Today is the time to celebrate, to give thanks, to renew faith, to fill the heart with a deep and heartfelt ‘thank you’. There are so few spaces for that that rejecting this is a real waste. But right after the flash, it will be time to ask yourself, what exactly are we celebrating? At the risk of sounding like a killjoy, let the tree not cover the forest.
That tree was planted by the Colombian Women’s National Team in the center of the garden that is our local football, visible to all, inevitable. Its branches bring the first classification in history to the quarterfinals of a World Cup for the elderly, the enormous figure of Linda Caicedo on international covers, the magic with the ball that is the hallmark of the national team and that seduced not a few local fans, bent on the hypnosis of football that made us get up early and stay up late without complaining about them, with them.
It’s so big it’s hard to stop looking at it. But, for better and for worse, it’s like the Trojan horse, imposing and attractive, but with the worst threat inside. Are we sure that what is appropriate today is to celebrate and not reflect? The answer is yes! A new level has just been unlocked on the international stage and, as never before, the country tattooed the names and goals of its stars so as not to forget them. That deserves no less than the current and successive tributes. And yes, the rush of happiness cannot relegate the discussion about the reality of abandonment that women’s soccer is experiencing in Colombia due to, who would have guessed, its own professional league.
feeling helpless
While the players go to the banquets, outside, looking out the window, without even waiting for an invitation, are those who did the ‘dirty work’ of their formation, without a single slice of the cake.
The reality is that the women’s football that we boast of today is rotten at the root. In the search for information, no one wants to take responsibility for the common complaint for a matter of survival. But everyone sees it the same: when the Colombian League was born in 2017, the agony of amateur soccer began, nothing less than the base from which the Caicedo, Usme, Guzmán, Vanegas come… all the stars of today.
The neglect of FIFA to regulate the transfers of soccer players means that the national leadership does not have any obligation. The players sign under promises of two or three months of contract and sometimes even leave without resigning. Thus, those clubs that previously had at least one national tournament and some Difútbol incentives, today survive due to the stubbornness of their owners and the quotas of fathers of girls who dream of being professionals.
Since there is no formal contract but rather pyrrhic prizes per tournament played, the soccer players go after the highest bidder, as befits any professional. The comparison sounds hateful, but it is as if Envigado were not allowed to charge for the training of James, Quintero, Gio Moreno, etc… it would be, with great luck, a very ‘cool’ club but not a business.
The A and B clubs take the trained players and they also lose them: those unstable contracts -except for cases like América, Santa Fe and Nacional with some players, not all- When businessmen and offers from abroad come, they take them with them. The one exception was Leicy Santos, but a $10,000 transfer fee is next to nothing compared to the cost of running a team. Without official sponsorship or transfer money, not a single peso is invested in grassroots football. Why if there is no return? This is how the youngest talent is lost, as denounced by Catalina Usme from Australia.
And yes, a real League, with two tournaments a year, with relegations, with spaces for amateur and professional clubs, would be the beginning of a solution, but the decision is not even made by the Colombian leadership but by FIFA. “Soccer has owners”, would say Ramón Jesurún, president of the FCF some time ago. And short and unsustainable competitions are convenient for them because, in the end, at least it allows them to limit losses. It is the hamster in its roulette until it finally runs out.
And there is no other time to discuss it, it is this, in the middle of the photos and the hugs, in the middle of the party, in full view of everyone. When the protagonists say that the fight continues, they are not lying. Despite having grown and won so much, the enemy is gigantic and lives at home. There is not much left, everything remains to be done. Lucky they are women. Otherwise the battle would have been lost years ago.
JENNY GAMEZ
Special envoy to Australia
@JennyGameza
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