"Lara Lugli, volleyball player with Volley Pordenone in B1, cited for damages by her club for being pregnant, is the emblem of how women in sport are still victims of attitudes that have medieval roots".
This was stated by Daniela Sbrollini, senator and head of the Cantiere Cultura e Sport of Italia Viva,
commenting on the athlete's story, as told by the Gazzetta dello Sport
.
A story that is not isolated, and which as the last, striking precedent that
last autumn of the American setter of Casalmaggiore, Carli Lloyd
, insulted by the fans at the announcement of her pregnancy, and for this reason returned home by suspending her participation in A1.
So Assist, the national athletes association asks for government intervention to protect women in sport, with a letter to the premier, Mario Draghi.
"The story of Lara - continues Sbrollini - is that of hundreds of athletes who find themselves in her situation and who are denied monthly payments, terminate contracts or even simply, the right to welcome a pregnancy with joy.
Those who consider a pregnancy a damage should be ashamed. No woman should feel inadequate and inappropriate,
"she concludes.
Assist instead announced a letter to Draghi and the president of Coni, Giovanni Malagò, asking for a meeting to understand "what they intend to do to put an end to the shameful situation for which Italian women, not having access to law 91 of 1981 on sporting professionalism, are exposed to sensational cases such as that of the athlete Lara Lugli ".
"This case - says the president of Assist Luisa Garribba Rizzitelli - is not only not unique and certainly not just about volleyball. Despite having obtained a small intervention two years ago in support of athletes with the establishment of the Maternity Fund, the reality shows with violent evidence that, since there is no right to have sports work recognized, if not exclusively when unilaterally granted by employers, athletes of all sports and athletes of non-professional disciplines are condemned to relationships of illegal work and forced complicity in a logic of underground economy ".
Assist will also re-launch a petition on the Change.org platform for which over 25,000 signatures had already been collected against professionalism denied to women.
