A painful wound that puts many years of commitment to a territory to the test, the one that hit the Napoli Women Under 17 team, engaged in a non-ranking match against the boys of Don Guanella of Scampia. The match, played in recent days in Afragola, in the Neapolitan area, was an opportunity for the girls to prepare for the women’s championship which will begin in January.
But everything turned into a nightmare when, after the 4-2 defeat, sexist messages appeared on social media and beyond that went beyond all limits.
Today we will probably need less football and more training courses. The results that make us happy are not the matches won, but the children rescued from crime, comments Don Aniello Manganiello, president of the men’s team.
What happened
During a Napoli Women U17 match against a men’s U14 team, the girls were subjected to sexist and homophobic insults. Vulgar phrases, explicit innuendos, comments on the female body and verses that imitated sexual acts.
And then, at the end of the match, some opposing players published photos and videos on social media accompanied by insults, mockery and degrading slogans, with shameful comments, from “you shouldn’t have won” to “go back to being dancers”, passing through sexist insults such as “you got them, bitches” and indecent requests like “we want brasSome of the athletes were even contacted privately, the target of new harassment.
The reaction of the Napoli Women club was not long in coming. President Marco Bifulco has published an open letter in which he proposes a solution that does not punish, but educates. He invited the opposing club to participate in a training day at an anti-violence and anti-discrimination center, to raise awareness among young people about respect, gender equality and the importance of words.
A strong and clear message: sport must be a vehicle of positive values, respect and growth, not a space to fuel violence and discrimination. And education is the way to really change things.
If sport is also targeted
Missed opportunity? Yes, certainly. Sport should also be an opportunity for growth, inclusion and sharing of fundamental values such as respect and equality. And that wasn’t the case. The girls involved in this episode are young people who work hard every day with passion and dedication, believing in the value of sport and working to build a future in a context that, unfortunately, often does not welcome them as they deserve.
What has happened cannot be tolerated, which is why it is necessary for the community to be ready to support them, protect them and believe in them, so that they can face difficulties without feeling isolated.
It’s time to look at ourselves, at our society and at the educational emergency we are experiencing. And, yes, also to the sexual-affective education courses that are so scary in schools. If such incidents occur it means that there are gaps in the education and awareness of our young people and, above all, of their parents. Shall we try to find a remedy?
