Opinion – Renata Mendonça: One day football will come out of the closet thanks also to your courage, Richarlyson

I don’t know how your last days were. After your interview on the “In the Locker Room” podcast, I don’t know if you’ve received more hateful attacks than supportive responses. I want to believe in the second option because, as we like to repeat, love ALWAYS wins. And maybe even today you doubt the impact of your speech or are still in disbelief, as I said on the podcast, that it can change anything. And I tell you it is already changing.

But first of all, I need to make an apology here. I am a little grain of sand within the sports press, but I tend to think that in this speech I represent the majority of journalists who are part of it. We should have talked more about you, Richarlyson. And, above all, we should have talked more than you did on the field.

You took on a leading role in midfield and then on the left side of one of the most successful teams in a decade in Brazilian football. Can you call what São Paulo did between 2005 and 2008 a “dynasty”? The only consecutive Brazilian three-time champion team: 2006, 2007, 2008. And you were part of the three titles.

In fact, wait there. Being part of it is too generic and oversimplifies what you represented on the field. Richarlyson, you formed one of the best midfielders pairs that the Brazilian Championship has seen in recent times alongside Hernanes. He won the Silver Ball with him in midfield in 2007 precisely because of that. Strength in combat, intelligence to anticipate plays, speed to recompose, accurate tackles and a sharp left-hander that sometimes left his mark with beautiful goals.

Richarlyson has always been the kind of player any coach wants in their squad. Versatile, always ready to play in any position – in the same São Paulo, he played as midfielder, midfielder, defender and, lastly, left-back. He has also always been the type of player that any fan wants to have on their team, because he gives himself too much on the field, he gives his blood. For you, Richarlyson, it was never lost.

On the podcast, you described yourself: “I was never an ace, I was never technically amazing, but I was smart to know what I could do to always be ahead of the others”. But despite all your efforts, everything anyone talked about you wasn’t about your performance on the field. For a long time, we stopped talking about his football to feed a cruel prejudice that was perhaps his biggest opponent throughout such a successful career.

And I write, even in the plural, because we, from the press, were part of it. Posting photos with disrespectful captions, asking invasive questions, fueling a debate about a topic you’ve never raised (your sexuality) and which no other player has had to answer.

Imagine you dedicate yourself to the maximum in your work to be the best professional possible and, at the end of the day, always hear the same question: “So, are you gay? So, are you homosexual?”. Nothing about performance on the field, about the titles he won, about the roles he played in the teams he played for, about the secret to conquering so much. The questions for you, Richarlyson, were always wrong.

I apologize for being part of the press that for a long time endorsed so many prejudices you suffered. And it did little to make football a more welcoming environment for LGBTQIA+ people or to put the issue on the agenda without joke, in a respectful and serious way.

You were already in history for everything you did on the field – something we so often forgot to tell. And now you’ll be in eternity by the historic closet you’re helping to unlock. Football will come out of him one day, Ricky, thanks also to your courage.