Eros leads Partita del Cuore boycott after actress told her presence unwelcome for “being a woman”
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The traditional end-of-season Partita del Cuore, or Match of the Heart, is usually a celebration of fun and solidarity after an intensive Italian footballing season, involving the National Singers’ Team. This year’s event has however been overshadowed by accusations of misogyny.
Actress Aurora Leone, of the The Jackal comedy duo, said she was ejected from the pre-match dinner as she was told that her presence on the table was unwelcome, being a women. “You cannot sit here as women cannot sit at the same table as men”. These words were allegedly uttered by Gianluca Pecchini, Director General of the renowned Italian National Singers team.
After initially having his comments ignored, Pecchini doubled the dose: You have to get up because women can’t stay at the team table” and then “Women don’t play football” and “But you can put them in the stands as well, what’s that got to do with it. Women don’t play. These are our rules and if you do not want to respect them you have to get out of here”, Pecchini allegedly told the actress.
At first, the organisation tried to deny such claims, but then quickly distanced itself from the perpetrators and deleted the original tweet.
The dinner was held yesterday evening, the night before the traditional match was due to take place. Enrico Ruggeri, president and captain of the team, announced that the two people who became the protagonists of the episode were removed from office, although they were two volunteers: “We launched an internal investigation and removed two people, who are two volunteers, because they have to adhere to a moral and ethical principles of our team.”
Politicians from across the political divide and women’s rights activists have deplored the alleged discrimination.
The much-loved game is set to take place this evening at Juventus’s home ground in Turin. The Italian Singers National Team will face the Research Champions, led by Andrea Agnelli: the intent is to raise funds to support the Piedmontese Foundation for the cancer research.
