The head of the Spanish soccer federation, beneath fireplace after he grabbed and kissed a member of the successful workforce absolutely on the lips at a Women’s World Cup medals ceremony final weekend in Australia, insisted on Friday that he wouldn’t step apart, saying he was the sufferer of “social assassination.”
News stories had mentioned that the federation chief, Luis Rubiales, would hand in his discover as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation at midday native time after 5 years on the helm, however he as an alternative took a defiant stand.
“I will not resign,” he mentioned a number of instances, including that “I will fight this to the end” and accusing his critics of “false feminism.”
The victory was a reminder that regardless of the Spanish workforce’s steep trajectory into the best echelons of ladies’s soccer — the workforce didn’t qualify for a Women’s World Cup till 2015 — this system has been dogged by sexism and different scandals.
Most not too long ago, a number of distinguished gamers revolted towards the coach, Jorge Vilda, and the federation led by Mr. Rubiales, complaining of mistreatment and refusing to play for the nationwide workforce.
Players on the ladies’s nationwide workforce have additionally mentioned that they’ve been disrespected by prime male soccer executives, saying that the boys’s workforce was given superior gear and remedy.
The complaints have endured for many years. Before the Spanish workforce’s ascent, the ladies’s nationwide workforce was led for 27 years by Ignacio Quereda, who known as some gamers “chavalitas,” or immature ladies, earlier than lastly being dismissed when the gamers protested.
After the World Cup ultimate in Sydney on Sunday, Mr. Rubiales was captured on video kissing Jennifer Hermoso, a Spanish ahead who’s believed to have supported the riot, and in a post-match video, she was seen apparently making her distaste of the kissing incident recognized, saying, “Hey, but I didn’t like that!”
Mr. Rubiales, who had supplied a tepid apology on Monday because the outrage started to develop, supplied a drastically totally different account on Friday. Ms. Hermoso, he mentioned, lifted him off his ft and “moved me close to her body.”
Ms. Hermoso didn’t reply instantly to the remarks from Mr. Rubiales. Iker Casillas, a retired goalkeeper who performed for the boys’s nationwide workforce, mentioned in a publish on social media instantly after Mr. Rubiales spoke that his feedback “make you cringe.”
It was, Mr. Rubiales mentioned, a “free, mutual and consensual kiss,” and he added that he would take Yolanda Diaz, the second deputy prime minister, and different distinguished Spanish politicians to court docket after they known as for his resignation for what they known as “harassment.” Ms. Diaz responded that “Mr. Rubiales still doesn’t know what he’s done.”
Initially, as video footage of the encounter unfold on social media and plenty of Spaniards reacted with disgust, accusing him of perpetuating an extended legacy of sexism within the sport, Mr. Rubiales tried numerous approaches to defuse the controversy.
His first response, earlier than leaving Australia, was to stay adamant that he had executed nothing improper. He mentioned of his critics, “We shouldn’t pay attention to idiots and stupid people.”
This solely fueled additional condemnation of his conduct in Spain, with the minister of tradition and sport demanding a proof from him and stating that it was unacceptable to congratulate soccer gamers by kissing them on the lips.
Other distinguished politicians demanded Mr. Rubiales’s resignation, with the minister of equality accusing him of sexual violence.
By the time Mr. Rubiales had returned to Spain, it appeared clear that he was in bother.
Mr. Rubiales then mentioned in a video broadcast by the federation on Monday afternoon: “I have to apologize. Probably I made a mistake.”
But Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, mentioned that Mr. Rubiales’s conduct was “unacceptable” and that his apology was “not enough.” Speculation continued to develop that the soccer chief was on skinny ice.
The authorities is proscribed in its means to punish members of the soccer federation, however on Friday, after Mr. Rubiales made his remarks, the federal government mentioned it was taking steps to have him suspended. Víctor Francos, president of the National Sports Council and secretary of state for sports activities, mentioned on Cadena SER radio: “We’re going to act — we’ve activated all the mechanisms to take appropriate measures.”
A press release launched by the soccer federation in Ms. Hermoso’s title has additionally come beneath scrutiny. She was quoted as saying of the soccer chief’s actions, “It was a totally spontaneous mutual gesture because of the huge joy of winning a World Cup.”
But on Wednesday, Ms. Hermoso demanded via her union that “measures” be taken towards Mr. Rubiales. And on Thursday, after receiving not less than 4 complaints, the National Sports Council threatened to disqualify him from public workplace for violating the nation’s sports activities legislation on sexual violence if the federation didn’t fireplace him first.
FIFA, the game’s world governing physique, additionally opened disciplinary proceedings towards Mr. Rubiales.
Support from the presidents of Spain’s regional soccer federations, which had been waning, plummeted.
“It’s not the conduct of a president of a federation,” mentioned the coach of Real Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti.
Source: www.nytimes.com