Ridgewood Soccer Coach’s Wife Sues Husband’s Anonymous Critics

It was the parents, not the youth soccer players, who needed red cards last week after the wife of the leader of a village-based soccer league filed a lawsuit alleging that anonymous critics have lodged damaging soccer-related complaints against her husband, NorthJersey.com reported.

According to the report, Siobhan Winograd filed a suit in Manhattan naming “Ridgewood Soccer Mom” and “John Doe” as the defendants. The anonymous residents allegedly sent complaints to the soccer league saying that Winograd’s husband, Michael, fixed the league’s tryouts, and “engaged in misconduct relating to sportsmanship during the season,” NorthJersey.com reported.

Winograd says her family has been harassed by the anonymous commentors since 2011, when her husband got involved with the league, the report said. For example, she claims the defendants sent an email to her husband’s employer discussing his “antagonistic” coaching style, it said.

According to the report, Winograd claims the complaints were lodged to hurt “her family’s reputation and standing with their small community.”

Winograd, the president of the Maroons Soccer Club, and village officials declined to comment on the suit, the report said.