the coach was let go.

Busby, who currently works as the head coach of the Jamaican women's national team, denied the allegations when contacted by The Guardian. He said his departure from Vancouver came after the sides couldn't reach a contract agreement amid different visions for the future.

"It was more about where they wanted the program to head to at that particular time and where I thought the program was at as well," Busby said.

The Jamaica Football Federation told the AP it has scheduled a meeting with Busby on Tuesday after learning of the allegations.

Members of the Whitecaps organization, which continues to field a men's team in MLS, who were involved in the handling of the Busby allegations and still remain with the team were placed on administrative review pending the outcome of the investigation.

Malloree Enoch said Hubert Busby Jr. attempted to solicit sex from her when she was a player and he was the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps women's team.

The Associated Press (h/t Sportsnet) reported Enoch said Busby acted inappropriately toward her in 2010 and 2011, made her room with him on road trips and pressured her to have sex with him. She also said Dan Lenarduzzi, who was the team's soccer development director, did not take immediate action when she told him about the behavior.

Busby's contract with Vancouver was not renewed after it expired in October 2011.

Notably, a number of players on the team raised concerns about him to management before the contract was not renewed. 

Busby is now the head coach of Jamaica's women's team, and the AP reported the country's football federation plans on meeting with him about the allegations on Nov. 2.

The AP also noted this is not the first time a Whitecaps women's coach has been accused of abuse, as Ciara McCormack previously used a 2019 blog post to allege former Canadian women's under-20 coach Bob Birarda was abusive.

The former Whitecaps coach was charged with six counts of sexual exploitation, two counts of sexual assault and one count of child luring. Canada Soccer said it will conduct a "transparent, independent review of the investigation of allegations."

Enoch revealed yet another example of alleged abuse in North American women's soccer.

Earlier this month, the National Women's Soccer League announced it was "launching several critical investigative and reform initiatives to protect players and staff and the environments in which athletes live, train and compete to give athletes the agency and ability to safely report misconduct of any form."

The Athletic's Meg Linehan reported Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly said they were abused by former North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley.

The NWSL Players Association released a list of demands that called for "systemic transformation" to "end the culture of silence."

NWSL players stopped matches earlier this month to show solidarity for those who said they were abused in the league.