Spain's female football referees on frontline of coronavirus fight

"I'm just doing my bit," says Iragartze Fernandez, the part-time referee turned full-time nurse who has swapped the whistle for a face-mask in the hope of helping Spain combat the deadly coronavirus.

The 26-year-old, who officiates matches in La Liga Iberdrola, the top tier of the women's game, and Segunda B, the third tier of the men's, has been practising as a nurse for five years at the Rekalde Health Centre in Bilbao.

But as the relentless spread of the virus has stretched Spain's hospitals to breaking point, Iragartze Fernandez has made her medical role full-time to help manage the rush of patients.

"When someone arrives with a cough and a fever, my job is to analyse their symptoms, while wearing full protective equipment," she told AFP.

"The risk of us transmitting the disease is high because we are constantly living next to it. That's a very stressful experience because you're always fighting against something you can't see. You're always playing at a disadvantage."
- 'I'm not Superwoman' -
"I'm just doing my bit, like everyone else."
"But as a nurse, I have to take a lot of abuse as well from people who maybe don't want to queue or who want to be examined first because they think their situation is more serious than the person next to them."
"I've been working in the same medical centre for two years and to be honest, no one has ever said thank you until now. It's really heart-warming to see our work is being recognised."
- Sport 'an escape' -
"The only thing to really disconnect is sport. It helps me forget everything."
"They send us videos and tests with decisions to make," she said. "We also have physical exams to pass, with suggestions according to the equipment we have at home, like if we don't have elastic bands or exercise bikes. We adapt."