2023-10-07 17:59:41
Sant Joan DespíThe modernity and the colossal size of the building of the headquarters of the chemical pharmaceutical company Bayer in Sant Joan Despí contrasts with the modest Llevant Les Planes stadium that is right next to it. The first women’s team faces the second consecutive season in Liga F, the highest category of Spanish football, but the pitch is still made of artificial grass and the stands have a capacity of less than half a thousand spectators. It is the typical neighborhood football field. Despite this, and one of the lowest budgets in the competition, Llevant Les Planes is in fourth position in the standings after the first three rounds, with two wins and a draw.
“I have played in very big-name teams, but everything has its own charm. Our fans shout the whole game, the stands are full, it’s very beautiful. We are like a family. If you need anything, they help you,” explains Dominika Conc, the Slovenian midfielder who signed this summer for the club from Sampdoria. Before that he had also played in teams such as Valencia, Milan, Espanyol and Malaga. “In a big club you know half the people and here, on the other hand, we all know each other. If something happens outside the field they help you, I feel very good,” he adds in a conversation with ARA that takes place in the stands of the field on a sunny and hot morning in early October.
The struggle of the Slovenian team
But, before experiencing this sweet start to the season in Catalonia, Conc was one of the visible faces of the struggle of the Slovenian national team, of which she is captain, to demand changes such as those requested by the players of the Spanish national team with the #SeAcabó movement. On July 21, 32 footballers signed an open letter addressed to the Football Association of Slovenia calling for the dismissal of the coach, Borut Jarc, and his coaching staff. The reason was the derogatory behavior they had towards the players: from insults and sexist and homophobic comments about their personal lives to inappropriate comments on the social networks of the goalkeeping coach, Danilo Sergas, through degrading treatment towards to your body weight.
“This doesn’t just happen in football. It happens everywhere. People don’t know how to communicate. Maybe in an office people put up with it or they don’t. But in football people think it’s normal for someone to shout at you or say anything under the pressure of a party. And it can’t be,” explains Conc. In addition, the technicians had an intense relationship with alcohol during the meetings and the players were even forced to play a qualifying match for the Euro 2022 despite the fact that some had contracted the coronavirus. On the other hand, they had to play in old kits and buy their own food during their stays with the national team.
“These situations were happening for five or six years, but previously similar things had happened with other selectors. Even then, some players left the national team for events that should not have happened, such as some inappropriate ways of relating to them. We don’t and won’t let them treat us like this,” says Conc. Because of all this, some internationals have needed psychological help.
On September 5, the coach, Borut Jarc, reached an agreement with the Slovenian association to terminate the contract and in a letter denied the truth of the accusations. In fact, previously, the association had defended it. The new coach is Sasa Kolman, a former Slovenian footballer. The first rally led by him was at the end of September to play two Nations League games. “Our selection has experienced a change thanks to the step we took and now I consider that we have a coaching staff that knows how to talk and manage a team,” says Conc with satisfaction. “For now, it’s much better. I hope everything else will improve as well, but it’s only been ten days of concentration. If we have another conversation in six months or a year I’ll be able to tell you if the changes have been real.”
A podcast to open awareness
Dominika Conc, who is now 30 years old, did not know when she was 6 that it was possible for a girl to be a professional footballer. To explain all the moments that she and other players have lived until they made it, she has created a podcast, The Rising Giant (The Rise of the Giant), available on Spotify. “I have played in many countries and met many female players. This has made me realize that our stories are different from men’s football. People who come to see us are not aware of what we had to go through so that we can now live all this”.
Asked about the negotiations of the new collective agreement of professional women’s football that led to a one-day strike by the footballers on the first day of the F League, Conc admits that the situation caught her when she had just finished to reach the Levant les Plaines and this caused him not to get involved in the first person. But then the captain of the Slovenian national team reflects: “The best change that can happen, beyond raising the minimum wage or improving the facilities, is the change in people’s mentality and that already it’s happening. People are coming to see our games and that will cause little by little the rest to evolve as well.”
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