SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2009
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Quick summary (a lot has happened):
Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales, during the presentation ceremony after the Spanish women's team won the 2022 Women's World Cup, grabbed his crouch in a lewd gesture before later forcibly kissing Spain striker Jenni Hermoso on the lips.
Rubiales has a long history of accusations of sexual misconduct going back years, many of them that went through the justice system, all of which have been ignored by the Spanish FA. In light of this latest, very public incident, however, there were immediately calls for Rubiales to resign, from both within the women's team and from outside entities, including several prominent figures in Spanish football. Others connected with the team and the FA have resigned, including the president of Spain's women's football committee.
Yesterday there were leaks from Rubiales' inner circle that he would resign at an emergency summit of the Spanish FA governing body. However, when he arrived at the podium, he gave a belligerent speech saying (literally over and over again) that he would not resign. It amounted to a "Fuck you, I can do what I want" message that, sadly, was applauded by many members of the Spanish FA in attendance (it is important to note that most of them voted to reappoint Rubiales to the role on the back of him giving every member a significant salary increase).
This is all coming during a time when the team, prior to the World Cup, had been vigorously calling for Jorge Vilda, the coach of the Spanish women's team, to be removed due to highly unprofessional behaviour (lack of match preparation, substandard coaching, seemingly not taking the women's team very seriously based on communications both to the team and to media, etc.) and accusations of a toxic environment, mainly in the form of rampant misogyny and sexism among his staff. Much of the team even went so far as to say they would not play in the World Cup if Vilda was not removed, though, most ultimately backed down from that position when Rubiales refused to remove Vilda.
Fast forward to today, and the embattled Rubiales has now vowed to give Vilda a new four-year contract, which is difficult to interpret as anything other than a rebuke of player power and agency given the circumstances. He has also threatened to sue all those accusing him of sexual misconduct (both in this incident and previous ones) and has claimed he is the victim of a witch hunt by "false feminists".
For her part, Jenni Hermoso has said that at no time did she consent to being kissed by Rubiales. The entire World Cup winning team and many members of FUTPRO union submited a joint statement demanding Vila's removal. And just in the last few hours most of the women's team has come out to say they will not play any games for Spain until Rubiales is removed.
The Spanish government, via the National Sports Council, are now pushing for him to resign or be removed, though, it is unclear if they actually have the power to do so. Victor Francos, the heading the council, has said "We want this to be the 'Me Too' of Spanish football and that this means a change. I apologise to the players, because they didn't deserve this week. Hopefully we can celebrate again when this storm passes."
I personally hope this reckoning does occur, as there is pervasive (and, at times, dangerous) misogyny and sexism within Spanish football (and the culture more broadly, unfortunately) and it needs to be stamped out as quickly and comprehensively as possible. Rubiales refusal to accept that his behaviour was unacceptable, even in the face of the many accusations of misconduct in the past, which the FA has quietly ignored, and even double down to attack his accusers, is representative of a deeply rooted machismo malignancy within Spain. And this public scandal only acts to expose it again to the light.
Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales, during the presentation ceremony after the Spanish women's team won the 2022 Women's World Cup, grabbed his crouch in a lewd gesture before later forcibly kissing Spain striker Jenni Hermoso on the lips.
Rubiales has a long history of accusations of sexual misconduct going back years, many of them that went through the justice system, all of which have been ignored by the Spanish FA. In light of this latest, very public incident, however, there were immediately calls for Rubiales to resign, from both within the women's team and from outside entities, including several prominent figures in Spanish football. Others connected with the team and the FA have resigned, including the president of Spain's women's football committee.
Yesterday there were leaks from Rubiales' inner circle that he would resign at an emergency summit of the Spanish FA governing body. However, when he arrived at the podium, he gave a belligerent speech saying (literally over and over again) that he would not resign. It amounted to a "Fuck you, I can do what I want" message that, sadly, was applauded by many members of the Spanish FA in attendance (it is important to note that most of them voted to reappoint Rubiales to the role on the back of him giving every member a significant salary increase).
This is all coming during a time when the team, prior to the World Cup, had been vigorously calling for Jorge Vilda, the coach of the Spanish women's team, to be removed due to highly unprofessional behaviour (lack of match preparation, substandard coaching, seemingly not taking the women's team very seriously based on communications both to the team and to media, etc.) and accusations of a toxic environment, mainly in the form of rampant misogyny and sexism among his staff. Much of the team even went so far as to say they would not play in the World Cup if Vilda was not removed, though, most ultimately backed down from that position when Rubiales refused to remove Vilda.
Fast forward to today, and the embattled Rubiales has now vowed to give Vilda a new four-year contract, which is difficult to interpret as anything other than a rebuke of player power and agency given the circumstances. He has also threatened to sue all those accusing him of sexual misconduct (both in this incident and previous ones) and has claimed he is the victim of a witch hunt by "false feminists".
For her part, Jenni Hermoso has said that at no time did she consent to being kissed by Rubiales. The entire World Cup winning team and many members of FUTPRO union submited a joint statement demanding Vila's removal. And just in the last few hours most of the women's team has come out to say they will not play any games for Spain until Rubiales is removed.
The Spanish government, via the National Sports Council, are now pushing for him to resign or be removed, though, it is unclear if they actually have the power to do so. Victor Francos, the heading the council, has said "We want this to be the 'Me Too' of Spanish football and that this means a change. I apologise to the players, because they didn't deserve this week. Hopefully we can celebrate again when this storm passes."
I personally hope this reckoning does occur, as there is pervasive (and, at times, dangerous) misogyny and sexism within Spanish football (and the culture more broadly, unfortunately) and it needs to be stamped out as quickly and comprehensively as possible. Rubiales refusal to accept that his behaviour was unacceptable, even in the face of the many accusations of misconduct in the past, which the FA has quietly ignored, and even double down to attack his accusers, is representative of a deeply rooted machismo malignancy within Spain. And this public scandal only acts to expose it again to the light.
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