REPUBLIC OF IRELAND international Louise Quinn has spoken about Vera Pauw’s impact after the Girls In Green manager opened up to the world this summer.
Pauw released a statement on 1 July alleging that she was raped as a young player in the Netherlands. Pauw alleged that she suffered two other sexual assaults during her time in Dutch football, and reported the allegations to Dutch police.
An overwhelmingly positive reaction followed the powerful statement, and stalwart defender Quinn added her voice to the support yesterday.
“It was one of those things that is very difficult to hear from someone you are so close to in a camp,” the Birmingham City captain began ahead of Thursday’s decisive World Cup qualifier against Finland at Tallaght Stadium.
“But for me, how she has handled herself as a person; so brave, so composed. Because it is now on her, she now has to go to the media, and it is so personal. It’s that weird thing, something that personal is happening in your life, none of you [reporters] are going to go to the media about it but this is something that she has to do, and sometimes players in the game have to do. And God it’s extremely tough. But, for me, she was composed, she was brave, she was strong, she is going to help a lot of people.
“We’ve obviously had our chat with Vera, it was all the same stuff, we’ve come together as a group, but we just all let her know, as the group or as individuals, what we think of her and what it’s done: ‘What you’ve done is one of the bravest things. It sets an example.’ And she was saying, ‘If there was anything like that,’ talk to her and just to have something like that, an openness.
“Yeah listen, she says she’s still the same Vera but she’s a better Vera, and to have that, for her personally is amazing. She’s still going to be the great manager she is, but on a personal level, for her to have that bit of freedom is fantastic.”
Quinn revealed the squad “had an idea” Pauw was going public around their World Cup qualifier against Georgia on 27 June, and the group were told before the statement was released.
“She was being that strong woman, prioritising us, again, over herself to try not get it out in the media in and around the game, because she knew she had a job to do, we had a job to do, no distractions. And fair play to her, she was able to really keep that away from us, and we found out before the statement. You have to let it roll and flow and do what it needs for her, but she knew the support that we had for her, it was simple and easy.
“She’s a strong woman. She was already strong before that, she’s a hard, strong woman and to have to make herself vulnerable… she’s great.”
Pauw thanked the Irish public for their overwhelming support while appearing as a pundit on RTÉ as part of their Uefa Women’s Euro 2022 coverage, and did so again at last Friday’s squad announcement.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve done in my life but also the best thing. I feel free,” she explained in her first media engagement since that TV appearance, opening up on feeling judged.
“I can’t understand it, no,” Quinn frowned.
“I don’t have a clue how she’s feeling but how she did it and handled it, it’s very powerful and strong.”
Quinn also shared her pride in the support Pauw received from the nation.
“It doesn’t surprise me but you love to see it. She’s doesn’t have her Irish passport but she feels that support coming from every angle and for her, from the way the FAI handled it, the way she spoke to us as a team, then the outer circle of the public, that is where you feel, where you’re hoping people will be okay.
“It’s obviously on a different level but when we did whatever we did in 2017 [the landmark press conference at Liberty Hall], it wasn’t what we were feeling between ourselves, it was what people on the outside think and feel. You worry.
“It hasn’t surprised me how people have reacted to it and have been so supportive, it shouldn’t have to happen, a person shouldn’t have to go through that in their life and hold onto it for so long. It’s heartbreaking as well.
“To now do it in this moment, it’s only going to make her a bigger and better person. She’s the bravest woman on our team right now and we back her all the way.”
