Either with me or against me

I feel bad, but I am unable to position myself forcefully in the open conflict within the Spanish women's team, between the coach Jorge Vilda and the players who have asked not to be called up.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
29 September 2022 Thursday 20:31
8 Reads
Either with me or against me

I feel bad, but I am unable to position myself forcefully in the open conflict within the Spanish women's team, between the coach Jorge Vilda and the players who have asked not to be called up. From the outside, it seems clear that Vilda's collection of successes in office is more than poor in relation to the potential of the group of footballers he leads. And, out here, there have also been complaints that the level of demand and quality that the players find when they go to the national team is insufficient compared to the degree of professionalization that they are consolidating in their clubs. From some unclear appearances and from the RFEF statements, it seems clear that there is a conflict out here. But it does not seem less obvious to me that information is missing. I would like to listen to the protagonists and know the specific reasons that have led them to ask not to be summoned. I sense that they have compelling reasons and probably sooner rather than later they will make them public.

Until that happens, a polarized state of opinion has been generated where either you are in favor of a portrayal of the players as capricious women who make plots to get rid of technicians who annoy them or you are in favor of a portrayal of the players as poor women subjected to years of injustice crying out to be rescued. Well, they won't find me on the first side, for sure. But it is that in the second, neither, because far from wanting to be a cause for the feminist struggle, it seems to me rather a paternalistic and condescending position –by the way, not exclusive to men– that misunderstands enlisting in the war against Vilda and the Federation almost without paying attention to reasons, only with the premise that they go for them because they are girls and weak. A radicalism that makes more noise than service to the cause.

The fight of the soccer players to end the Vilda era needs and deserves a media speaker to match. Explain where we come from and collect all the information. And if information is missing, say so. That is capable of generating permanent interest, beyond the stridency of the occasional conflict. The struggle of the soccer players does not need or deserve a misunderstood hooliganism that believes that by being more extreme in your position you are more feminist than the color purple. They are women and they are soccer players and they have been fighting –by the way, not for a couple of months but every day for years now– to be able to live their profession with dignity and justice. And when they want to talk openly about what happens in the selection and why they have made the decision they have made, they will deserve an audience that listens to them, that is capable of valuing their explanations and that generates adhesions, scrutinizing questions and even opposing opinions. . With maturity. Because I understand that the pat on the back and condescending smile phase is over.