2023-08-26 14:44:02
Time.news – FIFA has suspended Luis Rubiales from the presidency of the Spanish football federation for having kissed women’s world champion Jenni Hermoso on the lips and banned him from coming into contact with her.
“We decided today to provisionally suspend Mr. Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities domestically and internationally,” world football’s governing body said in a statement, explaining that the suspension would last for 90 days, pending disciplinary proceedings.
The request for suspension for “abuse of authority and public deeds harmful to the dignity and decorum of sport” had been forwarded by the Superior Sports Council which, at the request of the government, had presented “a reasoned petition” to the Administrative Court of Sport. The referral of Rubiales, according to the Superior Council of Sport, falls within the case of “very serious” offenses for which precautionary suspension is envisaged.
In Spain, the clash over Rubiales’ failure to resign had escalated after the Roja players threatened not to take the field again unless there is a change at the top of the RFEF.
In a statement the Spanish federation had replied to the words of Hermoso who had denied that the kiss was consensual, as stated by Rubiales, announcing “all the lawsuits that will be necessary to defend the honor of the president”.
In a note accompanied by a video of the award ceremony after the final of the women’s world championships won by the Red Furies in Sydney on August 20, the various sequences of the award ceremony are analyzed, including the fact that Hermoso embraces Rubiales by lifting him from the ground, to deduce that there was consent to the subsequent kiss on the lips.
Players on strike
The Rfef also recalled that “accepting the call-up to the national team is an obligation for members”, after Hermoso joined the mass strike of Spanish players of the national team. In a statement released by the women’s union Futpro, Hermoso and 80 other players declared that they will not accept any call-ups to the national team “unless the current leadership” of the RFEF changes.
Hermoso also denounced that she was “continually under pressure” to issue a statement justifying Luis Rubiales’ act. “The Spanish football federation”, declared the athlete, “put pressure on my environment (family, friends, colleagues…) to give a testimony that had little or nothing to do with my feelings”.
Rubiales on the counterattack
Rubiales had announced on Friday that he did not intend to resign and had taken a counterattack by denouncing “false feminism” which, according to him, “does not seek the truth” and speaking of “an attempted social murder” against him.
Failure to step back has unleashed a storm of controversy and the Spanish socialist government intervened asking the Superior Sports Council to initiate the procedure at the Administrative Court of Sport for a precautionary suspension from office, envisaged for “very serious” infractions.
The case “is likely to be the ‘MeToo’ of Spanish football, thundered the secretary of sport, Victor Francos, “Rubiales was not up to the situation and did not do what he should have done”. “A ‘kiss’ is consensual enough to be kicked out of here?” asked the number of the RFEF, “I will fight to the end”.
The 46-year-old former defender of Levante and Alicante asked for “unreserved forgiveness” for “losing control” in the grandstand at the final whistle of the match won by Spain against England: “In a moment of euphoria I touched myself in the lower parts by looking at coach Jorge Vilda”, he admitted.
Jenni’s version
However he called the subsequent kiss on the lips to the forward of the Red Furies “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and consensual“, given how he would have given it “to a daughter”. Hermoso is not of the same opinion who denied the version of the president of the Football Federation in a statement and explained that “at no time” did he consent to the kiss.
“I want to clarify that at no point did I consent to the kiss that he gave me. I don’t tolerate my word being questioned, much less words being invented that I haven’t said” said the Spain midfielder adding that she felt as if she had been “attacked”. “I felt vulnerable and the victim of an attack , an impulsive, macho act, out of place and without any kind of consent on my part. I just wasn’t respected”
Official Announcement. August 25th,2023. pic.twitter.com/lQb18IGsk2
— Jenn1 Hermos0 (@Jennihermoso) August 25, 2023
Rubiales’ intervention has unleashed a wave of reactions. “This is unacceptable, I’m with you,” Spanish international star Alexia Putellas wrote on X, addressing Hermoso. The president of the Navarra Football Federation, Rafael del Amo, has resigned in protest from the leadership of the Spanish women’s national football committee. Real Betis forward Borja Iglesias has announced that he will no longer play for the Spanish national team until Rubiales leaves. The same sponsor of the national team, Iberia, called for “suitable measures to preserve the rights and dignity of the athletes”.
There were also those who defended Rubiales, like the former coach Luis Henrique now at PSG. “If I have to speak based on my experience, on what I’ve experienced, because I’ve been in the Federation for many years, I think Luis Rubiales’ work over the years has been exceptional,” he said, “he admitted his mistake, I think that my opinion on this matter is not really necessary”.
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