On September 2, the Women’s League 2023 crowned University of Sports as tournament champion, after beating Lima Alliance in the second leg final played at the Monumental stadium. That match not only demonstrated the competitive level of the players, but also the support for them, thanks to the more than 42 thousand attendees who were in the stands. Without a doubt, a milestone in local women’s football, which with each season increases the number of followers. The support of the fans is important; However, there are still points to improve, especially with the soccer players.
In the coming days, authorization from the Judiciary is expected for an oral trial to be held between the soccer players of Sporting Victoria and the club directors. The reason? The soccer players demand the renewal of the institution’s board of directors, due to poor internal management, not only due to non-payment of their salaries, but also due to situations of harassment and harassment. This was made known by the footballers themselves through social networks.
Through a post on Facebook, Linda Espinozaa player from the Loreto team, directly accused the coach Victor Hugo Rios (son of the club president) for having subjected her and her teammates to “psychological abuse and constant threats to kick us off the team if we spoke”. For its part, Zully Vela In the same publication he accused the coach of denying them to go to the Peruvian team: “They called us about five times to microcycles and Mr. Victor Hugo did not let us know anything”.
Why should players resort to social networks? Are there no official channels or are there no known channels to make complaints of this type? Sport spoke with representatives of the clubs University of Sports, FBC Melgar and Carlos A. Mannuccias well as with a soccer player Sporting Cristalabout this and other points that must be improved in the organization of the Women’s League.
Bullying, a problem to eradicate
harass means “insistently press someone with discomfort or requirements”, according to the Royal Spanish Academy. In the workplace, it implies “subjecting an employee to psychological pressure to cause his or her marginalization”but sometimes this harassment can be inflicted with the “object of taking sexual advantage of a person, often abusing a position of superiority”.
In the case of Sporting Victoria, the players have reported mistreatment and marginalization, but they have not been the only ones who have been subjected to these situations. On April 13, the First Provincial Corporate Criminal Prosecutor’s Office of Abancay sentenced Everson Inca Paullo, former coach of the Real Apurímac club (which was going to play the Women’s League in 2022), to 35 years in prison for sexually abusing three minors and of inappropriately touching four other teenagers in the dressing rooms and bathrooms of the Maucacalle and Condebamba stadiums.
At the beginning of 2022, through the social networks of the Peruvian National Team Images of the U-19 players were published in one more team practice. Immediately, hundreds of comments began to go viral, regarding the physique of the soccer players, even though they were minors. “If there is a photo, there is a video“, “It would be good if they left the little girl’s Instagram” and “If she doesn’t start, I don’t want to watch any games.“, were some of the misogynistic phrases that were read and that also aroused the anger of players, coaches and more, who only asked for respect towards them. What should be done in these cases?
Information and complaint channel
According to the head of the Universitario women’s team, Renato Flores, this problem is cultural. “Today and always there have been cases of harassment towards women. The FPF can carry out an internal campaign or give sanctions, to somehow minimize the risks of these events being repeated, but to control and eradicate it, I would believe that it is more about a more cultural issue.”. Of course, he emphasized that there should be a “commission or an organization that is responsible for protecting the integrity of female soccer players”.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of the Melgar women’s team, Lucy Rodriguezconsiders it necessary that “At the FPF, league, promotion tournament and youth level, training must be given to coaches and technical commands must be supervised so that they can also detect cases of harassment, not only carried out by club workers, but also in the internal of the girls. It would be important for them to go through evaluations, training and courses to know when the situation gets out of control, in addition to providing help channels in the regulations, not only in the League (such as a code of Ethics), but also in each club.”.
In the regulations of the Women’s League 2023, the reporting table is announced as complaint channels. virtual parts of the FPF and the mail [email protected], according to article 85°; However, these routes are specified to notify “any case or situation of suspicion, attempt or act of fraud or manipulation of the match or the competition”. There is no mention of harassment, harassment or anything similar in the 137 articles that the document has. There is also no league code of ethics that mentions this issue.
We consulted with the FPF and they told us that there is an ethics commitment that each institution signs at the beginning of each season, but they did not detail whether said document has legal responsibility. Ultimately, they specified that those who could collect these complaints would be the football players’ association (SAFAP), through Adriana Dávila as representative, but only sports cases are referred to the FPF. There are no prevention talks, there is no additional information and even less a direct communication channel. So how will players know where to turn?
“If the Federation is not aware of the harassment situations, it means that it is not carrying out oversight work or ensuring the integrity of the footballers of each club. The FPF is the highest entity in women’s football and, therefore, it must have eyes everywhere and monitor each team”, accurate Milagros Loayza, coordinator of the Carlos A. Mannucci women’s team. The reporting channels known in the country to report acts of violence against women are Line 100 and Chat 100 of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, where you can receive support and guidance in these cases.
Cases outside Peru
Given the inactivity of the FPF, the question falls on its own: Is it the responsibility of the Federation to ensure prevention and have action protocols in the event of harassment situations within the clubs? In search of answers, it was possible to find specific cases where this problem was taken seriously. After what happened to Jenni Hermoso and the inappropriate kiss that she received from the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, after winning the 2023 Women’s Football World Cup, it was necessary to recognize that protocols should be in place in situations of violation .
Precisely, this year the RFEF published the Protocol for action against sexual violence, where they determine what to do, the contact channels, the form available to them, the prevention actions carried out by the sports entity and its state allies so that investigate, punish and provide care to victims. The Mexican Football Federation also released its model protocol that seeks to prevent and sanction cases of harassment in the Liga MX Femenina. This document was prepared in collaboration with Somos Versus, Christian Gruenberg and the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection of Mexico.
“The need to have the necessary internal regulations is contemplated to be able to operate in the best conditions and provide an environment of prevention, security and action, through the creation of a model Protocol. Therefore, it is necessary to make visible and recognize the existence of sexual harassment and harassment, and other forms of discrimination in sport.“, maintains the document, which consists of 32 pages. In Chile there is the General Protocol of the Ministry of Sports against Sexual Abuse, Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and Abuse in national sporting activity, published on September 21, 2020 and that “It is made up of principles and rules that are aimed at preventing and punishing violative conduct, establishing a set of obligations that sports organizations, their boards of directors, and their members must comply with.”.
Other issues to improve
The handling of complaints is not the only thing to improve for next season. In addition to the schedules, better stadiums, increases in matches broadcast and greater benefits to the players, it is necessary to emphasize the lack of communication regarding the professionalization plans that are to be implemented in the coming years. The FPF already has a strategy so that by 2027, 100% of female footballers have a professional contract; However, when consulting the players, this plan is not known to them.
“We did not receive that information, but it should be implemented and the clubs and their players be 100% aware, because suddenly the plan exists, but we do not know it“, he indicated Piarelli Valdivia, Mannucci’s goalkeeper. For its part, Camila Perochenascorer of ‘Domino’, added “Professionalization is an important issue, because that makes your players dedicate themselves completely to football, which does not happen. There is a PUCP study that indicates that only 13% of the players in the country have a contract on the payroll, the rest do not.”.
Although this professionalization plan is not contemplated in the regulations, it is specified that clubs can hire professional players. This implies that they have the legal benefits, as well as adequate payment as an athlete, although this may vary by career and performance. Alianza Lima was the first club to announce the signing of professional contracts with a group of its footballers in 2022, this year Universitario implemented it. Sporting Cristal already has a plan in place, the same one that its players already know. “Most of us know that next year, not all of them will have to be professionalized, but some players will have to become professional.“, he indicated Karen Lopez, captain of the Rimense cast. There is still a lot to work on in women’s football.
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