as interview with mery ruiz

[acchikocchi]

Writing up the notes for the Zaida story right now. (Thank you so much to everyone who's commented, I hardly even know how to respond. I just, I really appreciate it.) I did most of the initial research last winter/spring and I wanted to share some of the things I came across in the process. This is an interview from AS, via the fantastic website

Comments

[labelledcaustic]

But she acknowledges that her greatest dream is to play for Real Madrid: "I've been a Madridista since I was little and I feel a special sadness knowing that it will never be possible for me to play for my team. If Zidane had a daughter who played football, would she go to Atlético? I don't think it's too much to ask."

BRB. CRYING. I SAY THIS ALL. THE. TIME.

Can we please just forward this entire interview in Spanish to el Buitre? What kind of world class football team has no female academy?

I'm sorry.

But I was speaking to a bunch of SUPER TALENTED female footballers I used to play with in the Philippines, and they said, "oh, yeah, I wanted, so badly, to become a footballer, but look at the state of women's football in developed countries! Can you imagine what it's like for us, to represent a developing country? We don't even have money for emergency relief, forget men's football, forget women's football." And some of them have dual spanish nationality, and the Spanish female NT is a joke. The amount of money they spend on the men's NT to win "the one [two] that count" (in your fic's words)? They probably spend less than like a fraction of that... It's offensive toward football fans, but nobody says anything.

And it's awful, how in a world where every job application I apply for more or less states, "We are equal opportunity employers. Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply," the world of football is saying, "sorry, if you're not male (or white or European or from Brasil or Argentina), you have no shot, go put on your short shorts and look pretty for Blatter, now."

[acchikocchi]

I know, I know, I know.

The paragraph in the fic about the establishment of a Real women's side is a direct result of this interview, haha. To Zaida it's understandably teeth-grinding but to me it's wish fulfillment. XD;

The state of the Spanish WNT in said fic is also ditto because I couldn't bring myself to impose that kind of ceiling on her. Though - and maybe you know all this already - they really shouldn't be the mess they are, argh. This article has a certain amount to say on the subject, and there's a little more in this interview with Vero Boquete. It's just so frustrating when you look at the success their junior teams had. (And I found something interesting the other day while I was looking for the original text of this interview - the U-17 team beat out the U-19 boys for an AS award determined by popular vote. So it's not that the interest isn't there.)

Anyway. Yes. It's just... so infuriating and frustrating. words cannot describe.

[labelledcaustic]

I think it's sad that Real have been talking about "establishing a women's academy", in a country that supposedly is one of the most "progressive" in terms of female representatives in the workplace, at least, in absolute numbers in the political and public sectors, no?

And the club is always going on and on about how, "oh, when people think of Spain they think Real Madrid". It wasn't an independent article, it was for their monthly magazine for their fan club-- they actively went out to seek that sort of line from their chosen Spaniards and non-Spanish celebs angle. They could have easily found people who said, "I think of Spain as colonisers and rampant unemployment. Also... manchego." Or something.

I am not being fair and pulling this Real Madrid as a symbol of All That Is Wrong With That Continent That Colonised Everbody Else And Now Wants to Do it Some More, ...but it would make sense that since they're so bloody progressive about pulling in the dollar, yen, euro bills, etc.

Also, I love how much flack American soccer etc gets for European football fans (ugh, whatEVER), and how the Scandinavians are always made fun of, but holy crap, nobody can say a word when they see their top level women play football. And every woman in Sweden I know has played football at a youth level...And they play kickabout...with men...and kick ass... I don't know, I just grew up playing football with some amazing women from all over the world in my school, and you'd think some of them would make it. But they're too smart to even BOTHER. Which is like... what.