Political pressure continues to increase around the figure of the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, for kissing Jenni Hermoso on the mouth at the medal ceremony after winning the World Cup. The Federation celebrates its extraordinary assembly tomorrow and the affected player has requested in a statement “exemplary measures”. The Government, as affirmed today by the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, and the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, will act if this Friday the assembly does not make decisions.
“We expect a clear and unequivocal gesture of rejection of an unacceptable performance by the president of the Federation. It is a great opportunity for Spanish football to show that it not only respects women’s rights but that it is going to defend them,” Iceta said in a interview on the SER chain.
Asked if he means that Rubiales has to resign, Iceta has indicated that each one must take their own responsibilities: “The president of the Federation can take it by himself or the Federation according to its protocols. In any case, the Council Superior de Deportes, which is the head of Spanish sport, will make its decisions starting Monday, but we hope that those responsible for the Federation will be the ones to give an unequivocal gesture of equality and respect for women beforehand”.
Meanwhile, Bolaños pointed out: “From the Government we are following this fact very closely because things cannot remain like this. Of course we expect events, but if they do not occur, if they do not occur, the Government will act,” said Bolaños on the eve of the meeting. For his part, the PP’s vice-secretary for Culture and Open Society, Borja Sémper, has indicated that Rubiales “will have no choice but to resign or be dismissed.”
Condemnations of Rubiales’ performance also continue to come from the world of sports. “It has not been the behavior of a president of the Federation”, said the Real Madrid coach, Carlos Ancelotti. “I am not going into this issue [la resignación]. There are bodies that are going to decide this. I don’t know if he is going to resign or not. They will make the most appropriate decision,” he added.
“Mr. Rubiales’ apologies are not enough; they are not even adequate”, said the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, after the reception ceremony for the World Cup winners in Moncloa.
Although at first Rubiales criticized the controversy (“We are not for bullshit”), he later made a statement in a video: “In a moment of maximum effusiveness, without any bad intentions, what happened spontaneously without bad faith by neither of the two parties. His way of apologizing was also highly commented.
In addition to the kiss to Jenni Hermoso during the medal ceremony, Rubiales’ performance at the World Cup in Sydney has also been criticized for his gesture touching his genitals in the box -alongside Queen Letizia and Infanta Sofía- and the photos uploaded to his shoulder and walking the player Athenea del Castillo on the pitch. The five years of the leader’s presidency in the RFEF have been punctuated by continuous conflicts.
The Higher Sports Council (CSD) could start a process of disqualification of Rubiales. “If the RFEF does not make decisions with Rubiales, we are ready,” said its top leader, Víctor Francos. The definitive step would have to be taken by the Administrative Court of Sport (TAD) after opening a file at the proposal of the CSD. There is a precedent: the dismissal of Ángel Villar for having violated neutrality in the electoral process and infringing the sports law.
The extraordinary assembly of the RFEF was called at the request of the territorial federations, which met urgently this Tuesday, and transferred their support to Rubiales. It will take place this Friday at noon, at the headquarters of the Ciudad del Fútbol de las Rozas (Madrid).
The president of La Liga Femenina, Beatriz Álvarez, considers that the Assembly of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is “a true pantomime” and has asked the institutions and the Government to act. In statements to Cope collected by Servimedia, he insisted that Rubiales’ kiss to the player Jenny Hermoso was not “something spontaneous” but rather was another example of “habitual behavior” characterized by “gestural violence”, by an “impulsive character and cocky” that many people have suffered. Álvarez affirms that, in his case, when he became the Presidency of La Liga F and had just become a mother, he asked him for the meetings to be telematic, to which he responded in writing, calling on her to “delegate” and to “dedicate myself to being mother”.
On the other hand, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) regretted this Thursday in a statement what it qualifies as “very serious and false accusations” by Tamara Ramos, a former co-worker of President Luis Rubiales when he directed the AFE union, in which publicly denounced “humiliation” and harassment.
