Rubiales was criticized for his performance after the World Cup final. Photo: Reuters/Hannah McKay
It was a real catalog of rudeness with which Luis Rubiales celebrated the celebration of the World Cup in his country. Not content with theatrically clutching his crotch with Queen Letizia and her 16-year-old daughter, or kissing Spaniard Jennifer Hermoso on the lips, the head of the national federation leaned in for another kiss with match winner Olga Carmona, later stating while changing. room he marries Hermoso in Ibiza. He has since apologized, admitting he made a mistake. But in one evening there were too many examples of his lustful behavior to be justified by a single omission.
The darkest aspect of this affair was how, at the end of a wonderful World Cup, women's achievements were swept away by an attention-seeking man, regardless of boundaries. It was the proudest moment in Hermoso's life when she lifted a trophy for her country. Yet the image that went around the world was that of Spain's most powerful administrator, pressing his face against her on the podium, which she admitted she «didn't like.»
This is not the first time that female glory on the grandest stage has been sabotaged in this way. One still shudders at the memory of He Zi, the Chinese diver who won silver at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, when her husband knelt down at the medal ceremony to propose. It gave the impression not so much of a nice gesture as of a control mechanism. Now, in front of a huge TV audience, Rubiales has gone beyond the bounds of what can only be described as an abuse of power.
This man does not hesitate to exercise his power over the Spanish women's team, sometimes threateningly. Rubiales is the main assistant to Jorge Vilda, a head coach whose popularity has fallen so low that his players spent minutes after the victory over England celebrating the victory at the opposite end of the Stadium Australia field from the technical staff. To say that Rubiales did not support these women when they first expressed concern about Vilda, accusing him of asking that their hotel doors be left unlocked so he could check the rooms would be an understatement.
When the 15 went so far as to renounce international duties in protest, he was caustic, declaring that they «do not love their country» and «want only to destroy.» It may have been a cynical call to patriotism, but it worked. Vilda remained in office, and Rubiales was left to enjoy the Spanish triumph here in Sydney, for which he claimed so much that he felt entitled to kiss the star player on the lips. Never before has a World Cup winning team presented such a diagram of dysfunction.
Rubiales had to apologize to Spain's Equality Minister Irene Montero, calling his actions «sexual abuse.» Prior to this, his federation had taken an awkward North Korean approach to crisis management, attributing a statement to Hermoso that characterized the kiss as a «completely spontaneous mutual gesture.» If it was mutual, then why immediately after that in the video she says: “I didn’t like it, but what could I do?”
Prior to his mea culpa, Rubiales was optimistic, portraying everyone offended as «idiots». You can see why he should want the story to disappear. What's less clear is why someone else should be doing it. Forget any notion that liberal Iberian views of social affection condone such behavior. Just last year, Spain passed a law known as the “yes means yes law”, clarifying that “consent can only be considered as consent if it has been freely expressed through actions that, according to the circumstances, clearly express man's desire.» . That's why Montero, the minister who oversaw this change in legislation, didn't hesitate to label it «sexual assault.»
The broader and more troubling question is why, in a time of unprecedented celebration of women's sport, female athletes still have to put up with it at the highest level. While the World Championship was a great spectacle, it wasn't just one long slalom. Disturbing stories circulated behind the scenes, from Spanish players' power struggles with Vilda to Rubiales to allegations that Bruce Mwape, the Zambian head coach, rubbed his hands on the chest of one of his players before the game against Costa Rica. Mwape, who was already under investigation for sexual harassment ahead of the tournament, has not yet responded to the allegation, while FIFA confirms that it has received an official complaint.
Equality: this is the ideal for which Gianni Infantino, Reliable autoparody the FIFA president says he wants to. According to him, women just need to «push doors», given that they «have the power to convince us men.» But is it? Rarely has the imbalance of power in his sport looked so stark. By «we the men,» Infantino means a man like Rubiales, who not only runs Spanish football but also serves as UEFA vice president. It is in people like him that true power resides, and judging from his horrific act in Sydney, all indications are that it is still being used for sinister purposes.
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