Florentino and Real Madrid's women's team
Be wary of December 28 news in Spain
As is the tradition every December 28 (Día de los Inocentes / Spain's version of April fools') we ran with a hoax article and I hope no-one was offended by our story. I like this annual tradition and every year each journalist has a picture from their childhood accompanying their respective articles. Yesterday's story came from Marco Ruiz with the announcement that Florentino had finally backed-down and was going to create a Real Madrid women's football team and bring in the best names in the game. I'm sure most of you saw through this and guessed that the whole thing was done in jest.
Major European support
It also needs to be mentioned that behind this joke therein lies the intention to raise the matter that I feel Real Madrid are making an error by not supporting the women's game. Most of the big names in European football have a women's team, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and PSG to name but a few. Thanks to the sponsorship of Iberdrola, the support of LaLiga president Javier Tebas and the television coverage given by the GOL, network, the game is growing. Testament to this are big crowds for recent game at San Mamés, the Ciutat de Valencia, the Calderón and Miniestadi. The presence of a Real Madrid would be a massive boost for the game and with the passing of each day their non existence puzzles me more.
Wishful thinking
Detractors will say Florentino is under no obligation to develop a women's' team and they are correct, However, being the president of the club comes with a certain social responsibility especially after the favours granted to his administration by the local Madrid council. I genuinely feel that the creation of a Real Madrid Fenemino would do wonders for the club's public profile and image. In the end it's actually something of a shame that the Marco Ruiz story was nothing more than just wishful thinking.