What we know and don’t know can influence us all, it can change our perceptions and then change our opinions. That’s the kind of change Brenda Perez and the Spanish television show El Hormiguero had in mind when they dressed up Perez, a 21-year-old professional footballer, as a man and then set her loose in a men’s amateur match. They are smart, because few things alter your opinion more than seeing a young woman school a men’s team.
¿Es el fútbol un deporte sólo de chicos? Hombres y mujeres con un balón en los pies pueden dar el mismo espectáculo.
Posted by Antena 3 on Wednesday, November 4, 2015
In a later interview, Perez said, “It was an unforgettable experience.” I bet it was.
I am never going know what it feels like for a woman to school a men’s team while dressed like a man, and to rip off my disguise in the middle of the match like I’m in Mission Impossible…AND THEN SCORE A GOAL WHILE THEY ARE ALL STILL BUSY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WORK THEIR JAWS AGAIN. It’s the most bad ass, cold blooded, epic thing I’ve seen in a while. I don’t care who you throw out there, what moment you bring up; that moment there, the reveal and the goal, is a kind of perfection that literally half the world will never achieve.
Alright, now some of you are probably thinking to yourselves, “who cares? Of course she’s better. Of course she’s done that. She’s a pro and they’re amateurs.” Some of you don’t understand.
Women have to deal with constant dismissal in the face of a cruel hand dealt to them. That moment is inspirational. It doesn’t matter that they are amateurs and she’s a pro; she’s just better. She’s more fun to watch. She’s worth the price of admission, or in this case the click of a finger. There are men’s leagues around the world that would kill for a click on a news article, a view on a goal, a share of an achievement. Those same leagues pay more money to their players then Perez will likely ever make.
Photo: Facebook Video
She shows that women’s soccer can entertain, and that is exactly what must be proven to a world that too often can’t be bothered with it. 9 million men and women have now watched this video; 178,000 have shared it. Perez and El Hormiguero set out to change perceptions, and they couldn’t have pulled it off any better.
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