It will forever be known as the Yates report, a scathing and detailed account about the worst of soccer.

That report, which was released on Oct. 3, and private investigation by Sally Yates and King & Spalding found that abuse in the National Women’s Soccer League was systemic and that verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct occurred at multiple teams, was taken by several coaches and affected many players.

Teams, the NWSL, and U.S. Soccer not only repeatedly failed to respond appropriately when confronted with player reports and evidence of abuse, they also failed to institute basic measures to prevent and address it, the investigation said.

“As a result, abusive coaches moved from team to team, with positive references from teams that obscured the misconduct. Those at the NWSL and USSF in a position to correct the record stayed silent,” King & Spalding said in a press release. And no one at the teams, the NWSL, or USSF demanded better of coaches.”

The report was released exactly one year to the day that the U.S. Soccer retained Yates and King & Spalding to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of abuse in the National Women’s Soccer League. The investigation’s 172-page report details the investigation’s findings and makes recommendations for action going forward. It also released materials from two prior investigations concerning coaching misconduct — one conducted by the Portland Thorns, and one conducted by U.S. Soccer.

Veteran center back Becky Sauerbrunn, a member of two Women’s World Cup championship teams who has captained the side on many occasions, probably said it best. She wanted everyone – owners, front office personnel and coaches – be gone from the league now.

“We are horrified and heartbroken and frustrated and exhausted and really, really angry,” she said at the time. “We are angry that it took a third-party investigation. We are angry that it took an article in The Athletic and the Washington Post and numerous others, are angry that it took over 200 people sharing their trauma to get to this point right now.

“We are angry that it took [several players] to repeatedly ask people in authority to take their abuse and their concerns seriously. For so long, this has always fallen on the players to demand change. That is because the people in authority and decision-making positions have repeatedly failed to protect us and they have failed to hold themselves and each other accountable.”

The report zeroed in on alleged misconduct of several former NWSL coaches, the league’s leadership and U.S. Soccer. Those ex-coaches included Paul Riley (Portland Thorns), Rory Dames (Chicago Red Stars) and Christy Holly (Racing Louisville).

“Rory’s been an a–hole for the entire time that I’ve known him, from the first second that I heard him on the sideline, since the first season that I ever played,” USWNT forward Megan Rapinoe said. “Paul is the same. I don’t know Christy Holly personally but everything I heard about him was horrible.”

U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone, who called what she learned from the report “inexcusable,” said that she wanted to “make soccer safer for everyone.”

“The abuse described in the report is entirely inexcusable and has no place in soccer, on or off the field,” she said. “Along with everyone at U.S. Soccer, I am squarely focused on the changes we will make to address the report’s findings and make soccer safer for everyone. It will take all of U.S. Soccer’s membership working together to create the kind of change needed to ensure our athletes are safe.”

In wake of the investigation, U.S. Soccer created a new Participant Safety Taskforce.

Led by Chair Mana Shim, the Taskforce was created following the release of Sally Q. Yates’ independent investigation. The Taskforce was charged with coordinating and collaborating on conduct-related policies and procedures from the youth level all the way up to professional leagues and senior national teams. While the new Yates Implementation Committee of the U.S. Soccer board of directors, led by Danielle Slaton, focuses on quickly and effectively implementing the recommendations in the Yates report, the Taskforce will push beyond those recommendations to drive change across the entire soccer ecosystem.

On Oct. 21, the federation announced that it had published soccer records from SafeSports’s Centralized Disciplinary Database to identity individuals who are subject to discipline, suspended or banned from coaching due to verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct.

Former U.S. women’s international Danielle Slaton, who is the chair of the U.S. Soccer board of directors’ Yates implementation committee, said that the federation had released the information and moving forward “as quickly and effectively as possible.”

“The importance of this work cannot be overstated,” Slaton said in a statement. “Our highest priority as a federation is to ensure that everyone who participates in our game is safe. Even as a former athlete who has pursued Olympic and World Cup gold, I believe deeply that there is no more worthy pursuit than the one we are facing now as a federation. It is our duty to build upon the wave of change that began with the brave voices and actions of our players. I am personally dedicated to ensuring that this process results in meaningful reform in our sport, and I know the other members of the committee share that commitment.

The NWSL still had a long way to go.

Two days after the Yates report was released and a day after Portland Thorns and Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson said that he would remove himself from all team-related decisions amid an investigation his teams, the teams fired president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson and president of business Mike Golub were relieved of their duties with both clubs.

On Oct. 10, Orlando Pride head coach Amanda Cromwell and assistant Sam Greene were fired by the NWSL, effective immediately. Their sacking came about after a NWSL/NWSLPA Joint Investigative Team, looked into verbal abuse and improper favoritism by the coaches.

Both coaches were given the pink slip after a league investigation discovered they engaged “in retaliatory conduct towards players who they believed had initiated, participated in, and were supportive of the March investigation.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.