PLAYERS ARE NOW MAKING A LAST MINUTE ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE WOMEN’S LEAGUE, WHILE THEY SEEK BETTER CONDITIONS FOR THE NATIONAL TEAM, IN A STRUGGLE THAT MIRRORS THE ONGOING PUSH FOR EQUALITY IN WOMEN’S SOCCER IN THE UNITED STATES.
BB M R e Associated Press
OGOTA, Colombia—On a recent weeknight, Sara Pulecio dribbled a soccer ball gracefully through a set of orange cones, and jumped repeatedly over small obstacles placed by coaches along a field, to develop more strength in her legs.
The soccer clinic, organized by a global sports-apparel brand, gave Pulecio and several professional female players a rare opportunity to train in the long break between seasons. And even though the drills were intense, the 20-year-old midfielder finished them with a smile on her face.
“We try to do things on our own time, to keep in shape,” she said. “But it’s not the same as when you’re training with your team.” Pulecio has represented Colombia in five international tournaments, and last year, she was one of the up and coming stars of the local professional women’s league.
But the defensive midfielder has barely trained since the season ended last May, and could be out of a job altogether this year as soccer officials contemplate cancelling the local women’s league due to its poor economic performance.
News that the recently created professional league could be cancelled capped a turbulent month for women’s soccer in this country. The month was also marked by sexual-harassment complaints against two coaches and claims of poor working conditions for players on the national team.
Players are now making a last-minute attempt to save the women’s league, while they seek better conditions for the national team, in a struggle that mirrors the ongoing push for equality in women’s soccer in the United States.
“It’s very tough to have your dreams and aspirations just brushed aside,” Pulecio said following a news conference in which players urged officials to come up with solutions to save the women’s league. She added that cancelling the league “would shatter the hopes of younger girls who are coming up the ranks.”
Complaints over the management of women’s soccer in Colombia started to snowball last month, when two acclaimed national team players published a Twitter video where they outline what they claim are discriminatory practices.
Isabella Echeverri and Melissa Ortiz say that for the past two years women’s national team players have been denied stipends paid to their male counterparts when they train with the national team. The players also claimed that they weren’t paid prize money promised to them for qualifying for the second round of the 2015 World Cup in Canada, and said that on several occasions they were forced to pay for their own plane tickets to make national team training camps, something that is unheard of in the men’s game.
Ramon Jesurun, the president of Colombia’s Football Federation, said in an interview with local media on Sunday that it is the first time he heard of these complaints, and has promised to open an investigation.
But players said they have letters dating from 2012 and recordings that show they had previously brought their complaints to Colombian soccer officials.
Daniela Montoya, a midfielder for the national team, said she was left off the Rio Olympics squad as punishment for speaking to the media about irregularities.
Last week, she provided journalists with a recording made in April 2016 where a Colombian soccer official berates her for speaking out about disputes over prize money and describes her as a “spear in his backside” that had to be removed. The complaints have sparked a national debate on the status of women’s soccer in Colombia, where the men’s game is passionately followed, while the women often labor in obscurity playing for salaries of around $400 a month.