“Contradictions, lies and omissions” in the trial against Jorge Martínez, the coach of the Boca women’s team accused of sexual abuse

On March 7, 2023, Florencia Marcó, press officer of the Boca women’s football team reported to the Court that the team coach, Jorge Martinez, had sexually harassed and abused her since early 2022. She then claimed that all authorities at the club were aware of the situation and that no one had done anything about it. This Friday, one year later, the trial began. For five hours, 14 witnesses testified, of which 11 have an employment relationship with the club. “They only told lies”ensures Clarion Andrea Lucangioli, Marco’s lawyer.

“The account of these witnesses was full of contradictions and liesas in the case of the two members of the Soccer Council, Jorge Bermudez AND Marcelo Delgado, who said they learned about the abuse and harassment from the press. The victim, Florencia Marco, stated that the three members of the Football Council, Bermúdez, Delgado and Raúl Cascini, They were made aware of the situation of abuse and harassment towards her and other players“Lucangioli details.

“According to his statements, They are responsible for defining the working methodology, supervise the training and work of coaches. Given what has been said, we ask ourselves, how can they do it correctly and without actively intervening when they already do it There is a report prepared by the Club’s Inclusion Department, regarding the abuse and harassment of Jorge Martínez? This highlights the chivalric pact between boysas they define themselves, where one behaves as the main author of the incident and the others as accomplices who cover it up”, continues the lawyer.

And he continues: “While the trial was taking place behind closed doors, outside in the corridor, there was the lawyer who accompanied another member of the Soccer Council, Mauricio Serna, to advise witnesses on both sides, currently linked to the Institution . .: “They don’t have to say anything they don’t want to”, “if you’ve forgotten, you’ve forgotten”, “they’ll explain to you that the statement is under oath, but it’s just to scare you, because nothing happens’. All these recommendations were accompanied by sandwiches and drinks for everyone. This advice to witnesses led to lies, contradictions and omissions during testimony.”

“Clear, reliable and coherent stories came out people who are not currently connected with Club Atlético Boca Juniors,” he says.

Indifference and silence

Florence Marco He is 36 years old and has worked as a printer at Boca for twelve years. Juniors (now on leave). In 2022 she will be responsible for the communication of women’s football. But immediately, he claims, the harassment and abuse began by Martínez, then coach of the First Division team. He also said that several players had been harassed by the coach. He said several times that he reported everything internally; and that no one has ever done anything. Tired, she approached the court and, only after making her complaint public, the DT was removed from his position.

“Specialist teams on the subject must be established in the departments for inclusion and equality who know and are prepared that they respect the protocols, which in this case were not respected at any time“says the lawyer, specialized in discrimination and gender.

“When the psychologist from the Department of Inclusion and Equality of Boca spoke, in the oral process, the judge was perplexed. The psychologist said that she hadn’t found the contact serious or important enough to take any kind of action, and that’s why she passed it on to human resources to give him a leave of absence because she was dealing with something work-related, but what the abuse, harassment, or touching didn’t seem that important to him towards Marco and the other players to make a decision within the Inclusion and Equality Department”, he says.

“The person who signed the report was a social worker who had been called in to provide counseling, and when they asked him what he did and if he was a gender specialist, He just said that he had taken a course and that he liked the subject, a disaster. They do something like that but they don’t work seriously, she says. Inclusion and gender equality departments must be implemented in clubs with specialized teams in this area., with psychologists, lawyers, social workers. So when a complaint comes in they know how to work.”

“When I asked the Boca Inclusion Department what they were going to do, they told me they were going to move the case to a disciplinary tribunal, and now to the oral trial They said there was no disciplinary department. Everything is like this, but nothing is done, they don’t give it importance,” says the lawyer.

And he makes a comparison with the complaint made by a sports journalist to four Vélez players: “Chapeau to the president of Vélez who immediately disengaged the players for the duration of the investigation and called the victim by telephone. Flor has been working at Boca for twelve years and has never had any problems with anyone. And no one ever called her a disaster.”

“Harassment and abuse in football continues because They are men who maintain power, because abuse and harassment against women has become natural. Because it’s their way of managing and bonding. Why They maintain this pact of chivalry with each other. They impose fear on victims of abuse and violence. Here because This process can mark a before and an after so that this type of behavior ends”, concludes Lucangioli.

The trial – in which the oral prosecutor no. intervened. 22 directed by Sergio Paduczak, with the intervention of the Oral Prosecutor n. 22 directed by Dr. Martínez Burgos – entered the break at the request of the former footballer’s defence. It resumes this Monday at 9.30am in the Corti Comodoro Py. Subsequently, the briefs will be presented and the sentence will be read.