“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression & cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Allegation: the current administrators of Softball Leinster do not take complaints against sexual harassment seriously. Proof: upon submission of a complaint of sexual harassment, the Softball Leinster committee failed to take action within the prescribed 14 days. It took 17 days after the initial complaint to see any action, and only because by this time I filed a further complaint with the national governing body (due to the passing of the 14 day deadline and inaction of the local league). Those directly involved would include: Peter Murnaghan (Chairperson), Alan O’Rafferty (Secretary), Niall Byrne (head of umpires), and any other “ordinary members” on the 2022 committee who were all certainly aware of this complaint and the complaints process.

Allegation: Alan O’Rafferty engaged in unethical behavior and abused his power as Secretary of Softball Leinster in 2022, and is unfit to hold any position of authority, in a league, club, or team. Proof: upon learning of my complaint submitted to the league, Alan O’Rafferty wrote to me in a WhatsApp message, that he asked the Softball Leinster committee to not act on that complaint because he wanted to handle the matter internally.

Allegation: Peter Murnaghan, as Softball Leinster Chairperson, was grossly negligent, failing to abide and enforce the rules and byelaws of the league, and is unfit to hold any position of authority. Proof: Peter Murnaghan, based on being asked by Softball Leinster Secretary Alan O’Rafferty, did not act on a complaint of sexual harassment.

Allegation: Softball Ireland, the national governing body, do not take seriously allegations of unethical behavior, abuse of power, and gross negligence, regardless of undisputed proof. Proof: upon submission of a complaint filed with the national governing body against members of Softball Leinster, Softball Ireland performed a fundamentally flawed investigation, either intentionally, or completely incompetently, misunderstanding and conflating unrelated complaints submitted by different people regarding different issues. They found no wrongdoing, even while acknowledging all, and not disputing any, of the evidence supporting my allegations in the complaint against the local league committee members of Softball Leinster. Softball Ireland would not provide any correspondence filed or evidence gathered from their investigation, or provide any reasonable rationale to support their findings; and to date they have not published any summary findings or conclusions.

I wish the members of the Softball Leinster committee had taken seriously my initial complaint against an umpire for sexual harassment. I wish they had performed an investigation (as is required by the league rules when a complaint is filed), which included interviewing everyone who was in attendance at the game, for what they heard and witnessed, and the impact it had.

I wish the league secretary, Alan O’Rafferty, would have supported such an investigation, and would have recused himself from that investigation, as he is a member of the softball club associated with one of the teams involved.

I wish Alan O’Rafferty had not abused his position to bury my complaint of sexual harassment by an umpire. I wish Alan O’Rafferty would not have used his position as league Secretary to ask the league to not investigate, and I wish he would have let the prescribed investigative process be followed, so a thorough understanding and wider discussion in the community could have taken place, to ensure this would never happen again.

I wish the members of the Castleknock Softball Club management group — Alan O’Rafferty, Paul McGrath, Mike O’Shea, Judy Cecil, Ally Howard, Jerry Kearns, and Jim Moriarty — would have supported a team captain’s obligation to file a complaint with the league when faced with an instance of sexual harassment during a game, and I wish they would have supported the investigative process required by the league rules. I wish they would have supported transparency and accountability. Instead, they chose alienation, isolation, and exclusion of those who wanted transparency and accountability.

I wish the league chairperson, Peter Murnaghan, would have followed and upheld the prescribed process for handling complaints, and I wish he would have asked Alan O’Rafferty to recuse himself from that process. I wish he would have shown leadership by taking the complaint, and the complaints process, seriously.

I wish any other member of the Softball Leinster committee would have taken this complaint seriously, and stepped forward to ensure the prescribed process of investigation of this complaint was followed.

I wish Niall Byrne, the head of umpires, would have taken this complaint seriously.

I wish Softball Leinster, but also the national governing body Softball Ireland, would have taken these allegations seriously, and had shown leadership and transparency.

I wish Steve Trundle, Secretary of Softball Ireland, who coordinated the flawed investigation into the unethical actions of Softball Leinster committee members, would have recused himself from the entire process, as he is also involved with one of the teams in my original complaint to the local league, and has a conflict of interest with Alan O’Rafferty regarding the securing of playing pitches for his own softball team.

I wish the umpire who said these sexually harassing comments toward women players, during a softball game, would have considered their position of authority, and their words, more carefully, and not said them at all, in the first instance.

I wish the umpire accused of making sexually harassing comments would have had the chance to acknowledge wrongdoing, apologize publicly, and help create an environment of understanding and openness that addresses this problem. It is cultural, and it is widespread.

I wish any softball player who says, “I just want to play softball” — (which translates to: “this doesn’t affect me, I do not care”) — realizes how this statement reveals an embarrassing level of privilege, an incredible lack of empathy, ignores facing up to the problem of misogyny and inequality in sport, and diminishes the very real impact these issues have.

Most of all: I wish the women who were impacted so negatively by the comments made that evening, and all the women who play softball in Ireland, would have seen the league and national governing body take public action against sexual harassment. I wish women softball players could feel safe and secure in the knowledge that these behaviors wouldn’t be tolerated, that fellow players, team captains, the league, and the national governing body would stand up when confronted with misogyny and unwanted sexually-charged behavior on the softball field.

Oh how I wish for things that didn’t happen.