Hope Solo has been suspended from the US Women’s National Team for 30 days. In a report from the Washington Post, Solo will miss games against France and England in preparation for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
While the exact reason wasn’t revealed, it likely stemmed from an incident involving her husband, former NFL Tight End, Jerramy Stevens getting arrested for DUI late Monday morning. Solo was a passenger in the car and wasn’t arrested but was acting belligerent toward the officers and almost got herself arrested according to TMZ.
This comes about a week after domestic violence charges were dropped against Solo which was the result of an altercation between her sister and nephew. US Soccer made the decision to not suspend Solo for this incident. The decision to not suspend Solo resulted in criticism and controversy as NFL players Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson were in the news due to their own violence controversies.
A lot of talk is going to surround why US Soccer decided to suspend Solo now and not back when she was arrested for domestic violence. The Washington Post article suggested that this was because Solo wasn’t on National Team duty back then and is now. That reasoning makes sense, I just don’t agree with the logic. Like all of us at any job, we represent our employers at all times. Regardless of the time of the year, Hope Solo is no different than any one of us who go to work day in and day out. Hope Solo is one of the most well known members of the US Women’s National Team and she represents herself as a member of the USWNT at all times. US Soccer should’ve either suspended Solo for both incidents or not suspend her for both incidents. By not suspending her for one and suspending her for the other shows clear inconsistency.
Either way, Hope Solo now has at least 30 days to think about what she did and the USWNT will learn to live without her for that amount of time.
UPDATE 12:44 PM 1/22: In an article with ESPNW, a rep of US Soccer told Julie Foudy that, “Solo’s suspension was the result of a culmination of things, including her run-in earlier this week with police.” So that is at least a better explanation in terms of suspending Solo. She has had a history of getting into trouble and this is US Soccer’s punishment.
Also, TMZ issued an update to their article stating that Jerramy Stevens was driving a US Soccer van as he and Solo were drunk and Stevens was arrested.
Solo issued a statement online on the matter.
My official statement on US Soccer's decision today. pic.twitter.com/WedGFPoADK
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) January 22, 2015
This story keeps getting crazier and crazier.
