The Warsaw-based Chrzaszczyki soccer club is well known as “Poland’s first lesbian football club”. This week, as well as in light of Andrzej Duda’s re-election that is recent we’d the opportunity to talk to its founder, Italian-born Suzi Andreis, that has been residing and fighting for LGBT+ liberties in Poland for longer than 2 decades. She informs us about her work, her tasks along with her experience staying in Poland.
Hi Suzi, thank you for using the right time and energy to respond to our concerns. First things first, limitations are gradually reducing up. Just exactly What happens to be your experience throughout the pandemic?
Covid possessed an impact that is huge our task, we had to cancel our yearly soccer Against Homophobia competition that was prepared for March 14. We’d and to stop our regular conferences of y our Womxn’s Football Academy task. We been able to start training once more during the Academy at the start of June but, up to now, Covid limits ensure it is impractical to organize a competition, that have all been cancelled.
Strange times certainly. But let’s begin at the start. Exactly Just How did Chrzaszczyki Soccer Club begin?
C hrzaszczyki began very informally in the summertime of 1999. Within the LBT+ environment, a couple of people in a lesbian subscriber list had the idea satisfy in a park in Warsaw, to blow time together, and also to play soccer. It had been type of bull crap. We didn’t have united group and incredibly number of us had any soccer experience. But we liked that really game that is first much that people made a decision to carry on.
“In the very first years, our absolute goal would be to produce a place for womxn when you look at the LGBT+ community in Warsaw. ” Credit: Suzi Andreis
Exactly just What occurred next?
In the 1st years, our definitive goal would be to produce an area for womxn into the community that is LGBT Warsaw. Games would happen on a regular foundation, they certainly were available (pickup), we scarcely ever played for a genuine pitch. The concern would be to create a place where womxn that is non-heteronormative fulfill. Soccer had been a secondary problem. But things changed in 2007 once we arranged our tournament that is first it absolutely was a success! We then made a decision to concentrate on soccer, to build up as a team, not just as community of womxn.
You will be called “Poland’s first lesbian football club”, yet your club is available to every person. How can you determine yourselves?
Yes, our soccer club is released of this LGBT+ community. But we don’t ask people who wish to join us about their intimate orientation or identification. Possibly the most useful definition of Chrzaszczyki is a lady club with a lot of lesbian, bisexual, transgender womxn. Our presence as a “lesbian” team is our governmental declaration in Polish homophobic society. It’s important however it’s asa akira group sex perhaps perhaps perhaps maybe not our only objective.
Is the fact that why you call it “inclusive soccer”?
Our company is conscious that there are many social obstacles that counter womxn from involved in the overall game. Soccer is actually for example culturally considered a discipline that is exclusively male. We call our game soccer that is“inclusive because we attempt to address as much obstacles as you possibly can to create our projects accessible. Though Polish culture is quite homogenic when it comes to competition, our community that is LGBT+ is, LGBT+ folks are various.
“Our visibility as a ‘lesbian’ team is our governmental declaration in Polish homophobic society. ” Credit: Julia Szablowska
Could you expand with this?
Well, our tasks are often totally free, or have symbolic fees, in order for individuals of low income usually takes component. We don’t consider performance, nor competition: we should produce a place where womxn of any age as well as various cap cap ability, with or without sport experience can begin their adventure with soccer. Numerous at our Academy are womxn who possess perhaps not practiced any sport since their childhood and also have to construct from scrape their body that is basic coordination abilities. Additionally, some womxn in the migrant community frequently need to work a couple of jobs in order to make ends fulfill in Warsaw. This is the reason our trainings take a voluntary foundation, you don’t need to be here each week, it is possible to come, join and play whenever you want but still be person in the group. We additionally provide child caring during trainings
You talked about a few times your Academy. Are you able to inform us more about it?
In 2013, we began the Womxn’s Football Academy, a soccer school for adult womxn, meaning cis/trans, queer and non-binary individuals. The notion of our work is to produce a safe room where womxn can practice soccer, without any any style discrimination where participants can feel safe. We additionally arrange debates, movie tests, exhibitions where we discuss our experience. We skip a solid anti-discrimination motion in Polish soccer. Yes, there’s an evergrowing motion and the problem of “women” in football is much progressively visible when you look at the media. But conversations relate solely to “women” as a homogenic group that is social to sexism and gender discrimination just. We take part in this motion, but we believe that the way that is only result in the game accessible is a wider, intersectional approach to deal with social obstacles and prejudices that cause systemic discrimination and exclusion.
“We additionally organize debates, movie tests, exhibitions where we speak about our experience. ” Credit: Julia Szablowska
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