VERO BOQUETE
Verónica Boquete é considerada a mellor futbolista galega da historia e unha das mellores do mundo. Nacida en Compostela, Foi capitá da selección española de fútbol feminina e xogou en catorce clubs distintos de Europa, Asia e América. En febreiro de 2015 foi nomeada embaixadora da UEFA para o desenvolvemento do fútbol feminino. Dende 2017, forma parte de CommonGoal, unha comunidade de futbolistas que traballa pola reintegración social da infancia empregando os fondos recadados co 1% do salario dos futbolistas da comunidade.
Dende que era pequena, sufriu a desigualdade nun deporte machista, e leva anos denunciando a discriminación que sofren as mulleres nun deporte no que non obteñen o recoñecemento nin as condicións de traballo que merecen. Cando comezou a xogar nun equipo ós cinco anos, no que adestraba regularmente cos nenos, nos partidos deixábana no banco, pois había unha norma que non permitía xogar xuntos a nenos e nenas. Finalmente, fixeron unha excepción para que ela puidera xogar, pero era a única nena, e a miúdo tiña que aguantar comentarios machistas e acoso constante.
Vero loitou durante anos por que as institucións deportivas lle permitisen de cativa disputar partidos xunto aos seus amigos, e durante anos veu como a moitas mulleres lles frearon soños e ilusións ao non ter oportunidade de xogar.
En 2013 lanzou unha campaña en Change.org para solicitar que a empresa EA Sports incluíse xogadoras e equipos femininos nun dos seus videoxogos máis vendidos, o FIFA. Con esta iniciativa veu a oportunidade de acadar unha maior igualdade de xénero, e finalmente foi un éxito, pois dende 2016 engadíronse futbolistas femininas ó xogo, de xeito que agora todo o mundo pode xogar ó xogo FIFA cos seus ídolos masculinos ou femininos.
En 2014, un grupo de 61 das mellores futbolistas do mundo, entre elas Vero Boquete, interpuxeron unha demanda ante o Tribunal de Dereitos Humanos de Canadá contra a FIFA e a Federación Canadense por discriminación ao ter que xogar o mundial de Canadá de 2015 sobre céspede artificial, pois altera a forma na que se xoga, somete ás xogadoras a un serio risco de lesión e devala a súa dignidade por ter que xogar nunha superficie de segunda categoría. A FIFA e a federación canadense ameazaron ás xogadoras con suspendelas, e fixeron todo o posible por atrasar o proceso. O tempo ía diminuíndo as posibilidades de que a demanda prosperara nunha data razoable e finalmente as xogadoras decidiron retirar a demanda, pois viron que non ían a chegar a un acordo nin a un xuízo a tempo.
En 2015, todas as xogadoras da selección española subscribiron un comunicado tras o mal resultado do Mundial de Canadá onde acusaban ó seleccionador Ignacio Quereda de non preparar adecuadamente o campionato, e pediron a súa dimisión e un cambio na dirección do equipo. Isto propiciou a dimisión do seleccionador. Ademais, Vero afirmou: "Quereda é como un xefe que te despreza. (...) Non temos nin voz nin voto, ningún peso. El trátanos coma se fósemos nenas pequenas e non temos ningún tipo de liberdade. E tamén como se dirixe a nós: ‘chavalita’".
En 2018, o Estadio de San Lázaro onde xoga o Compostela pasou a chamarse Estadio Municipal Vero Boquete de San Lázaro por unanimidade de tódolos grupos políticos do Concello de Santiago, e con este recoñecemento da súa cidade o fútbol feminino rachou unha nova barreira.
Recentemente, Vero situouse en contra de que a RFEF organice a Supercopa de España en Arabia Saudita. “Estamos falando dun país estritamente restritivo coas mulleres e con moitos outros dereitos. É un dos países onde non hai liberdade. Se falamos de valores moitas veces no fútbol, temos que ser coherentes con iso”
Vero cre que a verdadeira batalla contra a discriminación de xénero é un proxecto a longo prazo que ten que empezar dende a base. “É nas escolas e entre as familias onde hai que traballar. Aí é onde os nenos aprenden todo e onde pasan a maior parte do tempo. Se a igualdade é real e normal neses ambientes, será así durante o resto da vida dunha persoa en tódolos ambientes”. Ela xa fixo bastante para que as cousas cambiasen no fútbol feminino neste país, en particular no seu propio campus en Galicia. "É un privilexio que os pais e as nenas me fagan preguntas e que me pidan un un autógrafo. É unha honra realmente. Creo que me gusta aínda máis que os cazadores de autógrafos”.
Verónica Boquete is considered as the best Galician football player of history and one of the best of the world. Born in Compostela, she was the Spanish women's football team captain and played for fourteen different clubs in Europe, Asia and America. In February 2015, she was named as a UEFA ambassador for the development of women's football. Since 2017, she is part of CommonGoal, a community of football players who work towards the social reintegration of children by using the funds raised with the 1% of the salary of the community's football players.
Since she was a little girl, she suffered inequality in a sexist sport, and she spent years denouncing the discrimination that women suffer in a sport in which they don't obtain the acknowledgement or the work conditions they deserve. When she started to play for a team when she was 5 years old, in which she regularly trained with boys, during the games she was left on the bench, as there was a norm that did not allow boys and girls to play together. Finally, they made an exception so that she was allowed to play, but she was the only girl, and she usually had to put up with sexist comments and constant harassment.
Vero fought for years when she was a child in order to be allowed by sports institutions to participate in games together with her friends, and for years she saw how the dreams and hopes of many women were curbed since they didn't have an opportunity to play.
In 2013, she launched a campaign on Change.org to request that the EA Sports company included female teams and players in one of their best- selling videogames, the FIFA. With this initiative, she saw an opportunity to achieve greater gender equality, and finally it was a success, because since 2016, female football players where included in the game, so now everybody can play the FIFA game with their male or female idols.
In 2014, a group of 61 of the best football players in the world, amongst them Vero Boquete, filed a lawsuit before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against the FIFA and the Canadian Federation for discrimination since they had to play the Canada 2015 World Cup on artificial turf, because it alters the way to play, it subjects the players to a serious risk of injury and devaluates their dignity for having to play on a second-class surface. The FIFA and the Canadian Federation threatened the football players with suspension, and they did everything possible to delay the process. As time went by, the chances of the lawsuit succeeding within a reasonable time diminished and finally the players decided to withdraw the lawsuit, because they saw that they wouldn't come to an agreement or a trial on time.
In 2015, all the players of the Spanish national team signed a statement after the poor result of the World Cup in Canada where they accused the coach Ignacio Quereda of not properly preparing for the championship, and called for his resignation and a change in the team's management. This led to the resignation of the coach. In addition, Vero stated: "Quereda is like a boss who despises you. (...) We don't have a say, no weight. He treats us as if we were little girls and we don't have any kind of freedom. And also how he addresses us: 'kid'".
In 2018, the Estadio de San Lázaro where Compostela plays became the Estadio Municipal Vero Boquete de San Lázaro unanimously by all the political groups of the City Council of Santiago, and with this recognition of her city women's football broke a new barrier.
Recently, Vero took a stance against the RFEF organizing the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. "We are talking about a country that is strictly restrictive with women and with many other rights. It is one of the countries where there is no freedom. If we often talk about values often in football, we have to be consistent with that. "
Vero believes that the real battle against gender discrimination is a long-term project that has to start from the grassroots. "It's in schools and among families where you have to work. That’s where kids learn everything and where they spend most of their time. If equality is real and normal in those environments, it will be so for the rest of a person's life in all environments". She has already done enough to change things in women's football in this country, particularly on her own campus in Galicia. "It's a privilege to be asked questions and to be asked for an autograph by the parents and the girls. It's an honour really. I think I like it even more than autograph hunters."