RUS W: Gendel – „We all cried in locker room when we made decision to boycott“

Gendel

In only two days, last weekend, players and coaching staff of both Men’s and Women’s Dinamo Krasnodar boycotted games in the Russian Championship. They thought there was no other way to draw attention to their financial problems – not received salaries from beginning of the season and even at the end of previous.

„It was very hard to make this decision. It was the last call for help. Never in my life I thought that I would have to participate in this action. But after consulting with our coaching staff, we decided that it was time to make such a move. We trained and played, not getting paid for seven months, and there was no response. We especially wanted to support our guys, who a day earlier did not come to the match with Enisey. The fact that we did not come to play was, of course, very disappointing and frustrating towards our fans. We all cried in the locker room when we made the decision to boycott the match. And after the boycott we could not hold back the tears, too. It’s very hard,“ Women’s Dinamo Krasnodar middle blocker Elena Gendel said.

„These issues are somehow interested only to the journalists, but not to our bosses or local government officials. The players themselves are renting apartments. If we could pay for food and accommodation, it would be easier to deal with this situation. But there are everyday matters that can not be solved without money. What to eat, for example? Someone have a husband, someone have parents who can help, someone, perhaps, have some savings… But, to be honest, we all ran out of money. Many girls owe to landlords for many months. It is very hard, of course. You can not think about training, about the matches, but you think about how to solve everyday problems. If someone from the top would come to the team and explained that this issue is going to be resolved, maybe it would be easier. We would have hope. But we live without any hope, in a continuous hopelessness. It is even impossible to sleep normally. We live in uncertainty. We do not know whether we will be paid at all. No one wants to talk with us,“ Gendel said after her team did not appear in the match against Dinamo Kazan.

Players of both Men’s and Women’s Dinamo Krasnodar wrote an open letter addressed to the Russian Security Council Secretary, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Volleyball Federation, Nikolay Patrushev, and the governor of Krasnodar Region, Veniamin Kondratyev. There is no response yet…

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