2023-07-19 17:45:58
BarcelonaMarta Segú (Barcelona, 1963), specialist in international health, has been working on charity projects for over 25 years. He is completing his second spell at Barça and knows well the thorny ground he treads on. Despite this, he does not bite his tongue or condition it when speaking that Joan Laporta is his family. She is clear about the speech, the hits and the mistakes. Conversation with the ARA after reading the report on harassment and harassment in La Masia from this newspaper and listening to the podcasts that talked about the novel triumphant, by the writer Joan Jordi Miralles. At Barça, they are reading the book carefully.
What do you think about what happened at La Masia in the 80s and 90s?
— As at Barça, the first thing is to stand by the people who have suffered this type of violence. It is true that it happened many years ago, that it was a different context, but as a club we support the victims and we regret and condemn any violence. We don’t want to hide it or cover anything up, but to know everything that has happened to offer help and, if they need it, therapy.
Would these episodes be impossible today?
— When there are boys and girls nothing is impossible, but now it is very difficult for it to happen. We are training the eyes of professionals so that they know that situations that were normalized in the 80s and 90s are now neither correct nor allowed. And if they happen, we now detect it very early.
Harassment is precisely one of the pillars of the Foundation’s work. 9% of the children who are part of a formative football team are victims of bullying.
— We have been working on it in schools for 5-6 years and, thanks to this program, boys and girls who were being bullied have revealed it to the teachers. Also domestic sexual abuse. In sport it seemed that it did not happen because some attitudes were normalized. We expanded our work to any type of violence against children in the world of sport. We have a very complete system that allows us to train protection officers, who are the people closest to the children so that they can make the disclosure if they suffer violence. It’s like a pyramid, we have 60 representatives in all the training sports of the club, 20 delegates and a protection committee. When there is any suspicion, the protocol is automatically activated. These are violent, unpleasant, delicate situations, people do not know how to act, nor who should act or what to do. On the other hand, when there is such a well-structured system, there are no doubts.
How many times have they activated it?
— Several, but we cannot give data.
Has anyone been expelled from La Masia for bad behavior in the two years she has been director?
– I do not think so.
You were already there during Joan Laporta’s first term.
— I entered in 2006. La Masia had started to become professional a few years ago, but when we signed with Unicef we asked them to do an evaluation. We were told more changes needed to be made. That’s when it was decided to have social educators, psychologists, people who were there during the weekends, at night, to be able to support all the residents, who were then about 60. One of the things that worried me the most was the support to the frustration Many youngsters came in with the dream of playing in the first team and we worked with psychologists and educators to prepare the boys and families to understand that not all of them would make it, to manage the frustration.
In this first stage, when the boys from the Samuel Eto’o Foundation arrived, they had to install security cameras.
— They were boys from other countries, from other cultures, with a different way of understanding life: coexistence is not easy, there were boys from all over the world. And teenagers This is complex to manage and measures were put in place to facilitate coexistence.
Now in the management of the residents there are other dangers: they have agents, millionaire contracts… All this can make coexistence much more difficult.
— We have to help these guys put down the smoke. You charge so much money, you have so much exposure, but here we are all equal. Respect, humility and teamwork.
Lamine Yamal was sanctioned following an episode with the Spanish under-17 team.
— We make the boys see that there was an inappropriate situation and we teach them these values. With the Foundation, we make many young people, youth or Barça Atlètic, go to centers we collaborate with, be they reception centers or hospitals, so that they don’t live in a bubble. For them to see the reality.
What comes first, values or football? What if a big star creates coexistence problems?
— The purpose of La Masia is to turn players into good players and good people. It’s tied We can’t have a good La Masia player come to the first team and not be a good person. We are working against racism, in the empowerment of women, against homophobia, we are against any kind of discrimination. At La Masia there cannot be a person who grows up without sharing these values, no matter how good a player he is. He cannot be here being a racist or a xenophobe. It won’t feel comfortable. If a person has a very big projection and we see that they need to polish one of these aspects, we work specifically on it so that they end up being part of this group.
In the article it was explained that some player who made it to the first team had hardly ever been to class.
— It can’t happen now, it’s not happening. There is very personalized monitoring of the 110 athletes we have. We are like his family, also detecting what is happening outside.
Do they detect problems that the boys have at home, with their families?
— Statistically, it is the most common. When we create a safe space, the risks go down and outside cases are detected more easily. Although not all, obviously. We have created a system that we want to give to the world, we are the elite sports team in which the child protection system is at the highest level, as we have a child protection standard very similar to Unicef or Save the Children.
Before, faced with a situation of abuse or harassment, many adults turned their faces away.
— Or the minor was in doubt. It is now forbidden to question the boy or girl. In talks and trainings we always say: “This system is so you don’t think too much”. In the 80s and 90s it was very difficult to talk about these issues, it was taboo, they were ashamed. Instead, they now dare to speak. You have to be very aware of all the people who work with minors. We have made a map of risks, of when there are more: when traveling, in the showers, in the changing rooms… The boy or girl must always be with more people, never only with a single adult, or only with doctors or physios.
In the case of Albert Benaiges, no victims linked to Barça appeared.
— The president already made a statement condemning this sexual violence. We made it possible for anyone who had had something happen to us at our facility to report it and we got nothing. We are not afraid.
How is the Foundation in a complicated economic context like the current one?
— We had to optimize resources because the financial situation of the club was not good. 16 years ago we signed with Unicef, which has been wonderful, and now we took a step forward by signing with UNHCR. Unicef are children of the world, who is against it? On the other hand, with refugees there is a geopolitical connotation that not everyone sees well. Betting on refugees is a very brave step by President Laporta and the board of directors.
Recently, a possible operation of the club with Qatar has appeared. Do these agreements make the work of the Foundation difficult?
— One thing is the commercial part, the other is the Foundation. It doesn’t make it difficult.
I guess he saw Messi in a different shirt on Monday. As general director of the Foundation, would you have liked her to return?
– Yes, of course. We have worked with your foundation for many years, we have a very good relationship. His father has shown interest in continuing to collaborate. So I’m not closing the door on being able to do that. I would have liked him to come back, it would have been nice for everyone, including him. But there are things that cannot be.
#racist #xenophobic #player #Masia