48 hours after the Oliva pact, the players have spoken for the first time. Alexia Putellas and Irene Paredes have been the spokespersons for the group and those in charge of breaking the silence. They have highlighted the importance of the agreements reached at the Oliva meeting last Tuesday at dawn: “I think the meeting is going to be a before and after. I trust that the agreements we reached will make our sport, and I believe that “All women’s sports and society are much better.”
After a long and tense meeting that ended at dawn, the internationals committed to remaining in the concentration and traveling to Göteborg to face Sweden tomorrow. In exchange, the Federation, forced by the CSD, promised in writing to carry out “imminently” the changes requested by the players. “The meeting was constructive. Agreements were reached that are important to move forward. We know that there are things that take time, but we took them at their word, they committed to it and the changes are already occurring,” said Irene Paredes.
The first exit was also the most symbolic. The RFEF made official late yesterday the dismissal of the general secretary, Andreu Camps, Luis Rubiales’ right-hand man and the true brain of ‘rubialism’. He was the first, but he won’t be the last.
Alexia insisted that the players have never asked for the resignation of any person: “We do not put or remove anyone, we have never asked for dismissal, it is not our responsibility. What we ask of the Federation is that there be zero tolerance for people who have hidden , applauded or incited abuse.” Jorge Vilda, who held the positions of coach and sports director: “We always go ahead. We are fighting for transparent football, we cannot not be transparent,” he stated.
The midfielder spoke of the exhaustion that has come with leading this battle: “We were demanding that they listen to us because we knew that for many decades there had been systematic discrimination against women. We had to fight a lot to be listened to, that entails an exhaustion that we do not want to have. “What worries us is playing, winning.” “We want to be soccer players, but we have had to get it into our heads that this was not possible. We have been sleeping four hours for a week,” she lamented. “The CSD has come in forcefully, and it is appreciated, but until then we had felt alone. They arrived late and we let them know that,” confessed the Basque headquarters.
Irene Paredes summarized the struggle of these players: “We want to play soccer in decent conditions and that until now has not been possible. That is why we are asking for changes, so that the time comes when the players can only they have to dedicate themselves to playing, not whether the system works or if it supports them.
Both Paredes and Alexia stressed that they went “very angry” to the rally to which they had been forced to go for fear of being sanctioned, but they stayed for two reasons. “We made the decision to stay, not because we are comfortable, but because we believe that it is what we have to do so that the agreements are carried out,” Paredes first explained. Secondly, “due to responsibility for the under-23s.” “We knew that if we weren’t there it would be like passing a bomb to people who perhaps had less experience.”
That Alexia Putellas and Irene Paredes were in charge of speaking to the press today is a highly symbolic gesture. Beyond the international impact that the two-time Ballon d’Or winner has, the two Blaugrana footballers had been the captains of the national team until Jorge Vilda snatched the bracelet from them after challenging him in the ’15’ conflict. A punishment that caused Ivana Andrés and not Mollet del Vallès to lift the world champions’ cup on August 20 in Sydney.
Just yesterday Alexia Putellas stated after training in Valencia that the players would speak out: “We will talk very soon. Not today because there are some meetings left. Tomorrow it will be clear. “I don’t know where we will talk, we still have to talk.” 24 hours later, they have done it.
