Many years ago, when I was younger and a fan of men’s football, I saw for the first time what was almost unheard of for an average teenage boy from Galicia: women playing football. Like almost every man at that time —and I say almost all because, fortunately, there is always someone who is a bit ahead of society— it seemed funny to me, like going to the circus and seeing a seal clap. What a comparison, some will say; it is the most honest thing I can say if I think about that young version of myself.
I don’t tell it with pride, nor is it intended to be a mockery. My path wasn’t fast either: I spent years thinking the same way. And to be honest, I didn’t even react for the right reason. I noticed a female footballer again for something as superficial as her appearance —once again looking at the woman before the athlete— and it was that, almost by accident, that led me to search for where she played. I watched women’s football again after many years, and the surprise was enormous: I discovered everything my prejudices had been hiding from me.
A few months later, the 2023 World Cup arrived. Spain were aiming for the top, to be recognised as the stars they were —something that is still difficult in this country when you are a woman. And suddenly everything exploded: they were finally on everyone’s lips. But people weren’t talking about the milestone, they were talking about another pair of lips. Once again, the wrong reasons. And yet, something good also came out of it: many people got hooked on that national team and, with it, discovered women’s football. A necessary debate was also opened, because our sportswomen —and not only footballers— also have a voice. You just have to want to listen to them.
Today I think differently. With more years and now many grey hairs, I realise how wrong I was. Because those who break a mold are almost always pointed at, and our obligation as citizens is to support those who break with the established order, not point at them.
Today FemGol is born, a website that wants to be a path for many women, but also for many men: children and adults. Because another thing I have discovered is that women’s football still preserves something that the other has lost: it is still football, and not a multi-million dollar business where eleven companies play against eleven companies.
This publication will try to promote, to the best of its ability, what many sportswomen have been doing for decades. Not only the stars who in recent years have dominated world football, with their national teams and clubs, but also all those women who in the villages of Galicia or in the mountains of Jaén went out to run after a ball, as so many of us have done and it has made us so happy.
So that our daughters and our sons have more role models to look up to. Values that these women have demonstrated and that deserve to be praised.
Thank you.
