Said and done in less than 24 hours. The city council of Getafe (Madrid) announced last night that, after some sexist comments about women’s football, it is considering changing the name of its municipal stadium, called Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, where the local team plays thanks to a 40-year concession part of the ex-footballer. The consistory, led by socialist Sara Hernández, discussed the matter with the club this Tuesday and both parties decided to simply leave it at the Colosseum. In a statement released earlier this afternoon, the city council explains that the stadium will be “renamed Colosseum only” as the words were very unpleasant to the city council, neighbors, fans and the club itself. When awarding the concession, the city council reserved the right to decide on the name of the stadium and stipulated that it should meet “some minimum values of coexistence”.
In statements to this newspaper, Hernández explains that the announcement will be formalized at the next government meeting and that in the coming days fans will see “the workers removing Alfonso Pérez’s letters from the stadium.” It seems to the mayor that in these times when “consciences are being stirred” and “important steps are being taken towards equality in the world of sports,” Alfonso Pérez “is not the ideal name for an institution like the Colosseum.” ” The mayor is “very sad” about statements like these, “which also come from someone who is an Olympic champion, the most successful athlete in the community, when the values of the Olympics are equality, respect, solidarity …”.
City council and Getafe CF agree to rename the city stadium “Colosseum”.
The Council informed the club that this municipal body, allocated to Getafe CF, was an example of transmitting positive values of sport such as equality, solidarity and respect. pic.twitter.com/xnJxLCjtbr— Getafe City Council (@aytogetafe) October 4, 2023
In an interview published in El Mundo on Monday, Getafe-born Pérez, who played for Real Madrid, Betis, Barça and Olympique de Marseille, even went so far as to say that “women’s and men’s football are not comparable at all, because everything is like that “depends on the revenue you generate and the media impact” and that “it would force them to kiss the Spanish flag to know that they are defending their country’s jersey with honor and honesty.” “First, you can protest for whatever you want. “I think it’s good that they ask about their considerations, but the choice is above all,” he added, referring to the position of football players after the Rubiales case.
“Certainly there are athletes from other sports who would like to be paid like the players on the women’s team and can’t, just like I would like to be paid for Cristiano Ronaldo but I can’t. It is what it is. Everyone needs to know where they are. You can’t complain about women’s football. “He has evolved, but they have to keep both feet on the ground and know that they cannot in any way be equated with a male footballer,” said the former Spanish national team striker in the 1990s in the interview in which he admitted, “a pretty contradictory opinion compared to the majority on everything that’s going on.”
The councilor, who announced yesterday evening in Cadena SER’s El Larguero her intention to remove the former player’s name, reminds Pérez that “women’s football actually has something to complain about”. “There is an investigation into alleged sexual assault and possible extortion, and they had to go on strike to fight for a collective agreement,” he reminds them. For the mayor, such messages are “very negative for girls who dream of becoming footballers.”
Hernández is outraged by his words and she wonders where Pérez has spent the last few months and even the last decades. “At one point in the interview she says that she thinks it’s ‘very good’ that women have their space… The thing is that the space is the same and belongs to all of us, to them, what we want is equality.” He also thinks that it “seems very good that women have their rights”, man, it’s just that there are no rights here for one or the other, it’s just that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, that we are equal and have the same rights,” he replies. “It’s from the last century to discuss this. I thought that with everything that was happening, social progress was being made and these statements from people who have this social projection and the power to convene were very serious, absolute nonsense,” he added.
Hernández emphasizes that “this is not a unilateral decision by a feminist mayor, but rather coordinated with the association and with him.” the Association of Getafe Fan Clubs“, which on Tuesday considered “very regrettable statements from a person whose name is associated with Getafe”. “The world champion is fighting for humane conditions that are not offered to him and for the future of our football,” said a statement from the fan association. “The club is in complete agreement with the city council and the fan clubs that the name could not be maintained,” adds Hernández.
For the city council, the former football player conveys “the idea of football as a purely economic business” and “minimizes the achievements that the reigning world champion achieves on and off the field.” Against this background, they emphasize “the need to preserve the positive values that Start with popular sports, which the club promotes with its school and the city through more than 30 sports schools.”
And why wasn’t the opportunity taken to rename it after a famous athlete? For two reasons: Firstly, because the city council believes that now is not the time to “keep calm and wait”. And secondly, because “under the terms of the concession, Getafe can include the sponsorship of the Coliseum name, as is the case with the rest of the teams around the world.” Once the club adds a sponsor, “it is not excluded” the advisability of the addition to consider a third name for the stadium. In this sense, the City Council recalls that at the government meeting last week it was agreed to name the expansion of the sports center in the El Bercial district Jenni Hermoso.
Very unfortunate statements from a person whose name is associated with this @GetafeCF We play at home every day.
The world champions are fighting for humane conditions, which they defend and which are not made any easier for them, and for the future of our football. https://t.co/61wrzSSQxO
— Federation of Peñas Getafe CF (@FPGETAFE) October 2, 2023
With 16,500 seats, the stadium, which was inaugurated in September 1998 and in which Pérez never played and never wore the local jersey, was expanded several times. The final step will be a comprehensive renovation, the project of which the club is currently working on to present to the city council. Work will begin in March or April and will include covering the moat surrounding the pitch, expanding capacity by 3,000 seats and roofing the entire space – now only one side is covered – as well as the 69 VIP boxes.
Even before the footballer’s announcement, there was an idea to change his name. “My goal is to build the field, close it, finish it, change its name and get someone else to improve it,” Getafe president Ángel Torres said last June when presenting the project. “The president and a large part of the fans considered the name inappropriate since Pérez does not live in the municipality and had only entered the stadium on the day of the inauguration,” contextualizes the mayor. Getafe have played there since the stadium opened, when it was still in the Second B. In this stadium, the Madrid team has experienced great success: two promotions to the second division, a promotion to the first division, qualification for two Copa del Rey finals and a quarter-final of the UEFA Cup.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits