sexist violence
25N | Day for the elimination of sexist violence
Maribel Hernandez
- La historia del Tibet Women's Soccer, the first Tibetan women's team in exile and the first to have played against a Chinese team
- Yangdan, one of the players: "Ya no tengo miedo de nadie, football has given me confidence. Now I can look people in the face and share my feelings"
Tibet Women's Soccer es el primer equipo nacional femenino de fútbol del Tíbet / Image provided
Before jumping onto the field, Each player puts her fingers in a box with sand from Tibet and runs them over her forehead.. Reminds them who they are. Young Tibetan women in exile, stateless but, somehow, powerful: They are the first female footballers in Tibet, the first to have represented their country internationally. The Snow Lionesses, como se conoce al equipo del Tibet Women's Soccer, They have made football their own revolution, personal and political.
"Para ellas jugar al fútbol es un acto de protesta no violenta. They go out and play in Tibet. Es su manera de decir 'el Tíbet es un país'. Creo que tienen más pasión que cualquier otro equipo nacional del mundo", American Cassie Childers tells via videoconference, founder of the first Tibetan women's national football team. The idea arose in 2010.
Childers, of 34 years, He traveled to India for the first time at the age of 21. The country fascinated him in such a way that when he finished his university studies, two years later, filled a backpack and, with the intention of studying Buddhism, settled in Dharamsala, the capital of the Tibetan government in exile, in the State of Himachal Pradesh, in the north of the country.
"Me quedé seis meses y empezó a interesarme, more than anything else, the Tibetan political movement. Whenever I could, on vacation, returned to Dharamsala and over the years, I realized the many problems that Tibetan women face, domestic violence, la falta de oportunidades con respecto a los hombres", remember.
In the summer of 2010, The Tibetans were also still crazy about the World Cup in South Africa, the same one that placed the Spanish team in the Olympus of football. It was there that she learned that there was a national men's soccer team but that this sport was inaccessible to women.. "Se me ocurrió en dos segundos: I am going to work for this social problem and I am going to help the Tibetan political movement by creating a women's team. Así empezó todo".
He returned to the United States, renunció a su trabajo como profesora en un instituto y durante un año planeó el programa Tibet Women's Soccer, an initiative that was initially launched with the support of his family and friends and the approval of the National Sports Association of Tibet (TNSA, by its acronym in English), the official body. Although the initial facilities would transform over time.
"¿What's the point of girls playing soccer??"
The first challenge was to break the stereotype that football was only for boys.. "¿What's the point of girls playing soccer??", they told Childers over and over again. 27 teenagers from 12 and 17 years participated in a month-long camp. "Fue un gran experimento y un misterio porque ni siquiera sabíamos si iban a querer jugar". That possibility did not fit in their minds., They had never touched a ball.
La primera vez que tocaron un balón estaban "muertas de miedo", un mes después "estaban totalmente
transformed" / Image provided
"Estaban muertas de miedo, They were very shy, painfully shy, They were afraid to speak, even look me in the eyes. Pero la magia llegó rápidamente", dice. In the mornings they worked on topics such as leadership, communication, teamwork, empowerment; and in the afternoons they played soccer with no other purpose than to have fun.
"Al final del mes es como si hubieran florecido, They were totally transformed, they shouted, they laughed, se habían abierto por completo". The experiment worked, the girls wanted to play and, besides, benefit from it. Creating a national team would not only be good for them but also for the country., decided then.
The goal that brought them respect
The girls' first official match had caused a lot of commotion. The summer was running 2012 and Cassie had agreed with the organizers of a men's tournament that her lionesses would play an exhibition match against a women's team from another Indian state..
The stadium was filled. Nails 5.000 people were impatiently waiting for the girls' debut, prepared to witness a kind of comedy. "Para la gente era una broma, todo eran risas", remember childers. Until the second half just started, the team captain, Lhamo Kyi, He scored the first goal in his history and, with the, a before and after.
"Fueron tan valientes ese día. They played beautiful football, they won, At the end you could see the change in people's faces. Lhamo Kyi prepares today to become Tibet's first certified female trainer.
Yangdan Lhamo and Choezom are part of the team. Have 25 years and are studying at university. Yangdan, midfielder, He tells eldiario.es from his home in Dehradun that he studies Business Administration and works as a beautician.. Choezom studies Geography and plays with the Lionesses since their origins. They recognize that it was not always easy and that football has changed their lives.
"Al principio todo eran comentarios negativos, insults. But when we started winning tournaments, people began to take us into consideration.. De manera gradual hemos llamado la atención de nuestra sociedad y nos hemos ganado el respeto tanto para nuestro equipo como para todas las mujeres tibetanas", highlights Choezom.
"Dadnos el dinero para los equipos de hombres"
Success and recognition did not come alone. The equipment worked, played against the best state and university teams in India and won, invitations came from all over the country, began to attract the attention of the media and sponsors. with the money, problems also came.
The players with the founder of the team, Cassie Childers, and his coach, Dompo Twitter / Image provided
"En 2014 The National Tibet Sports Association told me that the women's team should be cancelled., que tenía que darles todo el dinero a ellos porque los equipos masculinos no tenían fondos", remembers Childers who, for months, He fought with them without being able to change their minds..
Relationships got worse. He claims that he began to receive threats and decided to change his residence from Dharamsala to Dehradun.. Tibet Women's Soccer se desvinculó de la TNSA, There was a media campaign against her for denouncing corruption within the organization.. "Trataron de intimidar a las chicas, They told them not to come with me, but they did. It was a great act of defiance because Tibetan women do not disobey male authority.. They made their own decision and the team continued. Ahora tenemos nuestra ONG y las cosas van mejor que nunca".
Football as a tool of diplomacy
Yangdan is clear. The happiest moment that football has given him was the opportunity to play against China. In summer of 2015, a delegation of seven Snow Lionesses participated, for the first time, in an international championship in Germany, el festival Discover Football, together with more than twenty countries, including China. never before, since China occupied Tibet in 1959, Athletes from both countries had competed together.
"Sabíamos que debíamos mantenerlo en secreto", dice Childers. There were two main reasons: if they found out, the Tibet National Sports Association would not allow them to go and China, For its part, he wouldn't send his team. Getting authorization from the Indian Government so they could travel took them a month.. "Viajar no era fácil porque no tienen nacionalidad oficial, no tienen pasaporte", Explain. Only when they were on the plane was the press release released that made it public..
Autumn Dolma, Sherap, Yangdan Lhamo, Crazy people, yangzom, Dasel and Sonam Penyang landed in Berlin on 27 June. It was the first time that a team of Tibetan athletes traveled abroad. "Cuando llegaron las chinas fue uno de los momentos más increíbles de mi vida. We were at the stadium, waiting, The girls looked at each other and said: 'Vamos a darles la bienvenida'. They got up and as they got out of the van they began to hug them and greet them in Chinese.. Las chinas no entendían nada", Childers account.
Yangdan Lhamo was one of them. "Nos preguntaron si veníamos del Tíbet y les dijimos que no, we came from India. Then they told us that if we were Tibetans why did we come from India and we explained to them that in Tibet we do not have freedom and that we were in India in exile.. They asked us why we didn't have freedom and we told them because China had taken it away from us.. Las chicas no sabían nada sobre el Tíbet", says the young woman.
"El fútbol tiene un impacto político –Choezom recognizes–, make people know that there is a nation called Tibet and that we are a different nation from China. China is China. Tíbet es Tíbet", resume. Para la fundadora de Tibet Women's Soccer, la experiencia en Alemania le demostró que "los tibetanos y los chinos pueden estar juntos y aprender unos de otros".
The fact that their Lionesses leave India and play in other countries is also a way of telling the story of Tibet. Being able to do so with official recognition from FIFA is one of her dreams and that of her players.. Until now, FIFA has recognized 23 non-sovereign nations, including Palestine. It has not yet occurred in the case of Tibet.
While that recognition arrives or not, They plan to continue playing and taking advantage of that duality that soccer gives them.. "No juego por mí, juego por mi país", sentencia Yangdan. But to get there, Many things have changed and she herself recognizes it.. "Ya no soy tímida, I'm not afraid of anyone anymore, football has given me confidence, happiness. Now I can talk to anyone, puedo mirar a la gente a la cara y puedo compartir mis sentimientos".
Six years after that World Cup in South Africa, la fundadora de Tibet Women's Soccer dice haber aprendido una lección: "Las mujeres tibetanas están preparadas para su propia revolución".
