Les Footeuses de M ... train on the grounds of AS Toulouse-Mirail, of which they now constitute a section.

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Footers of M

  • A little over two years ago, the Footeuses de M… joined AS Toulouse-Mirail, after wandering from field to field.

  • The team, which mainly brings together beginners of all ages, presents itself as "a benevolent single-sex football workshop" for "women and trans people of all levels".

This Saturday morning, the Footeuses de M… have an appointment to train at the Canto Laouzetto stadium, in the Toulouse district of Bellefontaine.

In the afternoon, they will offer activities around their discipline at the feminist village of La Grave, organized by the collective "All on strike".

Sport and activism.

Here are the two facets of this team, which defines itself as “a benevolent, non-mixed football workshop” for “women and trans people of all levels”, in one day.

Anaïs (32) is one of the pioneers: “I took part in the very first training five years ago, there were ten of us.

Today they are "between 30 and 40", including "15 to 20 per training", aged 18 to almost 50 years.

They come from different social backgrounds and display, or not, various faiths.

The vast majority had never played for a club before this experience.

Les Footeuses de M ... in the locker room of their club, AS Toulouse-Mirail.

- Footers of M

“At the very beginning, with a few women, we realized that we liked football,” describes Anaïs.

It's never too late to start, we've found someone to teach us.

We talked about it around us and very quickly, there were people interested.

"

The coach played in D2

For a long time, the Footeuses de M ... wandered from field to field, in different corners of Toulouse: Gironis, Argoulets ... "Most clubs told us that they did not accept veiled women," continues Anaïs.

However, we want no one to be excluded from the team as long as there is a sharing of the values ​​of inclusiveness.

“And then, a little over two years ago, AS Toulouse-Mirail (ASTM) opened its facilities to the team, which has become a section of the club.

“We have training slots, good equipment, that's perfect,” says “coach” Allison.

The 27-year-old former goalkeeper dabbled in D2 near Evreux, Normandy.

With Les Footeuses, the requirements are necessarily different.

“I have already coached beginner boys and I offer the same exercises: driving the ball, passing, learning to do the touches, positioning on the field, remembering the rules…” “What I like in the group, it is that when they arrive on the field, they forget their differences and are there to play together, to share a common passion.

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Solidarity and competition to come

The ASTM offers licenses at cost price, around 30 euros.

“Some players are in a precarious situation, so the rest of the team contributes for them,” says Anaïs.

In an ideal world, so without Covid-19, the Footeuses de M… would have participated in a leisure championship for the first time this season, in eight-a-side football.

It's a postponement, for the start of September if all goes better.

“Playing between us is good, but there is not this little challenge that allows us to evolve, to learn,” Allison advances impatiently.

Ten or fifteen players are interested in the competition, the others are more there to decompress, have fun.

»Anaïs seems ready.

But she warns: “If there is ever a problem or a person is excluded from a match because they are transgender or veiled, we will stand together and we will forfeit.

"

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  • Video

  • Toulouse

  • Sport

  • Soccer

  • Women's football

  • Transgender

  • Militancy

  • Inclusion