Letter from 127 Women’s Volleyball Players: “Making the Women’s Volley League Professional”

Greek volleyball players, in an announcement signed by 127 athletes, are urging the A1 championship clubs to explore the prospect of creating a women’s TAA and independent women’s volleyball league within men’s volleyball.

Specifically, the letter analyzes the achievements of women’s volleyball while pointing out a number of issues arising from the sport for women.

The announcement in detail:

“Greek volleyball players, after the achievements and general growth of our sport, to which we have contributed the most in recent years, together with the clubs participating in the A1 category, we want to start the procedures for the institutional upgrading of the sport. and the creation of TAA for the clubs participating in the senior category within and in relation to the men’s volleyball league.

To this end, we present the need that such a move would serve for the sport itself, for us and especially for the future creation of high-level players:

1. Greek Women’s Volleyball Achievements:

Already today, Greek women’s volleyball at all levels, collectively, national teams, but also individually, has to distinguish itself with many awards, despite the adversities that we face every day. For example:

A) Achievements at NATIONAL TEAM level: 2 times in a row our national team qualified for the final stages of the European Championship, after 16 years of absence, took 2nd place at the 2018 Mediterranean Games, thanks to which our country rose in the world rankings.

B) Club achievements: Almost every year a club makes good progress in European competitions (2014-2015 Pannaxiakos Quarterfinals Challenge Cup, 2016-2017 Olympic Finals Challenge Cup, 2017-2018 Olympic Conquest Challenge Cup, 2019-2020 AO Thira Quarterfinals Challenge Cup, 2019- 2020 Olympiakos Semifinal Challenge Cup which did not take place due to Covid-19.

C) Individual achievements with female athletes who have competed in championships at a higher level, while our national team is still mostly made up of Greek Championship players, a fact that proves the general rise in level.

It can be seen from the above that our efforts, as well as those of the clubs, have raised the level of the sport, which does not correspond to amateur sport, but has equal or superior success to men’s volleyball and thus actually corresponds to a high-level professional sport.

2. Problems faced by female athletes due to the amateur nature of sport:

Despite their high level of performance, the athletes remain “legally” amateurs with all the known pathogens that this entails. Indicative:

A) We are not entitled to any remuneration, we only receive travel expenses, which in no way cover our daily living expenses. As a result, we are not even eligible for unemployment insurance coverage.

B) We are not entitled to insurance which causes us many problems in recovering from our injuries but even pregnant women we are forced to be insured as protected members of our spouses/partners. Those of us who are not married are either protected members of our family (up to legal age) or we are uninsured. Thus, in emergency situations, such as with COVID-19, the athletes were completely exposed without any medical care.

Even the lack of insurance means that female athletes who have been fighting for 15+ years retire without a single badge – like they’ve never worked!!

C) Our contracts are not recognized by the FIVB

D) In ​​addition, some teams that breached their contractual obligations to female athletes continued to owe without any sanction and competed in the championship, while female athletes, on the other hand, were forced to face lengthy and costly court cases.

All of this discourages young athletes from playing volleyball at a high level, while those who choose to do so are often forced to work in parallel to make a living. Of course, this has negative consequences for the individual development of every athlete, but also for the clubs and our national team.

In addition, the situation described above has led to distortions such as hidden agreements and implicit funding through “informal” contracts, which make it difficult for both the clubs themselves and us athletes to work at all levels of our daily lives.

The only solution on our part to all this, in order for Greek women’s volleyball to be institutionally compatible with the high-quality “product” of clubs and athletes, is the transition to the professional paid level, at least by the standards of men’s volleyball, with the establishment of a women’s volleyball league -League in which TAA will participate, they will manage the championship themselves, the sponsors, etc., but also determine their operating conditions.

According to the law, the reason for this is the trade unions themselves, whose initiative – at least institutionally – must be the above transition. For the legal process, PASAP states that it will assist in providing advice, opinions, etc.

We, the Greek volleyball athletes, INVITE the clubs of the A1 category of the championship to examine the prospect of creating a TAA women’s and a women’s independent volleyball league in the context of men’s volleyball. To this end, we are available for any constructive discussion – the elaboration of a plan that will further exalt our sport, improve the quality of the sport and make our relationships more functional and worthy of the level of Greek women’s volleyball.

The 127 signing athletes from A1 National and Abroad

CHRISTODOULOU STELLA

YOTA EKATERINA

KONOMI VIRTUE

Emmanouilidou Melina

KELESIDI ILIONI

TOTSIDOU CO

SYRISTATIDI ANGELINA

MILENTIGEVIC ELENA

ZIOGA FERONIKI

XANTHOPOULOU PANAGIOTA

GENITSARIDI MARIA

DRAGOUMANOU ELENI-MARIA

SIRININA ANASTASIA

APOSTOLAKI MARY

PAPAGEORGIOU MARKELLA

MANIATOGIANNI ELEFTHERIA

ΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΟΥ ΑΡΙΑΔΝΗ

SIMPLY VICTORY

HATZIGRIGORIOU NEFELI

PANAGOPOULOU IRO

ΑΝΘΟΥΛΗ ΜΑΡΘΑ

ELISABETH PAPADEDE

LYDIA MERCURY

ΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ ΚΟΓΕΡΑΚΗ

MELINA ZIGKA

SOFIA TZALALI

MARIA SOTIRIOU

DIMITRA PAVLEA

ELENI BLIATSIOU

ARTAKIANOU MARIALENA

KONSTANTINIDOU LAMPRINI

Dialla Vasiliki

ARGYRIOU GEORGIA

ADAMOPOULOU CHRISTINA

DROSOPOULOU ALEXANDRA

GOLTSIOU GEORGIA

Kalapoda Marianna

CHRISTODOULOU CHRYSANTHI

ΒΥΘΟΥΛΚΑ ΕΛΕΝΗ

SAMPATI IFIGENEIA

KASDOWASILI IOANNA

ARVANITOPOULOU VASIA

ΚΟΥΡΛΑΜΠΑ ΚΛΕΙΩ

GREKA SOFIA

MASTORAKI KATERINA

PAGONI ELENI

ALEXIA KALANTARIDOU

KOTTA CHRISTINA

LAW VIRGANIA

MERKOURIADI KATERINA

GOSPEL OF GAROFALAKI

ΑΠΟΣΤΟΛΙΑ ΝΟΥΣΙΑ

KOUNDOURA ELENI

ΚΟΝΤΟΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΔΕΣΠΟΙΝΑ

ROUMELI FRIDAY

KUMPOURA GOSPEL

ZIKOU CONSTANTINA

KISSA SPYRIDOULA

ΤΣΙΡΙΜΩΚΟΥ ΑΓΓΕΛΙΚΗ

KAKOURATOU XENIA

GIANNELOU ZACHAROULA

DARDA ANNA

POLYNOPOULOU IOANNA

ANNA KALANATZE

PAPADOPOULOU ELENI

SUNDAY TERZOGLOU

ILIOPOULOU ELISABETH

CYPRUS STAMATIA

KLEPKOU MARIA

XANTHOPOULOU MARTINA

EVANGELIA MERTEKI

TSIOGA ANDROMACHI

PAPAFOTIOU ATHENS

ΧΑΝΤΑΒΑ ΕΥΑ

XINTARA EVITA

EMILY KONSTANTELLOU

IRINI HATZIEFSTRATIADOU

PENELOPE PAPASTERGIOU

MARIA TSITSIGIANNI

ROGA PENY

ΚΑΡΑΓΚΟΥΝΗ ΠΕΝΥ

MANOLINA KONSTANTINOU

SILK NATALIA

KARAFOULIDOU NIKOLETTA

LIAGKI ATHANASIA

NIKOLOGIANNI SILVER

ANTONAKAKI GEORGIA

ΦΛΙΑΚΟΥ ΕΥΗ

VALLINDRA ELENI

Hello Emmanuela

MITAKIDOU GEORGIA

MANA ELLI

Olga Vergidou

MARIANNA BELIA

SOFIA KOSMA

ANGEL KAWVADIA

MARINA TZOCHATZI

IOANNA GUDIMENKO

EVI GEORGIADOU

Angela papa

DIMITRA PAVLIDOU

PANAGIOTA DIOTI

IRINI TSOMBANIDOU

CONSTANTINA BALOGIANNI

OLGA PETRINOLI

Anna Milona

ANASTASIA LAPPA

TANIA KIOUTSIOUKI

CARNATION GAITANIDOU

ATHENS MARIA DANTOULA

LAMPRIANNE PITTA

CONSTANTINA HAITLI

THEOFILI CHAMALIDOU

Vasiliky Zakanidou

SOTIRIA MOTSIANOU

LINA THEODOSIOU

ELENA HANTZI

THEODORA KLEDONIARI

BASIA THEODOSIOU

MARIA STAVROPOULOU

ANTHI WASILANTONAKI

CONSTANTINA VLACHAKI

GEORGIA LAMPROUSI

OLGA STRATZALI

LIGHT COOKIE

MARIA OIKONOMIDOU

ANNA SPANOU”.