The Tri will participate in the International Blind Sports Federation World Championships in Birmingham, England
MEXICO -- The Mexican National Blind Football Team that will be present at the specialty's World Championships in Birmingham, England from August 18th to 27th, had clones of the Women's Tri uniforms made, which the team members had to pay for themselves, as they were beyond the budget of the National Commission of Physical Culture and Sport (Conade).
The Mexican National Blind Football Team preferred not to wait for Conade to finally tell them that there was no money for the clothes they would compete in and they all agreed to find a supplier who could make them.
The team decided to 'clone' the latest away uniform used by the Mexican Women's National Team.
The shirt for this attire, which will be the first uniform for the visually impaired national football team in the upcoming August event, was copied from the jersey of the Women's Tri, which was inspired by nature as it features dots or spots like those of a whale shark.
Thus, they were finally able to afford the official uniforms with their own resources, paying around 10,000 pesos for the batch.
Paid 300 pesos per uniform
Raúl Ortiz, coach of the Mexican National Team that will participate in the International Blind Sports Federation World Championships (IBSA), told ESPN that Conade only covered the registration fee, which includes hotel and meals, as well as plane tickets.
"We bought clones of the ones used by the Women's National Team; we looked for affordable ones that were made of good material. Each uniform cost us 300 pesos. We got two, one black and one white, and the entire delegation also bought theirs: the physiotherapist, the guide, myself, everyone."
"In the end, it was like: 'Guys, there probably won't be support for uniforms. So, if you want us to look good, let's save up and buy them'."
That's what happened. Although the coach of the Mexican team, Raúl Ortiz, affirmed: "Supposedly, we can't use this type of uniforms because it's the logo of the Femexfut, which is not our federation. But when these kinds of things happen, or there is no budget for uniforms from Conade, we can use or buy whatever we want."
"It sounds bad, but unfortunately we are used to it. That's why we started looking for quotes a month in advance."
Few people in the Tri know about them
Moreover, Raúl Ortiz pointed out that "our federation, unlike the Mexican Football Federation, doesn't have purchasing power, it doesn't have money. So, our federation supports us more in the decisions we make."
"Also, it's going to sound very sad, but very few people know about our sport," he emphasized, so they think that maybe the FMF won't even notice.
He also stated: "If later on, Conade tells us, 'Hey, you can't use that', then we say, 'Okay, give us uniforms then'."
Raúl Ortiz mentioned that in 2018, the members of the Mexican National Blind Football Team had an event with players from the Tri, where there were players like Raúl Jiménez and Guillermo Ochoa.
Almost didn't go
In this way, nothing will prevent the Mexican National Blind Football Team from competing in the World Championships that will be held in Birmingham, although Raúl Ortiz revealed that they were close to not being able to go.
He indicated that they had to pay a registration deposit to the organizing committee in March or April, "but obviously, that deposit wasn't made."
"What they told us is that Conade did have the money, but because of their payment process, they couldn't make partial payments, they have to pay everything at once. So in the end, I don't remember if it was paid in June or July, but because of those kinds of things, we could have been left out."