Women's football: The 'underground' Selection

Spanish women's football has enjoyed unstoppable growth in recent years. Have been times of struggle, in offices and in the fields, and also in countless successes. Some achievements that are due to the hard work of players, institutions, clubs …, but also of all those pioneers who took the first steps in this category. Several decades, more specifically half a century, have passed since their struggle. And few know their names, despite the importance they had for this discipline. Gone are the doors of the institutions, personal sacrifices without any economic benefit and even a misnamed 'underground' Selection. The latter had a hard time gaining the respect of the then Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and its first international players have found recognition by the current federative entity almost today (November 2019).

To know the beginning of women's football in Spain you have to go back to early 70s. At that time, Spain was submerged in a long and already weakened dictatorship, which was beginning to lead the way to its end. They were years of protests, of revolutionaries and, above all, of revolutionaries. The woman, relegated to household chores and babysitting, was beginning to raise her voice. They also wanted to study at universities, work outside the home, have their independence and … even play football. This last current had become widespread in many countries, achieving that in 1970 UEFA officially recognized women's football as a new discipline.

With those pioneers, women's football rose from its ashes in Spain. It was not born, since both in the Second Republic and in the interwar period this discipline left some attempts, later drowned by Franco. What he did do was emerge with more force. The first games arrived, to the amazement of many and the rejection of others. In this sense, it is necessary to distinguish that two types of women's soccer emerged at that time: soccer practiced in a serious way, with training several days a week and with an organization capable of “circumventing” the difficulties imposed by the macho society of the moment ; and a “second-hand” women's football fostered by opportunism and novelty, which did not seek beyond calculating some good box office, without major prospects for the future, such as the game of 'Folkloric and Finolis', with artists of the level of Lola and Carmen Flores, Gracia Montes, Marujita Díaz, Rocío Jurado, Encarnita Polo, etc. among its players. Far from helping women's football, this and many other such events, contributed to a loss of prestige for the figure of the footballer in our country.

Such was the current, of both kinds, that The Falange Women's Section ordered to sabotage any game or initiative in favor of women's football. This organization was the tip of an iceberg that managed to end the effusiveness with which some raised the foundations of this discipline in Spain. “But the seed was already cast. And consolidated clubs were making their way throughout the Spanish geography: Olímpico Villaverde, Espanyol de Barcelona, ​​Marcol de Valencia, Fuengirola, Isla Cristina, Peña Barcelonista Femenina, Sizam and many others … A true revolution that was the origin of what is now Spanish women's football “, highlights in an interview with AS Rafael Muga, whose figure is key to understanding the growth of this category at the national level. Born in Badajoz, he always combined his life with soccer, where he started training youth and gained great experience as a tournament organizer.

Madrid, December 8, 1970. Women's football broke into Spain, with the first match played in this discipline. It was at the Boetticher soccer field, located in the Madrid neighborhood of Villaverde, and the event brought together no more and no less than 8,000 people in the stands. On the field, there were two pioneers of this category, Sizam and Mercacredit (later it was renamed Olímpico Villaverde). Everything was under the organization of Rafa Muga, who was also president of Mercacredit and who tells AS that the success was such that any initial forecast overflowed. At the end of the game and the following days the requests for admission multiplied.

The surprises did not stop there. The meeting ended with great popular acclaim, but also with disbelief on the part of the authorities. You already know that the new sometimes scares. And that some women played a game with great expectation at that time was, at least, strange. “At the end of the event I was forced to go through the Villaverde Civil Guard Barracks. The truth is that I was quite scared, despite the fact that about 50 people accompanied me. There the Commander of the post was waiting for me, who still did not believe that a women's football match had been held, “recalls Muga, who He also founded a women's soccer magazine in Spain. “It was distributed free of charge throughout Spain, mainly in the province of Madrid and in Catalonia, and was key to the spread of women's football throughout the national territory,” she highlights, after admitting that it was a “ahead of its time”.

That match in Villaverde marked the beginning of a long road that continues to this day. The next step for Rafa Muga and many other pioneers was launch the first Selection, which had a clandestine origin, without recognition of an RFEF that lived in denial until the 1980s. The then president of the federative entity, José Luis Pérez-Payá, referred to this category in 1970 in the following terms: “No, I'm not against women's football, but I don't like it either. I don't see it as very feminine from the point of view aesthetic. The woman in a T-shirt and pants is not very favored. Any regional costume would suit her better. “

These words mattered little to Muga and her players. The one from Badajoz assembled a team made up of players from all over Spain to guide the path of the first National Team, the one that lived underground for nine years. On February 21, 1971, Spain's first international match against Portugal was held at the La Condomina stadium. With an equalizer to three on the scoreboard, the sport came to the background before problems of all kinds: lack of organization, no contracts in sight; frontal opposition of the Murcian Federation, with its president at the gates of the stadium trying to paralyze the match; and even the collegiate Sánchez Ríos himself was not guaranteed arbitration, which he was forced to do with a tracksuit, without the federal uniform at the request of the RFEF. Without a doubt, the meeting was surrounded by a lot of noise. Still, our Spanish representatives at that event were fixed in the history of our football. The initial eleven consisted of: Kubalita, Virginia II, García, Herrero, Feijóo, Angelines, Vázquez, Virginia I, Cruz, Conchi Amancio and Laura.

“There are no words to describe it. We were oblivious to the whole spiral that was against women's football. When we played at La Condomina, the Women's Section of La Falange said that the game was not going to be played and said so with La Condomina full of people. But, we did not realize all that. There was opposition from the RFEF that did not stop until it drowned women's football. He turned off all the lights that had arisen in the Basque Country, Valencia, Madrid … “, he tells AS Carmen Arce 'Kubalita', first international goalkeeper with Spain. The former player, who started in the world of soccer in her native Valencia, after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper, received this nickname for her physical resemblance to Kubala, although she was finally a goalkeeper. “My brother was a goalkeeper and I wanted to be a goalkeeper, but at the beginning they put me on edge. When they saw me on a break stopping balls under sticks, they didn't think about it (laughs). I liked the nickname of Kubala, although my idols then they were Valencia players. I really liked Arconada and Reina (father)“, bill.

The first match on foreign soil was in Italy, who was then runner-up in the world. The appointment was held at the stadium Turin Commune five days later than planned (July 15, 1971) after problems bureaucratic on the trip. With an attendance of some 7,000 spectators and a 8-1 result in favor of the Italians, one of the most notable data of the match was that the Spanish played without a shield on their shirts due to the authorization of the Federation. Muga downplays this fact, which was punctual, since in later games the national emblem was worn. “In particular, we did not have any” war “with the federation, which passed the subject olympically, completely ignoring it. Consequently, we decided to opt for the responsibility of doing what is normal … whatever happens, “he emphasizes.

After that historic meeting came the 'Adriatic Trophy', with two matches in Italy, Padova and Udine, and two in Spain, Córdoba and Badajoz. “Those parties were an example to follow when planning and organizing with seriousness and organization. Air travel, concentration hotels, adequate clothing, sportswear with the national emblem, hymns, exchange of pennants … Anyway, what should have been normal. Even the AS displaced the journalist Miguel Miró to Italy, who reported in real time on all the events of the National Team “Muga stresses.

The Extremaduran also tells of the success that was registered in the two Spanish cities, with great media coverage. A good memory that Kubalita shares: “When I played in Córdoba against Italy, I was on the freight train that came from Barcelona and I took it in Valencia all night sitting down. I arrived in Córdoba at 9-10 in the morning, played the game and returned to Valencia in the same way. When I see that game and I see myself rolling around, I mean, mother of god. But, we were very sorry. It did not matter everything that surrounded us. We just wanted to play. That was very special and it was worth the sacrifice “.

Carmen, who later studied nursing and has developed a great professional career in several countries, assures that her environment welcomed her playing soccer. “In my environment there was a lot of curiosity, but I took it as something positive. There were people who were not respectful in the stands, but most went to games because they had become hooked on women's football. I was never the protagonist of all those comments they were in NO-DO, luckily. But, of course. Forget it's football. We were in 1971 and any aspect of women's freedom or independence was unthinkable for institutions“points out the Spanish exporter, who praises the figure of Rafa Muga in the growth and early years of Spanish women's football.

Spain had managed to join the international trend in this category. A fact that led him to be invited to participate in the 1971 World Cup in Mexico and, later, to organize the 1972 World Cup. Can you imagine rejecting two proposals of this level today? In 1971, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) did so, with a resounding no to both proposals. The two requests came, of course, from the hand of Rafa Muga.

“Attending the World Cup in Mexico would have been the definitive boost for Spanish football and even more if the one of 1972 had been celebrated in Spain. Regarding the first, I received a statement from the Mexican Sports Confederation. Mexico DF, referring to the predisposition and possibility of attending the World Cup. The result and the statements of the President of the Federation, José Luis Pérez-Payá, is well known. I received all the information from the World Cup and the final gathered 100,000 spectators at the Azteca Stadium“laments Muga himself, who continued talking about the possibility of holding the 1972 World Cup in Spain: “The government did not even respond to this organism. For our part and in communication with the organizers, we were waiting for the result, which was, as everyone knows, negative. “

The resistance of the RFEF with regard to welcoming women's football to its core lasted until October 21, 1980, at which time he officially recognized him. “Until well into the 70s we tried by all legal means within our reach,” reveals Muga. From officiality to the first official party it was necessary to wait three years, the appointment being on February 5, 1983 in the Guard, also against Portugal. The president originally appointed to take charge of women's football, A.Alberca, came from futsal and “had never seen a women's football game in his life”, as Muga reveals.

They say better late than never. And, on this occasion, the end was very worth it … And it is that last November, the Royal Spanish Football Federation paid tribute to the first Spanish internationals. Under the motto “We are for you”, the highest body in Spanish football wanted to show its admiration to the pioneers who made history with La Roja. It was a very emotional gala in the Ciudad de Fútbol de Las Rozas chaired by President Luis Rubiales, who was accompanied on this occasion by Alejandro Blanco, President of the COE and María José Rienda, Secretary of State for Sport.

Players from the first national team from 1971 attended the event, held in Madrid. 20 of those who played in the first six matches were recognized, the pioneers: Carmen Arce 'Kubalita', Amparo Herrera, Ana Seijo, Paquita Cruz, Virginia Cuñaz, Angela Martín, Isabel Fuentes, María Oliva, María Ángeles Pérez, Marí Carmen Álvarez, Pilar Martín, Elisabeth Sánchez, Margarita Nuñez, Rosa Nacimiento, Ana María Astobieta, Marisa Conde, Isidoro Gavilán and finally Concepción Sanchez Freire. “I want to thank the Royal Federation for the tribute they prepared last November in Las Rozas to the first Spanish women's soccer internationals. It was, as I expressed at the event, the pending subject that, 50 years later, thanks to the work of the Federation and the invaluable help of Iñaki Mikeo, and Alfredo Relaño, was an emotional and resounding success “, Muga exposes very satisfied. Her work and that of all those fighters was finally recognized.

“Rafa Muga was not going to die without getting our struggle recognized. He has not stopped until getting a tribute. What of this man is incredible. The only gain he had was the satisfaction of helping us. Now we have been put in the place we earned then, when we had everything against us“Kubalita concludes, who also wanted to thank the good treatment received by Mikeo and the RFEF last November.” It was a beautiful act and helped me a lot to heal the wounds of the past, “says the first international goalkeeper with Spain. She and all her teammates finally have the place they deserve in the history of our football. They are the beginning of Spanish women's football.