Lucca – «We tell the girls that they can become astronauts, footballers, that they can do what they dream of. But then we don’t actually give them the chance to do so and we put them in front of the choice: work or family». Alice Pignagnoli’s voice is nervous, disappointed, discouraged. You have lived all your 34 years with boxing gloves, fending off discrimination. Until her story made the world of football take a step forward: after that Cesena football renewed her contract in the seventh month of pregnancy, «the following year article 8 was introduced, which states that it is not possible to terminate the contract in the event of pregnancy – she explains -. Then Fifa regulated the matter with various rules and they set up a maternity fund for female athletes».
Now, however, a new disappointment: since August she has been playing for Lucchese, a Serie C team, who cut her salary after learning of her second pregnancy. «I was told that “we should respect the agreements that are made in the summer”, but the most serious thing was that of slowly excluding me from the team – he underlines -. They prevented me from following the matches because they stopped paying for my transfers, they asked me to free up my bed and they took away all my sports equipment: taking away a player’s shirt means taking away his dignity.”
Alice, when did you find out you were pregnant for the second time?
«In mid-October I find out I’m pregnant with my second child, I play the last game because I find out on Saturday night and on Monday I do blood tests to make sure it’s really like that. Tuesday from Reggio Emilia, where I live, I went to Lucca, I trained with the team and on Wednesday morning I met the coach to tell him the news. It was nothing planned: I would not have started in August with a new team to get pregnant in October ».
How did the coach react?
“I came to him in tears and he said to me: ‘I won’t be able to replace you as a player, but it’s a beautiful thing and I’m happy for you'”.
And her teammates?
«All very happy, we hugged each other. Therefore, given their reactions and what happened years earlier with Cesena, where they had recognized my value as a human being and as a player, I didn’t expect Lucchese’s reaction ..».
What was it?
«The managing director of the company called me and said: “I can’t tell you anything, because I too have 3 daughters, but the agreements that are made in the summer should be respected”. I’m freezing, I put the phone down without saying a word. It’s not a matter of agreements, we’re talking about a pregnancy: I could even break my crusader, so many things can happen to an athlete. He insisted that he was “counting on me”. But I can’t take this burden on myself.”
Did they then inform you that they would no longer pay you?
«Yes, but in reality they hadn’t even paid me for the arrears yet, while they did for the other athletes. It’s not a club in difficulty, they didn’t want to pay me voluntarily and they didn’t even want to give me credit: I have a two-year-old daughter, I used to leave her in Reggio Emilia to go to Lucca to train and play. I sent a certified email and we were ready to move on to Fifa. They offered me two months instead of 5 and I didn’t accept. They paid me only yesterday, when the newspapers started reporting when it happened to me».
And now?
“Lucchese will pay me until January 31, then I’m covered by the federation’s maternity fund for 12 months, until January 2024. I’ll therefore have to find a new team by that date.”
How does she feel?
«Now I’m in the most difficult phase: for me not being able to play football is devastating. It’s not me. I can’t wait to get back to doing what I love.”
When she moved from Cesena to Lucchese, she motivated the choice by explaining that this team met her needs as a mother and player.
«Yes, and it was a big wound to discover that it is not so. They pretended to be interested in me as a mom and to accommodate me. I’ve always played in Serie A and B, going to Serie C was a compromise. They didn’t care about the “mom” thing, they just wanted me as a player. And I deluded myself».
After her first pregnancy, she returned to the field 100 days after the cesarean birth: quite a challenge.
«I returned to training after the 40-day prognosis and I lost 17 kg in a month to return very quickly, between diet and training. It hasn’t been an easy journey and now I know that another tough challenge awaits me».
What aspects need to be improved for the protection of female athletes?
«In the meantime, the sports system should favor the possibility of having a family. Then we should focus on the aftermath: giving these athlete mothers a way to be both, creating a path for them. I mean: we tell girls that they can become astronauts, that they can do what they dream of, but we don’t actually give them the chance to do so. Yet we women can do anything and we must ensure that women’s football does not become an increasingly closed world, in which girls have to choose between the pitch and the family.”
#Alice #goalkeeper #excluded #Lucchese #pregnant #salary #uniform #dignity