Permanently banned: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/sports/George-Morris-sexual-abuse.html
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https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/YXj0…e-sport-policy
From what is written on pg. 16, it doesn’t look like BN is stating the policy correctly. (big shocker)
However, I suspect USEF/SS is unlikely to enforce the policy verbatim- there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I imagine there is a lot of leeway or maybe verbal warnings at most, with action being reserved for the most egregious situations or considered when other allegations are made.
Especially since there are a number of permanently ineligible trainers who seem to still blatantly own and operate training facilities. (MS, TN, RC, etc.) I can’t imagine they avoid all business dealings with USEF members.
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None of this makes anyone happy. No one wants to consider that an icon of the sport acted inappropriately let alone worse. I trust that the investigations were thorough and that the appeal was as well.
So GM has a choice now. He can continue to offer public clinics in a big FU headache to everyone at USEF and the whole sport… or he can decide that at 81 it’s a good time to retire.
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Curious if Tryon eq center took his name off the stadium?
Great news!! Hopefully now all the angry “big name trainers”, who are not corrupt, will turn their anger from SafeSport to GM. He has caused enormous shame to our sport! STOP blaming the investigators and especially the victims! Blame George Morris.
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Yes, they quietly took it down the Monday after they released the statement saying they were leaving it up until after the appeal. August 12 I think, I am guessing a big sponsor called.
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They’ll find some other reason to blame someone else. I wish they would put the blame on George where it belongs though.
He needs to just take himself out of the public eye. Stop his involvement in any activity where there are young people at all. He’s been an embarrassment to the sport for decades, and it’s time he just went away.
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I’m glad this is settled, but I’m sure the ISWG group will still be whining about how mistreated GM is.
Deniers will still be denying, and will never stop, but that won’t change what GM has been investigated for, and banned for.
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Not going to happen. They’re going to rake SS over the coals even worse. How dare anyone say their idol/friend has feet of clay!?! Anything not to put the blame where it belongs.
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Well, now we get to sit back and see what happens. I hope they have the guts to follow through on the sanctions for USEF members who attend his clinics. After all, that’s the real teeth in the ban for GM. He wasn’t going to be doing much more showing at age 81.
I noticed a couple of things from the NYT article: Ms Nir says “at least two people came forward to report that they had been victimized as minors during Mr. Morris’s coaching career. The accusations, primarily about conduct in the 1960s and ’70s…” which kind of implies that no one more recent came forward. Although maybe they didn’t feel the need to in light of the testimony that was presented. And later on she says that there were “days of heated proceedings” which sounds like she had a source within the hearing for that comment.
Later on, she states that Johnathan Soresi has since been reinstated. (I checked - he’s no longer on the list) Huh? I thought he was banned because of a criminal conviction for possession of child porn. What bearing does GM’s case have on JS’s ban? JS pled guilty. Seems to me he’s just as guilty now as he was before, regardless of the reason why.
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It comes down to morals…some people just think taking a lesson from George is ok because this did not directly affect them. Even the USEF can’t stop that. His name will be taken down everywhere as it should be but some people just don’t care…
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USEF website still says “Subject to Appeal.” That will have to go.
He is still listed as giving a clinic locally after Thanksgiving. That will have to go.
I know someone who was abused by him, yes, many years ago. This is a good day.
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GM has not shown himself in many years. Possibly decades by this time. But he was coaching people at USEF shows the whole time, plus he attended the Rio Olympics as a coach for the Brazilian team.
The information about the suspension being lifted on JS must have been a later update to the article. I don’t believe it was in the original piece.
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So many people defending him on Facebook, it literally makes me want to vomit.
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Permanently banned. Justice.
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Oh the Facebook comments. I shouldn’t have clicked. I honestly don’t want to be a part of a club anymore that has so many people making such ugly comments. I don’t want to spend all this money to hang out with them. It’s really, really sad.
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The result of the appeal should be more than sufficient for people to stop “standing with George” and maligning the SafeSport system. Sadly it won’t. Based on the comments in the now-unavailable Facebook post by COTH, there are still plenty of people who don’t believe or don’t care that he is a confirmed sexual predator. In fact people are still claiming that SafeSport is a “one-sided witch-hunt” and no amount of actual information about the process will change their minds.
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The Facebook post is still there.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10162838514760314&id=82392280313
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He could also admit his wrongdoing and publicly apologize to all his victims. I’m guessing he won’t though.
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The coaching ban also prevents him from coaching any more international teams for any country.
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