Today, female soccer players are agents of social change and male soccer players are the opposite.
I confess that I hear the name Alfonso Pérez Muñoz and I get chills, because it takes me back to one of the hardest Barças I have ever experienced: that of gaspartismwith squads in which Alfonso coincided with players like Dani, Reiziger, Litmanen, Petit, Overmarts, Zenden or Simaor, of whom we can say that they did not live their best years as professionals in the club and then draw a thick veil.
From Alfonso’s time at Barça, In the absence of goals, assists and spectacle like those he provided at Betis, I remember heated debates about his white boots. The youngest must understand us: They were the pre-Messi times, and our joys came from strange paths, such as signing former Madrid youth players discarded at the Bernabéu to other La Liga teams, like Alfonso himself and Dani García Lara.
Controversy
Alfonso Pérez Muñoz has returned to the news, this time for his loquacity. In an interview at The world He asked that Pep Guardiola and the players of the women’s soccer team show their love for Spain by kissing the flag and stated that women’s and men’s soccer are not “comparable.” because they don’t generate as much business as they do.
Because of his words, the Getafe City Council and the club agreed to remove Alfonso Pérez’s name from their stadium, and he responded with a classic: “I have nothing against women. “I have a mother and a daughter who plays soccer.” Speechless.
The fight between the women’s team and the structures of the Federation has contributed to shedding light on numerous dark corners of football. They, the players, are not doing too well. With the honorable exceptions of Bellerín and Borja Iglesias, the players have not found a way to enter the conversation on the right foot. The statement that Morata read on behalf of the national team players will not be passed on the history of political oratory and the few public interventions (Dani Carvajal) have not contributed much. We also didn’t know much more about the players about other matters, such as What did you think about holding a World Cup in Qatar? racism in the stands or the existence of violent groups. In fact, few can be proud of the relationship between the ultras and the players.
male structures
It is true that today, figures in hand, women’s soccer generates less business and income than men’s soccer, Alfonso is right. Now, this is not like this because of an intrinsic issue of the sport, because football is only good if it is played by men, but because structures that until the day before yesterday have been only masculine, They have exclusively promoted men’s football, they have targeted only a male audience and they have celebrated only the achievements of the men’s teams. Other sports disciplines and other fields of society not long ago were also only a thing for men and today they are no longer: to use Alfonso’s words, women generate in the world of politics, science, medicine, journalism, law, academia, etc. much more than years ago. There is still no equality, but we are on the way. If the gap in football is larger than in other sectors, it is because the real path towards equality began much later. Until the World Cup in New Zealand this summer, we could say.
Footballers, who respond to the profile of young boys with (multi)million-dollar incomes who have grown up in a closed, masculinized world, overflowing with testosterone, with its own laws and norms, isolated from society and increasingly commercialized, are faced with a unprecedented situation: They must decide if they are part of the problem or the solution. With their collaboration, the women’s world could take a dizzying leap and accelerate its professionalization and popularity. But the path is irreversible, with or without help. That is another major difference between women’s and men’s football, regardless of turnover: Today they are an engine of social progress and they are not.