As the cradle of the ultra phenomenon since 1969, Italy was the first country in which female participation in stadium stands began … to develop. And since then it has not stopped growing with the progressive entry of women into the field of football as athletes and as fans in general. In Spain, although their presence in the most radical movements is a minority, “they have always been there. In many cases as mere companions, but there are also cases of active militancy and some groups in which women’s sections have come to exist,” say sources close to those environments.
Traditionally, the girls were, as Alberto del Campo points out, “the girlfriends of the ultras themselves, to whom they were assigned some usually secondary role.” In the fights, says the anthropologist, “they were a kind of assistants, nurses to take care of the boys, and they were not, naturally, on the front line of the pitched battles over issues of muscularity, among others.”
Now, things have changed and “there are women who are interested in the phenomenon and have become full members, partly also because ultra groups have been decriminalized and are more open,” explains the professor at the University of Seville.
For José Guillermo Fouce, however, the female presence among the most radical fans bothers him. “It is difficult to dissociate that they are transversally sexist groups and that they are part of them,” concludes the social psychologist.
