Well, well, well.... 15 players resigned from NT. 🚨 ÚLTIMA HORA | Quince jugadoras renuncian a la Selección después de que Rubiales no aceptara el chantaje de la destitución de Vilda 💥💥💥 https://t.co/N9Jkqxzwul Informa @jfelixdiaz— MARCA (@marca) September 22, 2022
Extraordinary. Seems to be a mixed bag of players on that list though. Not every major player joined the 'boycott'. Not Jenni Hermoso or Alexia Putellas, although the latter is out injured for a long time anyway.
That's still 2/3 of the squad complaining. RFEF, instead of clearing up and resolving the issues internally, indicates all of those players could be suspended for up to 5 years, implying that applies even for leagues (which won't stand in courts). That's quite the betrayal of trust by the RFEF to go public with this. Would be surprised if any woman were involved in RFEF's reaction. Can't see a safe way out from this, this is going to thoroughly change either the Spanish WNT or the RFEF. Edit: I can only guess the comments below the Marca article come close to the current mindset of the RFEF...
That power struggle between players and the RFEF is fascinating. You can see why the fed don't want to give up anything to the players as they won't get it back. But sending a weak side for years is a steep price to pay. Keeping a bad coach against the wishes of a huge majority of players is a strong choice.
Spain had that already under Ignacio Quereda. One would have guessed the RFEF learned from that, but I guess they rather want that back?
Can somebody tell me why they do not want to play for him? All I have read so far is that according to the RFEF he has been "affecting their emotional state and health". I want to side with the players, but that does not seem to be enough to get him fired. But I respect the players for resigning. If you are unhappy, then making this kind of move is really brave and sends a pretty clear message to the RFEF. Unfortunately for them the RFEF do not look like budging. He has been Spain's head coach for seven years now and their results have not been that good under him, so I am kind of surprised he has not been sacked. They were favourites going into the Euros this year and they went out in the quarter-finals. It really is not good enough. I have a suspicion that a lot of the players probably thought he would be sacked after the Euros.
I didn't like much that part of the players' statement: this actually comes across as vaguely accusing Vilda of some wrong-doing, while not having anything really "unprofessional" to reproach to him thus grasping at straws to make him look bad. I've got the feeling that the disagreement is mostly about the technical side of things (probably including selection, that can have "emotional" consequence, but anyway sits on the "technical" area), but the players seem to think that this wouldn't be enough to legitimate their point of view so they try to make it look about something more than that.
If I were you I wouldn't comment on "the" players' statement. Note that this was an internal letter to the RFEF. It's up to RFEF how to handle and resolve it. They chose to go public with nothing resolved with some select quotes and strong language to make said players look bad. As I wrote before in my eyes that's a betrayal of trust and ensures that something is bound to change a lot since status quo is untenable.
Finally "RFEF Mafia" was put under pressure, no wonder how they trying to deal with that situation like any Mafia would do. Talking about Vilda, not sure what he is done wrong outside of the football pitch, but inside, he is just a terrible coach carried by a group of fantastic players, the most technically gifted group in the modern history of women's football. Still, Vilda managed to win nothing with them so far and he never will.
I wonder if all the players will stick with their decision to resign or will some reconsider, in light of the fact that the coach will not be sacked, and come back to the team--IF they are allowed to come back? Some will surely have second thoughts about their decision with the World Cup not far off.
Seven Years and Zero Titles Later, It’s Time for Jorge Vilda to LEAVE (Sporting Her article by Unnati Naidu from 1st September 2022)
Tough words from the Spanish Federation. They won't consider this appeal and they'll continue to field a team, even if they have to resort to playing juveniles. What the players are doing is outside the bounds of sport and the players are novices. The Federation is telling the players they have to apologize and shut up if they want to come back to the team. The big names on the Spanish team aren't part of the 15 who have quit. Apparently no Hermoso, no Putellas, no players from Real Madrid. It sounds to me like the Spanish Federation is behaving as if it's the 19th century and workers have no rights. My advice to players: Remember Benjamin Frankin's statement to his fellow revolutionaries in 1776 while attempting to gain independence from England: "We must all hang together or we will all hang separately."
That reminds me, anybody knows what's the state of women football players union in Spain? Is the Spanish FIFPro member AFE doing its job?
Looking at it more closely, only 8 of the 15 players who resigned were on the 23-man roster for the recent World Cup Qualifiers. The captain, Paredes, did not resign. Nor did any of the 8 players from Real Madrid. So, maybe the Spanish Federation believes that it can safely dispense with these 15 players. Why the Federation is being so hard-assed is a mystery to me. Why not merely accept the 15 letters of resignation and thank the players for their service? Why attack them? Why issue an inflammatory public statement?
I want to again note that it was an internal letter. That includes that the only source for who all actually wrote it is the RFEF. The whole story is rigged to fit RFEF's narrative. (RFEF can easily claim the rest already did the profuse apology demanded. This whole situation is very toxic, read the article @Lechus7 linked above for the extend of it.)
pic.twitter.com/OwKIr3tWt3— Alexia Putellas (@alexiaputellas) September 23, 2022 (other 15 players also made the same statement) 1573354612991873024 is not a valid tweet id Nobody from those 15 resigned NT, RFEF made that narrative.
New article by Unnati Naidu El Cortijo de Jorge Vilda: The Players vs The RFEF The known video with sub about the Ignacio Quereda case. Ends with Vilda not calling up veterans because, as we now know, he essentially continued Quereda's system:
That is so sad to read, really, even when the U-20 won the World Cup last month, I read that kind of comments, not only devaluating Spanish women's football but the entire women's football saying things like "what bad the women's football is if Spain needed to beat Japan to win the cup" and similar things that I prefer not to write here. Really, I can understand someone doesn't like women's footbal, is his/her decision (mostly his), but they treat the women's football like a thing it shouldn't exist, is sick, I'm tired of this kind of people, I'm ashamed they are from the same country as me. And, about the issue, I (by now) trust more the players than anyone else right now, let's see how this thing goes.
I have only tried to watch the women's league in Spain over the last three years and all I can take away from the experience is that the RFEF does not seem to care that much about women's football. After reading more on the topic - in English - regarding the players' resignations it just appears to be a reflection of a much bigger problem within football in Spain, which the players are attempting to fix. I think the players should expect the RFEF to play dirty and unfortunately for the players public support will probably be against them.
https://www.marca.com/futbol/futbol...22601de54a8b4599.html?intcmp=MNOT23801&s_kw=2 I guess those 15 electronic letters was an escalation of a dispute that was previously communicated by the players in person. However, replying that they did not want to be called for NT duty can easily be perceive/framed as resigning from the NT, unless they determined a time frame for their break. Bit of a rookie mistake IMHO. They urgently need a player union. Hard to see a good resolution for this situation. Doubt RFEF will backdown unless there is a huge up-roar from Spanish people and media; But saying they did not want to be called up and not properly communication their reasons isn't doing the players any favors. I don't understand why any coach would want to continue in this situation. If he resigns this situation would be resolved somewhat but I am afraid those 15 players might suffer from this. Any underperformance in NT could be perceived as not having "love and respect" for the national jersey, which is a capital sin in any soccer mad country.
Panini stickers for Primera Division ¡𝐏𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧! ✨🆕 La Liga F tendrá su propia colección de cromos por primera vez en la historia. ✍ @SandraRiquelme_ https://t.co/MtnNGiZKSK— Relevo (@relevo) December 14, 2022
With WWC on the horizon, the case "NT players vs. Vilda" is probably comming to it's resolution. Either way. RFEF won't budge - Vilda stays some players want to "return" to NT some players soften their stance now and wait smaller but strong group holds firm (they wont play for Vilda) The article title is quite telling "The 15 are not 15 anymore..." 'Las 15' ya no son 15.📌 Una parte de las jugadoras está dispuesta a volver a la Selección.📌 Otra ha relajado su postura y está a la espera.📌 Un núcleo más pequeño sigue tajante.📌 Vilda sigue intocable.@Mayca_Jimenez 🤝 @SandraRiquelme_https://t.co/bWZNIm4G84— Relevo (@relevo) January 26, 2023
I do wonder if Vilda who is clearly untouchable can decide not to select any of the 15 players even if they want to come back...