If at this point in life you have not understood that neither you nor I matter, and that the only thing that matters is “the fight”, I am sorry to tell you that this is the case. In this world in which we live and, surely, in all the multiverses that could exist if it is possible, it will always be money that makes the monkey dance. Without peanuts the monkey doesn’t dance and if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
The problem is that the fight for these peanuts, for money, is sometimes fair: a reward for effort, for example. But there are other times when it is not fair: compensation. As a general rule, no matter how much compensation they give you, you will never feel that it is fair. Because when they give it to you it is because you have lost something, or you have suffered something.
Well, when you are a federated athlete, that compensation was established at a paltry 18,000 euros set in the 90s, 1990 specifically. For them to give them to you you had to have a permanent disability or die, so imagine the drama that while practicing a federated sport, even a professional one, you had an accident, you were left confined to a wheelchair and they gave you three million of the old pesetas ( because the law was made in pesetas and was not updated) and your house. Not to mention medical coverage and 18 months of health care, even if you have consequences.
Luckily for federated athletes, among whom I include myself, there have been people like Lucas de Ulacia through his Lucas 18 Foundation who, after his serious accident, have not only fought to overcome but have given their best so that this situation would change. With a lot of effort, work, meetings, pressure… In 2023 a new Sports Law came into force that adapted all regulations to the 21st century and worked on many different aspects.
But one of these aspects was related to minimum compensation and benefits, which were governed by point 3 of article 23 of the aforementioned law, which says: “The amount of the minimum benefits of compulsory sports insurance (SOD) will be, at least, that of the scale established for the assessment of damages caused in a traffic accident. Particularly, in the case of motor sportsmen.”
This brought the athlete closer to a person on the street and the fact is that in sports in general, but particularly in motor sports, it was not understandable that contempt and that treatment as second-class citizens to which all of us who have ever been federated were exposed. It was a great victory that now the sports bosses, those who have the money and the peanuts, want to take away from the only essential people in sports: the athletes.
It is sad, regrettable, questionable and even disgraceful to argue that the federations’ small business would not be sustained if they have to pay insurance premiums adapted to the new law. That is to say, the peanut matters more than the monkey. Few federations are made up of active athletes and, without a doubt, that is something that has to change, since the bulls do not look the same from the barrier as if you are in the bullring.
I, with my four decades under my belt, have been and am federated in several sports and it must also be said that not all federations or all federative positions are the same. But I am clear that there are those who come to the federations to make a career, settle in, get medals and favor their interests. I insist, they are not all, far from it, but in the end the majority prevails and the federations that have to look after the interests of the athletes end up in an association with the help of La Liga and the CSD, creating a pressure group that he fights, and is pleased that in the most complicated cases the athlete is left helpless.
The feeling is that they want all the bags of peanuts for themselves without having to dance and, furthermore, they do so without providing real figures of the costs that this insurance would have for the federations and members, only a “it would be unsustainable.” They also forget that the federations, as precisely stated by the Higher Sports Council, are financed mainly with their own funds and subsidies, that is, with public money.
That is why, while we are here, it does not hurt for all of us who are federated (whatever the sport) to think about whether our federation is transparent or not and the reasons. If you can access your federation’s accounts, you may be in for some big surprises, although the main one is that they let you see them. It is also time for us “monkeys” to take some time to think about whether we are interested in continuing dancing, because we federated members are very much to blame for the disinterest shown in general terms.
In any case, those of us who are willing to fight will continue to make noise, and even more so if we have people like Lucas de Ulacia and other brave people on our team. By the way, if you have come this far you will have seen that I have not talked about politicians and their commitments, but that joke tells itself…
