Part 2 of our reporting on current allegations involving FC Austin Elite and the UWS.

Earlier this week, UWS announced that it is pursuing an investigation into FC Austin Elite owner and GM Danny Woodfill’s actions. Woodfill has been one of the most visible and supportive owners and board members in the league and that relationship might lead to a conflict of interest should the league investigate Elite. After FC Austin Elite players published their initial statement, Bat Country FC (also known as “Batco FC”) coach and owner Tristan Long shared screenshots of interactions with UWS executive level staff. In these interactions, he reported unfair treatment of him, his team, and his players to UWS Executive Director Stephanie Cleaves, League Commissioner Joe Ferrara, and Director and Coach for KC Courage with the voluntary title of DEI leader, Wendy Loque. Their responses ranged from a straight denial of help, threat of fines, or firm dismissal.

In an email on July 2, 2022 to Protagonist Soccer, in response to our inquiry about complaints against the Austin club, Stephanie Cleaves stated that “we have not received any complaints by players or staff against the management of Austin Elite FC until yesterday.” However, Long’s emails prove that issues with Woodfill started being reported to UWS headquarters and various members of leadership as early as 2019.

To bolster his case, Coach Long has shared screenshots of emails, text messages, and other communication with these UWS staff members with Protagonist Soccer. According to Long, his negative interactions with Woodfill started with their first contact in 2019, as Bat Country FC pursued joining the league. Coach Long states that Commissioner Ferrarra set up a call with Woodfill, the conference commissioner in their region. According to Long, Woodfill began the conversation by stating “you don’t deserve to play here,” without any knowledge of Long’s background or his club.

Long’s pedigree as a player is certainly impressive. In fact, the UWS used it as hype material when the club joined the league. “Long played for Eintracht Frankfurt up to the U17 level and then for the Austin Lonestar Soccer Club. Tristan attended Tyler Junior College and Lubbock Christian University before returning to Germany to graduate from Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln. The Eintracht Frankfurt U23 side was the next stop in his playing career and he also competed in Denmark.”

According to Long, he immediately reported this interaction to the Commissioner. The response to Long, according to communications shared with Protagonist Soccer, was “don’t worry about Danny.” The flippant nature of the response was a red flag to Long, who worried about how Woodfill, the regional director, might treat him and his club. And more importantly, how the league might deal with reported issues. Woodfill eventually apologized for his comment and Batco FC joined the league, after a delay from COVID.

On the UWS website, the league promotes values of quality, respect for the women’s game, transparency, and states your voice is heard. But Batco FC’s Tristan Long felt as though his voice was ignored repeatedly on a number of issues. On Instagram, Long recently shared screenshots of correspondence with Wendy Loque, where he reported instances of inequity in the league. Loque initially agreed with him in her email on October 28th, 2021, “Thanks for all this information. It represents everything I hate about this sport…elitism, money-grabbing, bullying, etc. Do you have time for a phone call later in the next few days?”

Three months later, when Long felt his concerns were not acknowledged adequately, he emailed Loque again. Loque responded, “I can’t do anything to help.” However, when attention began to focus on the league and Austin Elite, she followed up just a few days ago with Long via a text message shared with Protagonist staff. “What exactly do you think my role is??? I’m not employed by the UWS,” she responded. “[Y]ou are still out of line for attacking me when I had no authority to do anything. I was merely collecting information.” Long was never informed of any rectifications for his complaints or if his complaints even made it to league officials.

Tristan Long expressed concerns to the league office early on.

Luxoria owner, Mauricio Quintanilla, sent an email, that the Protagonist staff has seen, to Stephanie Cleaves and Joe Ferrera on June 17, 2022 “Reason for a complaint is conflict of interest between Danny Woodfill of Austin Elite FC and Wilco FC.” Prior to that game Quintanilla received an email that he summed up as stating ‘Danny will be in charge of the game, ticket box and referees.’ Woodfill was on the bench and on the sidelines for the game. When Quintanilla asked him about it, Woodfill replied, ‘It’s a friend’s team and I’m filling in.’ Quintanilla called Cleaves three days after the game to discuss it with her. He was directed to fill out the complaint form. He never submitted it via the proper channels until Cleaves reached out to him in light of recent allegations. Quintanilla shared “he shouldn’t be involved in both teams, it’s not professional.”

Sources also tell Protagonist Soccer that Woodfill has varying levels of engagement in several teams besides FC Austin Elite - Williamson County FC (Wilco FC) and Central TX Hornets, both in the Southwest Conference. When contacted, Central TX Hornets pointed out that “Danny does not ‘own’ CTX Hornets. We are an independent club founded on inclusion, diversity, & opportunity. Danny has no input with our club beyond his role as conference commissioner.”

On February 25, 2021 FC Austin Elite announced on their website that “CTX Hornets are the first to join Affiliate partnership program.” The expectation was, that “this new Affiliate Partnership Program will allow the Elite to help our sister amateur teams grow and provide more opportunities to their players and in turn support our mission.” It’s a mutually beneficial partnership for both teams. Woodfill’s level of involvement in Hornets is unclear. The next month, Williamson County FC joined the same affiliate program. Bill Bittick, Director of Operations for Wilco FC is quoted in that release as stating, “Being able to use the resources that FC Austin Elite already have in place is going to help us focus on providing a great team atmosphere immediately.”

Elite defined the relationship of the Affiliate Partnership Program (APP) team as “the APP will allow the FC Austin Elite to share best practices, coaching expertise, marketing, and other business services with like minded, affiliated clubs. Additionally, FC Austin Elite will provide scouting and recruiting services to clubs to enable them to recruit better and provide the opportunity for their player to be seen for professional options.” This is additionally spelled out on the Elite Player Document Collection site that is used for 6 different teams to register.

There are clear positives from an affiliate relationship between clubs. An affiliate team strengthens both programs. Cost sharing on marketing, registration, and other business services is a smart move financially. However, the document collections site reads the teams will be in separate leagues (Elite as professional and the other two in UWS2 possibly), the reality is the clubs are in the same league playing against each other. Having some control over three teams in the same conference gives Woodfill a tremendous amount of influence in a conference he already directs and only contains six teams.

The counter to this complaint is that it may be a temporary situation. At this time, UWS2 has not built up the number of teams resulting in UWS2 teams playing against UWS teams. However, the league certainly could involve local colleges or teams in other women’s leagues to play UWS2 sides. Colleges have conference play and non-conference play, only conference play counts towards playoff rankings. So while there are workarounds available to reduce any concerns of impropriety, none were taken.

Beyond issues of conflict of interest, this situation might not even be allowed under USASA rules. USASA is the sanctioning body for amateur soccer in the United States. UWS is sanctioned as a National League by the USASA and according to the organization’s Policy Manual 9.12.3 “No individual may own, control or manage more than one team in a league division in such manner that may jeopardize or appear to jeopardize any game or competition.”

Long reported to UWS officials that Wilco FC players wore Elite uniforms in a game last season. In addition Quintanilla shared that Wilco FC goalkeepers wore Elite jerseys this season. Per Quintanilla, the league was very clear and directed Luxoria to purchase uniforms before the season began. He made sure he had the proper gear even though he was joining the league close to the start of the season.

Long also informed UWS that CTX Hornets had delayed reporting a match result between the Hornets and Batco (who won) to the league. All reports to league officials were met with silence, apathy, or a general lack of solutions or mediation, the evidence of which has been posted on social media by Long.

The 2021 Southwest Conference standings, reflecting Wilco’s decision to not play in the playoffs.

Most concerning of all these issues is the 2021 first round of the UWS playoffs. Wilco FC qualified for the playoffs and FC Austin Elite just missed out. Surprisingly and without mention of motivation or reasoning (as far as we can find on any social media platform or the UWS website), Wilco FC made the decision to not play in their playoff match and forfeited their spot to Elite, who had failed to qualify for the playoffs. Forfeits carry a heavy fine in the UWS, per Stephanie Cleaves, and typically in semi-professional leagues, teams try and find replacement players so they can still play the game, especially a game with such high importance. Given the public relationship between the two clubs, the league seems to have turned a blind eye to a situation that should have been at least publicly discussed and/or investigated.

Long’s complaints also question Woodfill’s approach to scheduling, part of his role as conference commissioner. Long claimed that the 2021 season schedule is “imbalanced” as not all teams played each other, while some teams played each other twice. While Batco FC didn’t play the last place team at all, FC Austin Elite played that team twice. An anonymous conference source corroborated, “somehow the schedule always works out for Austin.” Quintanilla expressed to Cleaves early in the season that he didn’t agree with the scheduling, he played the two hardest teams as his first two games in the season. To his recollection, Cleaves’s response was ‘that he joined the league too late to have a say in Luxoria’s schedule.’

There was also an issue of travel. When Batco FC had to drive 10 hours one way to Tulsa for the opening weekend. When Long expressed concerns to UWS officials 4-6 weeks ahead of the season pointing out the logistical challenges this created, changes were never made. As the date approached, Long again expressed a need to change the date when he couldn’t locate transportation to drive a full roster to the match. Cleaves in a text message shown to Protagonist Soccer responded that “forfeiting is not an option. There is a hefty fine for that.” Cleaves then directed Long to Woodfill, but because of previous negative interactions, he did not feel comfortable voicing his concerns to him. Long was finally able to locate a van big enough to carry 12 people to Tulsa, just enough players to play a game.

In the public statement on July 1, UWS stated that “the UWS has mandated that all staff members across the league who regularly interact with players be certified by the US Center for SafeSport and continue to abide by these standards.” UWS uses SafeSport as most leagues in the US currently do. SafeSport is only as good as the people who enforce it. If said people have a close personal relationship with an owner, individuals may naturally feel as though their voices won’t be heard. SafeSport can’t be a shield for a league to deflect reports of bad behavior by coaches and GMs.

Given the amount of communication on issues and concerns that both players, coaches, and now other club owners have voiced, it may be time for an outside body to investigate the current situation. The relationship between the league and Woodfill has raised valid concerns that this investigation will not be unbiased. An independent investigation should be required in this instance for true answers. US Soccer or USASA should be brought in to conduct a thorough and independent investigation. If UWS is transparent and as “deeply concerned” as they say in their statement, it would be reasonable to expect transparency with an outside, independent investigator.

Woodfill’s behavior as described by the Elite players and conference coaches has no place in women’s soccer, especially for a club that states they are trying to be a professional program. While the negative evidence continues to pile up, from multiple and various sources, it is hard to see a path forward for Woodfill and FC Austin Elite. However, the real question is will the UWS front office opt for full transparency and accounting on Woodfill’s part and their own?

“Unlike larger leagues, who can’t keep a handle on issues that arise, we listen and address the issues of our member teams head on.” That quote is featured on the UWS website as something that sets it apart from other leagues. In light of all these recent allegations, the truth of that statement may now be in question. If one team or official plays by one set of rules, while the rest of the league is forced to deal with the consequences, issues are clearly not being faced “head on.” It’s time for the league to live up to its principles, regardless of the outcome.

- Danielle Gawronski

UWS was approached via email for comment on the content of this article and has so far not responded. Danny Woodfill has said he would comment after the league investigation is complete.