Danae Boronat: "It's very easy to have an opinion from the sofa"

--- Have you already thought about what you will say in the last show?

--- If it's the last of the season, I'm going to say one thing, and if it's definitely the last, I'm going to say another.

--- Therefore, it's not true that Zona Franca is ending.

--- No.

--- But this has been published.

--- There are people who publish many things. In fact, I'll tell you that there are many people who want the show not to continue. I don't know what we've done to them. But for now, this is not happening.

--- Who wants Zona Franca to end?

--- Well, look, many people have criticized us because they wanted my spot or because they wanted to be part of the show. As presenters or doing a segment. People who offered to participate, but it didn't go well. A bit sad.

--- Seen in perspective, wouldn't it have been better to start from scratch, with a new show, a new set, and for you to feel it was your own?

--- I haven't thought about it much because I know it wasn't possible. And I am a very practical person. If things can't be, I don't dedicate much time to them. Surely I would have saved myself a lot of hate on social media and a lot of unnecessary noise. But since it wasn't possible, that's it. In life, you have to be practical.

--- It wasn't easy. You take on the job that until now was done by a person who deeply resonated with the audience and who left unexpectedly. Was it a poisoned candy?

--- For me, it has been a gift. I am enjoying the show a lot and I think it shows. People who know me tell me so. And how can I not have a good time if every night people come to the show with many things to say, who have a discourse and who do things that improve our lives? These are people I deeply admire. Holy shit! I come from interviewing footballers, you know!

--- And it's not the same?

--- Out of a hundred thousand interviews with footballers, 10 will be good. But also, Zona Franca was a huge challenge for me! Going out and doing a monologue every day. I've talked to actors and theater people who have told me that making people laugh is extremely difficult, and doing it every day with a text about current events, which I don't write because I'm neither a comedian nor a scriptwriter. Holy shit!

--- And also a sports journalist.

--- Exactly! A bit like: "and where are you going?". Many people have told me this. Who are you to dare to get into a world that doesn't belong to you? And you say, wait a minute! Jordi Basté started doing sports and the list of sports journalists who have later ended up doing something else is long. But of course, they are all men...

--- Are they not questioned?

--- No.

--- It's as if accepting something when others give it up is penalized.

--- Yes. I think about the issue of the Barça players and the Spanish national team. Now there's a World Cup, and some people think that, for them to be true to themselves and their principles, they shouldn't go. And that, from the outset, would mean losing a lot of money, reputation, or the possibility of advancing in their career. I made a tweet about this saying: "maximum respect for the players who decide to return," and many people replied: "respect for those who have decided not to go." And you know what? That's very easy to say from your couch. Empathy is what we practice least in our society.

--- Is it a matter of empathy?

--- Yes. Because here everyone looks out for themselves. And I think I wish all these people were in the shoes of these players, or in mine when I was offered this challenge that motivates me, excites me, and with which I am not harming anyone. Here is a person who has resigned, and then you have the possibility of taking on that position. I would never be a climber, and besides, I knew Joel Díaz, I respected him and I still respect him.

--- You went to his show as a guest.

--- And many have told me that because of how that interview went, they thought of me to do it. And going back to empathy, I want to tell you something.

--- Go ahead.

--- I think about when I presented that cryptocurrency event. If people put themselves in the shoes and circumstances of others, they would understand that I was unemployed at that time. Mediapro fires me, and in August, I find myself unemployed and not knowing what will happen to me in September. And they call me and ask if I want to work one day presenting that event. And you say yes, because you have to pay bills. And people criminalize you and tell you that you are inciting people to ruin themselves. And that's why I tell you it's very easy to criticize from the couch.

--- I know what you're talking about, I have a master's degree in it.

--- (laughs). Of course! And from the couch, they tell them they shouldn't go to the World Cup, that it's a sell-out. But, you know what? Aitana Bonmatí can win a Ballon d'Or if she has a good World Cup. In 10 years, if she doesn't go to the World Cup, who will remember why she didn't go? Here, what we will always remember is that she stopped being able to win a Ballon d'Or and, therefore, much more money and sponsors. It's very easy to talk when you have nothing at stake.

--- Can you be a female journalist, beautiful, outspoken, with a pair of well-placed ovaries, and not pay the price?

--- It always takes its toll. I know there are things that will never be offered to me and that I will never opt for because of things I have said or done.

--- What things have you said or done?

--- Supporting political prisoners. In Madrid, I was offered a job that I would say was pretty much the dream of my life, and when we had almost everything closed, someone with a lot of power said that I was "the independentist Catalan." How many men express their opinions and nothing has happened to them? We have a much weaker position, and if you say what you think, well, you fall faster.

--- Has it happened to you?

--- I have two lawsuits from the Spanish Football Federation for giving my opinion in an interview. And they were asking me! I hadn't explained this yet. Two lawsuits against my honor, when I didn't disrespect anyone. I explained the modus operandi of a federation that I consider to be old-fashioned, archaic, and that does absolutely nothing to advance women's football. And they file lawsuits to scare you.

--- How have you managed harassment and insults on social media?

--- There have been all kinds of periods. I think that because I've been suffering it for so many years in the world of football, it's not new to me. But with Zona Franca the difference is that it happened with people from here, whom I feel close to, and you say: "damn!". I was used to blocking people from Madrid, and suddenly, those from home also want to hurt. But I don't think it has affected me so much as to need therapy. However, I refuse to get used to it and will continue to denounce it.

--- Have you received support from the TV station? From the team?

--- Nothing.

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--- The famous impostor syndrome.

--- This has been a constant in my life. A woman doing football? Think that I have met coaches and people from football who have come to my programs and during the commercial break they have looked at me and said: "hey, it seems you know about this, and that you like it." They would never say that to a guy.

--- What has made you keep a cool head and not give up when everything was against you?

--- Surely unconsciousness. Because I'm quite carefree. My mother tells me many times "girl, you are so carefree." Because if not, I wouldn't have been able to continue. Because everything was very hostile.

--- When was that feminist commitment and consciousness born that you always preach and practice?

--- Well, I would say much older, eh, around 20 years old. In university and in my first jobs, when you start to wonder if getting paid less than men is normal or if I will have the same opportunities as my male colleagues. With football narration, it's very paradigmatic! Why had no woman ever narrated a men's first division football match before me? Well, I did it, even though others took the credit.

--- Who?

--- They already know.

--- We live in the system we live in.

--- And should we keep perpetuating this fucking system?

--- When did football appear in your life?

--- It's always been there. My father played amateur football, my brother, my cousin. We would go to the field on weekends and I would cry for football.

--- Did you have female role models or did you also want to be Puyal?

--- Look, Puyal was the fucking boss, but I wanted to be Pilar Calvo. I've always told her that. And not just her. In fact, here we've been lucky that both on radio and TV there have always been women doing sports: Imma Pedemonte, Isabel Bosch, Olga Viza.

--- It's always said about journalists and politicians that it's better not to become friends if we want to do our job well. Is the same true for sports journalists and football players?

--- Yes, totally. Sports journalism has a problem and that is hooliganism. We only defend our team and the players we like, and that is very problematic. But to have good sources you have to be close to the players. And in the case of women, or at least for me, it has been very difficult for them not to think I wanted something with them.

--- The players thought you wanted to hook up with them?

--- I'm grateful I haven't had to deal too much with players because it was always: "how do I say it or how do I do it so they don't think I have an interest beyond the professional?" They are so used to no one telling them no, that you have to constantly justify yourself: "I just want an interview, I want information." And then they don't answer your phone.

--- Do you have friends among the Barça players?

--- No. I would tell you that I have cordiality. Above all, because as a result of writing the book ---Don't call them girls, call them footballers (Libros Cúpula)--- they saw that in me they had an ally. I don't defend them because they are my friends. I am defending a cause and a situation that is illogical in the 21st century and that is the way women's football is treated.

--- Do you think women's football will end up adopting the same clichés as men's? More aggressive, more distant, more elitist.

--- Yes.

--- Resounding.

--- Now it is said of the players that they are much more approachable, that they play cleaner or that they don't make so much drama. And all this is fantastic. But you cannot be approachable if millions of people follow you. They can now stop to sign autographs when the match ends because there are 5,000 people in the Johan Cruyff stadium and perhaps 100 want autographs. What I would like to see is that, if they really have the option of reaching many more people, they have to decide if they can continue to be approachable or not and if elite sport can be done in another way.

--- In what way?

--- Well, by socially committing to causes. They, for example, have normalized homosexuality and do not hide. In their case, it is a taboo. And since they come from where they come from, many have been insulted as children or called tomboys, I believe that this social commitment will not be lost. But other things surely will. But well, hopefully they have that possibility because that will mean that the situation has been equated with theirs.

--- Was your first job as a journalist?

--- I only worked one summer at the reception of a hotel in Torredembarra and because it was a family business. I would have been 16 or 17 years old. And I loved it! After that, always as a journalist. The truth is that I have been very lucky.

--- What trip has marked you?

--- Kenya. I went on a trip to the country when I got married. It impacted me. I am clear that I want to return to Africa.

--- Do we share a passion for karaoke?

--- When are we going?

--- What's your hit?

--- Don't stop me now, by Queen. And also Joaquín Sabina, with Nos dieron las diez. I also sing Rocío Jurado.

--- What do people not imagine about you?

--- That I ride my bike everywhere. Because they see me as a posh girl. And until recently I also rode a scooter, but I forgot it in a taxi and haven't recovered it.

--- How do you see women's football in 20 years?

--- Uf, I'm not at all clear about it. I'd like to tell you it's totally consolidated, but I don't think so. Barça is the total exception. What they pay their players or that they play at Camp Nou is an exception. And if all the other clubs don't get on board, there's a danger that Barça will get off. Because within the club there are people who don't believe in this women's football thing and consider it a fad.

--- And where do you see yourself in 20 years?

--- In 20 years I'll be 57... Man, I hope retired! On a beach in the Seychelles ---she laughs---

--- Retired at 57? This means there will have been good projects and you will have made a fortune.

--- No. Because do you know what I aspire to? To know how to live with very little, which is what I'm already trying to do now, in my 50-square-meter apartment where I'm very happy.

--- People also don't imagine that you live in a 50-square-meter apartment.

--- Probably. But people think that journalists earn a lot of money! Until recently I was still sharing an apartment!

--- How do you like your ColaCao?

--- Cold. Always very cold, even in winter.