Briana Scurry Discusses Her Podcast, Inequality in Women’s Sports and What It

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is in full swing, and the hype around women’s soccer has never been higher. Yet the staggering level of inequality women face compared to their male counterparts remains. National Soccer Hall of Famer Briana Scurry has a new podcast out that shines a light on those inequities through the lens of a scandal that rocked the sport in 2021.

Scurry hosts a six-part podcast, Counterattack, produced by Religion of Sports and PRX. The series discusses professional players Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim’s experiences dealing with sexual misconduct and mistreatment at the hands of coach Paul Riley. The women decided to go public and their stories were told in an incredibly thorough piece in The Athletic. The resulting scandal flipped the National Women’s Soccer League on its head and raised issues about the sport that needed to be addressed at every level.

Farrelly and Shim’s stories are at the heart of the podcast, which further explores the inequality women face in the world of soccer and sports in general.

Scurry is an authoritative voice on the subject. She made 175 appearances at goalkeeper for the U.S. National team during a 16-year soccer career. She won two gold medals in three Olympic appearances, went to four World Cups and was the keeper for the 1999 U.S. squad that won the cup on American soil and inspired a generation of players. She is also the author of one of the most famous penalty kick saves in the history of the sport.

Scurry sat down with The Big Lead to discuss Counterattack, Farrelly and Shim’s stories and inequality in sports. She also gave us her thoughts on the World Cup and the current U.S. Women’s National Team squad.

The Big Lead: What was it about this story that drove you to do the podcast?

Briana Scurry: When I first heard about what had happened to Sinead and Mana and I read about it in the Athletic. I normally don’t read articles all the way through, I just look for the headlines. But I read the whole thing and it just made me feel sick. It made me angry. I was gutted by it. Part of the reason I was gutted by it was because it was my sport that my teammates and I had worked so hard to build in this country.

At the heart of it, I was angry and sad because I felt Paul (Riley) took away these two young players’ dream. And to me that was the most vile thought that I had because neither of them played anymore. It was just so upsetting to me. When I got contacted by Religion of Sport to do this I was all-in. And I wanted to do something as positive as I could with the situation.

TBL: Did you feel telling their stories in this format could make a difference?

Scurry: If these two young women were willing to talk to me I would be willing to take the time and effort to get in there and maybe help them somehow. I just felt like it was a really nice chance for me to help, more than anything else. I could be part of a positive thing.

I’m a huge podcast listener anyway, so I understood what could be done with the medium. You can go a lot more in depth over the course of six to eight episodes. I’ve listened to tons of them, so I understood that.

TBL: A section of the podcast focuses on the inequality women in sports face. Did you feel that while you were playing?

Scurry: I remember at the end of 1995, early 1996, basically going on strike with eight of my teammates who were also starters (on the national team) at the time. I essentially put my Olympic dream on the line. I had wanted to be an Olympian since I was eight years old. I was so very close to being able to achieve that dream. But we had leverage at that point to right the wrongs of inequality.

The women’s national team has a dual mandate. That’s how I see it. One is to play brilliant football on the pitch and win everything. Literally the standard is to win everything. The second part of that mandate is to raise the bar on equity and trying to get as close as we can to getting what the men get. During my time with the team our foundational pieces were there to raise the issues and make it a public situation.

TBL: I’d imagine hearing their story brought back feelings for you.

Scurry: When this came up, the fact that these players were also feeling that the coach made them think it was their fault. And nobody was doing anything meaningful to help, and he was getting shuffled around. I was just disgusted.

A coach can train you. And when they come into your life, they’re supposed to take care of that time that they are with you, and they’re supposed to add to your skillset, to your character, to your personality, to your range of being a great footballer and a great person. And this was the opposite.

It made me so mad on so many levels I can’t even explain — I’m doing the best I can to explain, but it just made me so mad.

TBL: Sinead Farrelly has said she was inspired by the 1999 U.S. team’s World Cup run. What was it like working with someone you had inspired?

Scurry: With the exception of people who…