On July 14, while most Argentines eagerly awaited the national team’s appearance in the 2024 Copa América, top-tier club Defensa y Justicia made an announcement that shocked fans and rivals alike. Striker Abiel Osorio, one of four former Vélez Sarsfield players involved in sexual assault facing charges in Tucumán, had just been signed onto the club.

The announcement on the club’s Instagram was met with a barrage of criticism, many playing on the club’s name (literally, “Defense and Justice”) failing to live up to its literal meaning. 

For the women who love the club, the signing was an outrageous stab in the back, and they quickly mobilized to tell the Defensa y Justicia’s board that they wouldn’t let it slide. A protest was called within 24 hours with support from across the fanbase.

“The indignation comes from feeling they’re messing with us,” Melisa Recalde told the Herald. Recalde is the head of the Las Pibas de Defensa (the Defensa Girls), which kickstarted protests. “How can we bring this sort of person to our club? Many of the girls who were the most outraged were the ones that have kids playing sports in the club, they were shocked by it.”

Osorio, along with former teammates Sebastian Sosa, Braian Cufré, and Jose Florentín stand accused of sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman in Tucumán in March, following a Vélez Sarsfield clash with Atlético Tucuman.

In April, the club fired all four players after an internal investigation found that they had committed “gross work misconduct” and terminated their contracts, allowing them to sign with other clubs. Two months later, the case judge granted Osorio parole, along with Cufré and Florentín. Sosa had already been given parole in March.

Recalde, who claims she’s been attending Defensa games since she was in her mother’s bosom, says Osorio’s signing goes against the club’s family values. “Even nowadays we attend games together. I don’t have kids but I take my nephew. Even my partner, who supports a different club, joins us.”

After receiving a shower of messages from concerned fans, she decided to use the Instagram account she had created to share images from female fans and start a campaign. In less than 24 hours over sixty fans joined and organized a sit-in at the gates of Defensa y Justicia’s training ground, in the southern Buenos Aires metropolitan area.

As the group grew and members chatted with each other, several came forward with their own stories of sexual abuse. “There were comments from girls saying ‘How can I not be outraged if I went through a situation like that?’” she recalled. “It feels personal, not just to us but to anyone with a person in their life who has been through something similar.

The group started a petition that club members who attended the protest signed, demonstrating their disgust with the club’s decision. An open online petition has reached over 800 signatures at the time of writing.

Defensa y Justicia currently doesn’t have a protocol against gender violence, or a gender commission. Recalde claims sources near the club’s board admitted to her it’s a battle currently being fought, with little goodwill from the club to change it. “When we reviewed the current board, we realized there were just two women on it,” said Recalde. No board member reached out to the group or made any comment about the protest.

However, the group claims they aren’t trying to attack the club, because they love it, and that this is just a very “misguided” decision among an otherwise solid relationship with the fanbase from a club that pays plenty of attention to its women sports team. Defensa y Justicia’s female football team plays in the second tier since 2017.

“The chants we sang during the protest are the same we sing in the stadium, we are only against Osorio wearing our colors,” Recalde said, adding their goal is to care and protect the club.

Recalde is hopeful the board will admit the mistake and pull the plug on the signing, although she admits some among the group fear if the player starts playing well and scoring goals, fans will chose to ignore the sexual assault charges. Osorio has so far scored only 12 goals in 86 appearances as a first team player.

Patricio Char, plaintiff in the case against the four players, lamented the announcement. “It’s not surprising that this happens in football’s sexist scene, where success is above any ethics or morals,” he told the Herald.

Las Pibas de Defensa will join another fan group in protest when Defensa y Justicia hosts Boca Juniors on Sunday, as the Argentine Primera División returns to action following the 2024 Copa América hiatus. 

“We’re happy with the protest because it got a lot of attention, from fans and the media,” said Recalde. “We hadn’t met before so it was a good experience. Now I want to take our petition to the game and add plenty more signatures.”

Defensa y Justicia president Diego Lemme did not respond to a request for comment.