Football was invented by the British, they say. But it already existed long ago, rudimentary, embryonic. Was it the Chinese? The Maya? The Aztecs? Was it Florentine football? Aspartum? In many of the most ancient civilizations there are traces of protocalcio, of ball games. The case of Paula, the 10-year-old girl from Cañuelas who was banned, vetoed, expelled, expelled, denied as a footballer refers to the Paleozoic. We are in 2022, the full 21st century. How do you understand?

It can be understood without adhering to the speech of the “It will fall, it will fall, the patriarchy will fall” It is not necessary to be so politically correct. It’s about not looking ahead. How many years will it take for football, as we know it today, to mix in its professional expression? It is a matter of time. The strength of history is unstoppable. Denying gender equality, besides being anachronistic, is useless. At some point it is inexorable. Among the Paula to come there will be someone like Messi. Or Pele. O Maradona. Perhaps the generations who today are in the fullness of productive life will not be able to see it fully. But there are children. And grandchildren. And there will be great-grandchildren. And another company. It’s another world, if the missiles don’t destroy it first.

Only yesterday the woman’s box did not cross the edge of the kitchen. They did not vote. They got married in advance with the chosen candidate. They had no voice. They hardly existed. But the rivers have passed under the bridges. And they will continue to flow. It’s about looking a little bit, nothing more.

FIFA, a group of bureaucrats who strive to think well, allows and encourages the practice of mixed football up to 12 years because from that age “Biological and psychological differences are increasing”. The AFA is in line with that regulation which is why Paula was excluded and her team lost the points.

The popular term “thermal head” is universal, it seems. But there is a way out: that the scented executives of FIFA and its affiliated associations see that mixed football is a business. Or, in other words, show them. So boys and girls will start running after the ball at the same time, on the same court, in the same matches. Then they will invent a speech full of false progress to justify it, but the reason will be the sponsors and the televisions that will discover the vein. All in his time.

The subscriber may not see it, but sooner or later they will. You know, the undersigned, what he is talking about. You have toured the city of Buenos Aires and the voluminous suburbs bringing children, grandchildren and grandchildren to participate in Lega, AFA, friendly tournaments of all kinds and fur. He saw no less than five girls playing soccer. In different places, of different social conditions, of different cultures. and they broke it, they competed as equals, they danced up to the assholes and the most curious thing is that those assholes, grown up in machirulism, faced the integrated competition with surprising naturalness. Those same kids will produce, today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, a radical and unstoppable change.

In the meantime, you have to settle for indignation. And, resigned, tell Paula to go play with the dolls for now.