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The pinnacle of Spain’s soccer affiliation has refused to give up and says he’s the sufferer of “false feminism” as he faces condemnation for kissing a participant with out her consent after the nation gained the Ladies’s World Cup.
Luis Rubiales repeated “I can’t resign” 5 occasions in a defiant speech on the finish of every week of concern after he kissed midfielder Jenni Hermoso on the lips throughout post-match celebrations.
However politicians are calling for him to be ejected for the compelled kiss, which got here because the gamers filed previous him earlier than lifting the trophy after beating England in Sunday’s ultimate in Australia. Spanish media had reported that he would resign as head of the Royal Spanish Soccer Federation on Friday.
The episode has put a highlight on the remedy of girls in Spanish society and world soccer, the place the feminine recreation has gained extra consideration in recent times however stays marginalised because the male-dominated authorities prioritise the lads’s sport.
Within the dressing room in Sydney quickly after the incident Hermoso was recorded on video saying: “I didn’t prefer it . . . However what may I do?” She later stated in an announcement from her union and her agent that “we’re working to make sure that acts similar to these by no means go unpunished”.
Rubiales, who earned a gross wage of €675,000 final yr, has confronted an avalanche of condemnation from politicians, footballers and sports activities officers. Fifa, the sport’s governing physique, opened disciplinary proceedings in opposition to him on Thursday.
However chatting with a rare assembly of the soccer affiliation, Rubiales stated: “False feminism is a superb scourge on this nation.” Describing the kiss as “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric”, he stated he had change into the goal of a “social assassination”.
However his speech didn’t sign an finish to the controversy. Yolanda Díaz, an appearing deputy prime minister who had prematurely celebrated reviews of his impending resignation, wrote on X: “The federal government should act and take pressing measures. Impunity for macho behaviour is over. Rubiales can’t proceed in workplace.”
The federal government can’t hearth Rubiales as a result of the soccer affiliation is an impartial physique, however its high sports activities council has the ability to file a grievance in opposition to him at a sports activities tribunal that handles allegations of misconduct. If Rubiales had been discovered responsible of wrongdoing, the sports activities council may droop him from his job.
Earlier within the week, Irene Montero, Spain’s appearing equality minister, described the compelled kiss as “sexual violence”. Later she stated the incident was “a rare instance . . . of how the proper to sexual freedom is violated by the absence of consent”.
Spain’s girls’s soccer league, Liga F, stated it had lodged a grievance over Rubiales’s actions with the federal government sports activities council.
One of many first male gamers to talk out, Isco Alarcón of Actual Betis, stated: “If it was not consensual, I believe it’s an abuse of energy. I give all my help to Jenni Hermoso.”
Rubiales did, nonetheless, apologise to Spain’s royal household for grabbing his crotch whereas celebrating within the director’s field on the recreation, the place he was standing subsequent to Queen Letizia and one among her daughters.
The 46-year previous, who has led the Spanish federation since 2018, initially known as his critics “idiots” however later issued an apology over the kiss. “I used to be unsuitable, I’ve to confess it,” he stated earlier within the week.
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s appearing prime minister, stated the apology was “insufficient” and that he should “take additional steps to make clear his behaviour”.
Megan Rapinoe, one of many stars of the US World Cup-winning sides of 2015 and 2019, stated: “What sort of upside-down world are we in? On the most important stage, the place you have to be celebrating, Jenni must be bodily assaulted by this man,” Rapinoe stated.
Spain’s win made it one among solely two nations, alongside Germany, to have gained each the lads’s and girls’s World Cup. La Roja’s victory got here regardless of a staff mutiny in opposition to coach Jorge Vilda final yr over his administration strategies.
Previous to the ultimate, Fifa president Gianni Infantino provoked a backlash when he stated girls ought to “decide the proper battles” to “persuade us males what we’ve got to do” to attain equality within the recreation.
