Fútbol Femenino: Where are Spanish Women?
When I was 17 I moved to Pamplona, Spain (yes, they run with the bulls there) for a year-long foreign exchange program. While
there, I lived with a Spanish family and went to a Spanish high school. I learned the language, the customs and how to navigate a society that was starkly different from what I had known in the US. I saw first hand the differences between men and women.
It bothered me that my Spanish father expected his wife to do everything for him even though she also had a full-time job and was probably just as exhausted as him. It annoyed me that men lived with their mothers, as functioning members of society, until they were married. It astounded me that I had to teach my host brother to open a can and use the microwave, proving to me that without his mom he would be lost.
I have to say, though it astounded me initially, I grew to understand the Spanish mentality. Sure, it was something that I would never fully embrace, but I did begin to see why things were the way they were. (And I do very much love Spain, despite their differences and oddities.)
One of the experiences I was lucky to have while there was being able to play soccer. I played indoor at the local university with my cousin and played outdoor for a local football club. Since it was the beginning of my exchange and I could barely communicate, the indoor was short lived. However, as a goalkeeper, some of the hardest shots I have ever taken were on this team. The women played fast and had great vision. BUT if they had played my outdoor team, they would have been killed.
My outdoor team played with a level of finesse I only dreamed of while playing in the US. They played with the aggression and power of the boys. They had fantastic vision and played a precise game. They trusted each other and had heart. When they won, they were world champions. When they lost, they were devastated. The things I knew my team back home was lacking were present in my Spanish team.
Our training was intense. Everyone gave their all. Don’t get me wrong, we had fun. But without 100% effort, the team didn’t practice as well. In addition to our team practices, certain positions would rotate and train with the professional team. In short, we were constantly pushed to improve our game, and it was evident that this mentality had been instilled at an early age. There is no doubt in my mind that many of my teammates played and held their own against the boys.
I highly doubt that this situation was unique to the club that I played for. In fact, I would bet that there are many other clubs in Spain that have the same structure and whose women have a comparable level of skill. That said, where are the Spanish women on the international arena? If these women grow up learning soccer with the men, playing a similar style as the men and demonstrating an incredible level of skill, why don’t they have the success of their male counterparts?
I would posit that there are two reasons: lack of support and coaching. Spanish fans simply do not care about women’s sports. With teams like Barça and Real Madrid, the fans have plenty to cheer for already. Additionally, the stigmas regarding women hinder many from accepting and supporting women’s sports as legitimate. Sure, there are some fans, but not nearly as many as the men see.
While many men’s teams are funded by local governments, marketing and ticket sales, women’s teams struggle to get funding. In
the economic downturn, municipalities reduced their funding and companies cut spending on advertisements. Women’s soccer is the least valued, so it is the first to get cut. It is impossible for women to survive on the €150 they make a month and without support from their communities in the form of fans and funding, they are at a disadvantage in comparison to other women’s teams who benefit from advertising campaigns and fan support.
In fact, one team had so little funding, they decided to make a nude calendar to make improvements to their facilities and purchase equipment. I have to give them props for taking the initiative to pay their own way, but shouldn’t a country that places so much value on the sport be as supportive of their women’s leagues as their men’s? I definitely think that a change in mindset is needed, and that it is slowly happening, but it will take a while for Spaniards to fully embrace the women as legitimate.
I am of the opinion that the lack of support from fans and the Spanish mentality towards women sports definitely play into the coaching. There isn’t any motive to change the coaching structure, as the women receive hardly any notice. As such, they have had the same coach for almost 30 years. Obviously, he isn’t doing well in his position. In the United States, when a team doesn’t do well, the coach is replaced. In Spain, this is not the case.
An interview with an ex-women’s national player, Laura del Rio, revealed that the coach is one reason that the best of the best don’t play for the national team and a reason that the team doesn’t do as well as it should. When asked, why, despite her success, she was no longer on the team, she responded:
Being part of the team was a dream come true. Unfortunately things didn’t work out with Ingnacio Quereda, the manager of the team. He’s been with the team for over 28 yrs. We don’t see eye to eye on many things. I’m not the only one who is no longer part of the team due to this. There are many.
That is an unfortunate reality that the Spanish Football Federation needs to take a look at. When asked if there was any way she would return to the team, she replied:
Yes, for Quereda to leave.
Not only is the team hindered by the Spanish mentality that men deserve more support than women, the football federation has also impeded the success of the team by deciding to leave Quereda in charge despite his limited success. The mentality will change over time, but if the team does not have success to begin with, there will continue to be no support. Let’s face it, people support winners. With Quereda in charge, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
If I learned anything from my time in Spain, it is that Spanish women are strong and determined. They will continue to play irregardless of the support they receive from their country because they have passion for the game. Still, things need to change. The world is missing out on a great competitor and Spain is robbing itself of a potential world champion.
-HD
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Four days ago, Chuck Blazer, a FIFA official from New York, admitted to pocketing almost $2 million as commissions from marketing deals during 2010. Andrew Jennings of transparencyinsport.org reported that in addition to his salary he paid himself approximately $9.6 million in bonuses over the last five years.
In 1990, Blazer played a major role in Jack Warner’s instatement as President of Concacaf in 1990. In return, he became the general secretary of the confederation; he now serves as chief executive and treasurer, giving him access to the confederations confidential accounts and the right to collect 10% of ‘all sponsorships and TV rights fees from all sources received by Concacaf.’
Despite his own questionable dealings, Blazer had the nerve to blow the whistle on Warner back in May. Apparently, Warner took a $1 million bribe from Mohamed bin Hamman from Qatar in return for the support of the Caribbean nations in Qatar’s bid for the World Cup, which it will host in 2022.
In addition, Bin Hammam has been accused of bribing lower-level FIFA members to help him oust FIFA president, Sepp Blatter. I wonder if the bribes to win the World Cup bid would have been an issue if bin Hamman hadn’t tried to throw out the long-standing president.
Gunter Gebauer, a sports philosophy professor (which by the way sounds like an awesome class), says,
It is not democratic and governed by transparency. It’s a male culture of giving and receiving and making favors and taking favors. It’s a culture which in some respects is the same as a gang.
Certain governments are expressing their concerns publicly. Both the British and Swiss Parliaments said that they FIFA to take action in this matter. Last year, $32.6 million was paid out as “short-term employee benefits,” and though the financials do not disclose who received these benefits, I think we can infer. Especially when at least 4 of FIFA’s executive committee are under investigation. Everyone knows you get caught when you get greedy.
Still, this problem is not reserved for the highest ranks of FIFA. In fact, it is a widespread issue throughout soccer. So much of a problem
that “FIFA pledged $20 million in May to create a unit within Interpol” to try to eradicate game fixing in Asia.
Sepp Blatter’s explanation for this decision was that no one will go to matches if they are rigged. No matches, no money. No money, no benefits. You see, it is OK for them to rig the system, but it is not alright if that cuts into their P&L. (Oh, and it is kinda the right thing to do.)
I do think that both problems should be dealt with, and I think that FIFAs move to create the Interpol Unit is crucial to stopping the spread of rigging. After all, what’s the fun in watching a game if you know someone is pulling the strings. The best part of the game, uncertainty, would be lost.
In the past few months there have been more than 100 players, coaches and club officials have been jailed, indicted, and investigated on charges of game fixing. Such scandals have popped up in Turkey, South Korea, Finland, China, Hungary, Italy, Germany, and Zimbabwe, among others.
The corruption has spread throughout the world and has crept into all ranks of FIFA. Ronald K. Noble, secretary general of Interpol writes,
Match fixing has been a cancer within football that is only now being recognized for its deadly consequences to the sport. FIFA’s section of Interpol to develop comprehensive global anticorruption and anti-match-fixing training programs will help to kill this cancer before it spreads further.
Notice how he calls it anticorruption and anti-fixing? If FIFA wants the game to be more transparent and less corrupt, they need to set the example. If it truly wants to do as it says, it needs to turn a critical eye at itself as well.
Though there have already been some investigations, FIFA has been anything but eager to share the results of such matters with the public. The group of soccer diplomats rides around like kings and plays its hand close to its chest.
In the case of bribing countries to support Qatar’s World Cup bid, Bin Hammam says his only hope is that the matter stays within the FIFA family and not “based on the wishes of people outside.” In other words, the public has no right to meddle.
As things stand, it looks as though we will continue to hear about corruption in soccer for some time. Or maybe FIFA will just go into lockdown. I’m sure there’s an armageddon shelter in Switzerland if things get bad enough.
But hey, look on the bright side, women’s soccer hasn’t been implicated in any of it (knock on wood).
-HD
Pia: The Eternal Optimist
Pia Mariane Sundhage was born in Sweden on February 13, 1960. While playing for IFK Falköping as a 14-year-old, Pia began turning heads. A year later she was called up to the national squad. She remembers:
It was in 1975 against England and we won 2-0 in Gothenburg. The national coach rang me up and I read a report in the paper too, which was obviously a very big thing for me at 15. But I wasn’t nervous because I had quite good technical skills, more so than some of the others, and that made me comfortable with the group.
By 1982 she was playing for Östers IF where she scored 62 times in only two seasons on the team. Between her years at Jitex BK and Hammarby IF DFF, she won 4 Damallsvenskan and 4 Svenska Cupen. It is notable that Pia was on the scene of Swedish soccer from the beginning. The Damallsvenskan got its start in 1973, and until the start of Women’s Professional Soccer in the US, the Damallsvenskan was noted as the best women’s league in the world.
Internationally, Pia made a name for herself by scoring 71 goals in her 146 international games. She led Sweden to their first European Women’s Championship in 1984 and scored 4 goals in the 1991 World Cup where the team took bronze.
Needless to say, she became a legend in her country, and was viewed as
one of the world’s greatest female players during her career. She even made it on to a Swedish stamp.
However, there is more to Sundhage than her game. She does just as well at the helm as she does on the field. In fact, by 1990 she began coaching in addition to her responsibilities as a player. For the next 11 years she coached the U-16, U-19 and U-21 Youth National Teams. At her retirement in 1996, she took over the head coaching position of the U-19 Women’s National Team, winning one gold and two bronze medals in the European Championship during her tenure.
Already a legend in her home country, when she led the USWNT to gold in Beijing in 2008, her popularity exploded. In fact, a debate ensued as to whether she should be hired as the head coach for the Swedish Men’s National Team, but she stayed put and has done remarkable things for the team.
Bringing a new style and attitude, she led the women to five championships and by 2010 had the best record of any US women’s coach. When she was instated, the USWNT still had a bitter taste in its mouth from the 2007 World Cup. The coaching styles of April Heinrichs and Greg Ryan had not worked for the team, and many players left that tournament with negative feelings.
Throughout this year’s World Cup, we heard tales of Pia’s optimism and ever-present smile. In our US team we witnessed an incredible level of fitness, a new finesse and the determination to leave everything on the field. Hope Solo, who was left off the team midway through the 2007 World Cup after criticizing Ryan for his decision to start Brianna Scurry against Brazil, said of her coach:
From the moment Pia stepped in she changed the entire dynamic of this team. She’s one of the more laid-back coaches I’ve ever had. She wants to help the players be creative and think for themselves on the field. I think a lot of American-style coaches, they try to be more involved in every pass, every play.
Every player likes to have a bit of freedom on the field and it brings the joy back to us, back to the time when you’re a little kid and just played for the fun of it.
Though she often appears serene on the sidelines, her coaching style is one of “positive reinforcement, loyalty and…endless optimism.” It is said that Pia only ever tells her players positive things and leaves the criticism to her assistant coaches. She is almost always happy, sometimes singing songs for her team (and even for the press).
“My glass is always half full,” says Pia.
I think it’s contagious. We didn’t end up on top this time, but I am confident that Pia’s eternal optimism will continue to give spirit to the US team and lead us to great things in the future.
Thanks for being our coach, Pia. And for reminding us to believe.
-HD
The World's Sport 