Field Work: Finding the right pitch

Midfielder Diana Redman is engaged in a constant struggle for recognition – from men on the soccer field, for Israeli sportspeople from teams abroad and, most of all, from her own league.

By ALLON SINAI
Diana Redman (photo credit: Oshri Yarimi)
Diana Redman
(photo credit: Oshri Yarimi)
Being a professional women’s soccer player in Israel isn’t easy. In fact, it is near impossible.
It’s not that finding a team is all that difficult, but rather that the word “professional” is quite misleading; top league players are paid an average of NIS 2,000 a month, barely enough to cover expenses. And as if the low pay and general amateurism weren’t frustrating enough, the national players, such as midfielder Diana Redman of Maccabi Holon, also have to endure constant abuse while playing abroad for the country that conveniently overlooks them.
In a recent Euro 2013 qualifier in Scotland, Israel’s women played under persistent anti-Israeli protests. Around 200 people, a considerable percentage of those in attendance for Scotland’s 8-0 thrashing of Israel in Edinburgh, shouted pro- Palestinian chants throughout the match, holding up banners calling for Israel to be stripped of the privilege hosting the men’s prestigious Under-21 European Championships next summer.
“They booed the entire national anthem so much that they had to turn up the volume,” Redman says. “During the game, any time someone touched the ball they booed or chanted something. It was pretty much 90 minutes of protesters screaming. They weren’t supporting Scotland and it had nothing to do with soccer.”
“Usually when we travel,” she says, “there’s someone who wants to protest about something.” However, the demonstrations in Scotland were the worst Redman has encountered since making aliya from New York in 2007, and the midfielder fears that the verbal violence could one day become physical.
“I do think about someone, God forbid, running on the field and deciding to hurt a player,” she says. “And what if they throw something on the field that is supposed to hurt somebody? “I really do believe that there’s no place for politics in football, but I think it is really easy in women’s soccer to abuse the 90 minutes and push some propaganda or political statement. It’s really damaging women’s soccer because it is really tough to get a crowd to come. I had quite a few people in Scotland who emailed me to say they were sorry for what happened and that it doesn’t represent Scotland and that they hope it doesn’t reflect badly on the country.”
Redman is not your typical soccer player.
Born in Queens, New York, 27 years ago, she has just finished her second master’s degree in trauma and crisis management while interning as a social worker. Redman played for Queens College in New York, where she graduated with a master’s of fine arts with a specialty in poetry and creative writing, a BA in sociology with a focus on social research and statistics, and a BA in English while receiving the Zolot Award for Literary Promise.
Somehow, Redman balances her soccer career with her off-field commitments, and is hoping to play abroad professionally next season.
She believes women’s soccer in Israel has plenty of potential, but concedes that at the moment the level of play and professionalism is nowhere near that of the collegiate ranks in the US.
“The mind-set of the players is different,” she says. “There are a lot less practices during the week. In Israel I have to take it on myself to go to the gym every day. They are trying to restructure the league and little by little they are trying to make it a bit better, but it’s going to take a lot of time.
“We have a lot of talent, but training has to start from a young age. It can’t start from girls in high school finally finding a team.
Countries like Scotland and Wales are doing so much better and it feels like everyone else in the world is improving but us.
Hopefully in the next couple of years things will really pick up.”
Until that happens, Redman has found another way to improve her play. Feeling she needed a challenge, she decided to join Jaffa FC of the men’s Olim league.
“I stumbled upon the league on Facebook,” she says. “I was looking for people to play with on the weekend. I came down one day and played and the level was pretty good, and I was very surprised that it was really challenging for me. A men’s league is so much faster, even if they are older or not professionals.”
Redman has also discovered significant differences between playing with new arrivals in the country and what some might consider the typical Israeli man.
“If I go to a field and see a bunch of men playing it is almost torturous to try and convince them to let me play for five minutes,” she says. “They don’t care if you play for a national team. You are a woman. In the Olim league the guys are really welcoming, and they are so friendly.
“Everybody loves to play soccer and it’s a really good feeling on the field. Nobody gave me a hard time for being a woman.
They are grown men so they are kind of past that stage of any kind of awkwardness of playing with a woman on the field.”
Despite the many difficulties, Redman feels privileged to play for the Israel national team, and although the blue-and-white is currently bottom of its Euro 2013 qualifying group with seven defeats from seven matches and a combined goal difference of one goal scored and 33 conceded, she maintains an optimistic outlook.
“After the 8-0 loss to Scotland, that was a pretty tough night, and on top of that to have all those protesters... there was just kind of a sour feeling,” she says. “We have a really tough group this time. We just got unlucky. But it doesn’t discourage me. I feel blessed that I’m even able to play for a national team and represent a country. I definitely don’t take it for granted. Football is my life and my heart and it’s something that makes me so happy.”