Dalma Magali Cortadi, together with comrade Gastón Rodríguez, in full recovery.
The artistic streak was an option and he got the chance as a member of a cumbia band. But the experience on stage and on stage did not thrill her. Dalma Cortadi projected her passion onto the green mantle of soccer fields and then decided to put on her shorts, hang the whistle around her neck and show off her skills in professional refereeing.
Dalma Cortadi (24) is the judge who last Sunday received a brutal attack from a footballer in a match between the clubs of González Cháves, in the southeast of Buenos Aires. “I never imagined that the player could react in this way. After the punch I fell to the ground and they gave me another kick. I managed to get up but passed out. After that, I don’t remember anything, ”Dalma told Clarín, from her home in the” Boca “neighborhood of Tres Arroyos, where she is recovering from the wounds of that forgotten day.
The image of this irrational beating was reproduced throughout the country because it was recorded in a video of a local radio: the defender Cristiano Tironeof the Circolo Deportivo Garmense (from the municipality of De La Garma) runs towards the woman and hits her hard in the back, hitting her in the neck.
Cortadi, in the privacy of her home, with her friends who support her while she is recovering.
“We are trained for critical situations. My partner on the shortlist (Lucas Boneiro) immediately approached and we walked away from the turmoil. But this man came from behind and no one could stop him“, recalled the referee, who this Wednesday will continue with clinical studies that will evaluate the consequences of the injury.
He has a head injury, bruises and severe contracture in the cervical area. But Dalma is already thinking about her return. “Arbitration is my passion. It’s a life style. That’s what I want to do every weekend. I am waiting for the moment to prepare the bag and go to the stadiums of Tres Arroyos and the region. I will miss him because I can’t wait to get back on the pitch, “he says desperately as he rests.
Magalí Cortadi with his assistants Lucas Boneiro and Maite Otaegui.
Cortadi entered the world of arbitration by accident. Although he had a precise idea, he went to the door of the course held at the Club Huracán de Tres Arroyos complex, to accompany his companion, Gastón Fernández.
“Come on, let’s go, you sign up,” she told him that day in 2017. But in the end she was the one who filled out the forms and it has become her favorite job ever since.
Football and sports have surrounded her since she was a girl. She accompanied her grandfather, Osvaldo Quintana, to the Boca de Tres Arroyos pitch, where he was field assistant. Always glued to fences in Sunday matches. Of her grandfather of her from her paternal branch, Miguel Cortadi was an athlete, marathon runner. And manager in the sports field. His brother played for various clubs in the area and his father also wore regional shirts.
He completed eight months of theoretical and practical training in the course directed by Walter Torraca, then a refereeing course arrived at the Centro Studi Regionali (Cresta) and a few months before the pandemic he made his debut in the lower leagues.
Magalí Cortadi on the pitch.
“Front line judge, in an inferior match. I never forget. I shook the first 15 minutes near the lime line”, Dalma now remembers that distant referee debut.
“More than a dozen girls had signed up and two of that litter remained. In the first division we started with the games in Necochea. It was a difficult experience. Because we always face aggressive or violent situations. Insults, some fights, some threats. It is part of this work “, acknowledges the judge. Although just in case, he clarified:” I never thought that someone would beat me like this “and the memory dates back to Sunday 31, at the Independencia de Chaves stadium, where he the incident occurred which now has its doctors and offices visiting.
The way of women’s arbitration has little of the romantic. “Go wash the dishes, it’s the least they scold you. We’re used to it. Sometimes they throw things at us from outside. It’s the same as men, but little by little people begin to recognize that we can do it and work well”, admits the young woman.
“I prepare myself every week to drive better every day. All parties leave the lessons. We have training meetings and we take it very responsibly. We know we are exposed, but we take the risk. This case that happened to me had more repercussions because society is more sensitive “, the judge analyzed.
Fabiano Debesa
Source: Clarin
