Girl gets the right to play football in a tournament in BH

With new boots and boxer braids made especially for the occasion, Emanuelle Oliveira, 10, from Belo Horizonte, was finally able to play a football tournament at the school where she studies in Barreiro, a Belo Horizonte neighborhood, on the 12th.

She scored five goals in the first game, which ended 6–1, and scored one in a 2–2 draw in the second game. It was champion. It would be a common competition in school life, except for the fact that it took place after the girl’s family had sought justice.

Emanuelle and her classmates from the 5th year, who formed the two teams, only played the matches after an injunction forced Colégio Santa Rita de Cássia to include the girl in the internal championship, at the risk of a fine of R$ 20 thousand in case. of noncompliance.

​The court decision obliged the school to allow the girl to participate in a tournament with the boys, but this was not necessary. Emanuelle’s court battle for the right to play ball led the college to form two women’s teams, and the tournament took place.

Sought, the school administration said that the unit is in school recess and did not comment on the case.

In the decision, Judge Rodrigo Ribeiro Lorenzon reports the girl that “she is already used to playing football and training with boys”, both in physical education classes and in the little school she attends.

“Nevertheless, it seems, the required [colégio] did not consider including the author in a male team, so it is not possible to verify what would be the basis for the denial in this hypothesis.”

According to the judge, the girl “was not admitted solely and exclusively because there is no girls’ team”.

The magistrate also says that “it is not reasonable to admit that the plaintiff is prevented from participating in a football tournament (sport that she already practices) just because there are no women’s teams in the dispute”.

Emanuelle has been a fan of the sport since she was very young. She closely follows Cruzeiro, a team whose passion she shares with her parents, and has fun with games like Fifa in the video game.

In addition to screens and entertainment, futsal is the sport he has practiced since he was five, when he started training at a school in the neighborhood. “For me, football is a game. I like it a lot, I have fun playing”, says Emanuelle.

With the resumption of face-to-face classes, in the first half of this year, the old desire to play ball with colleagues and compete in the championships promoted by the school also reappeared. The expectation ended up turning into frustration in the face of the question that Emanuelle always took home: why are there no women’s football disputes in domestic championships?

As a result of her daughter’s discomfort, her mother, the psychology student Daniele Oliveira, says that she tried to contact the school several times. She constantly received feedback that there were no girls interested in practicing the sport. Nor did they allow the young woman to play in the tournament with the boys.

At Emanuelle’s request, the mother persisted and sent, over the course of two months, dozens of emails to the board, but she always received the answer that there was no possibility of forming a women’s team.

With the requests denied, the family took advantage of a June party to express indignation at the school’s resistance to allowing the student to participate in the championship.

Father, grandmother, aunt and godparents supported. Daniele and Emanuelle took posters and t-shirts that contained phrases stating that women do like football and that the fight for sport is also a fight for equality.

The protest brought up similar stories. “Other students appeared asking to play, things took a very large proportion, and we saw that we were facing an unacceptable type of prejudice”, says Daniele.

After the act, the school board agreed to arrange a meeting, but made it clear that they would not allow Emanuelle to participate in the championship on her friends’ team.

It was in this scenario that Daniele decided to look for a lawyer, who filed a lawsuit as a matter of urgency so that Emanuelle could play.

“It’s a bigger issue than football, which is about prejudice. I want my daughter to know that she can do whatever she wants, and that was unacceptable and unbelievable”, says the mother, who was not thinking of taking the case to court, but found another solution.

“I’m happy because, in the end, my friends and I won the championship”, says the girl. “I will carry for my life that women have the right to do what they want.”