This time last week, the Spanish women's football team were preparing for the world cup final. Some ladies who weren't there but could have felt that they deserved to have been must have had very strong feelings about missing out.
In 2022 15 players signed a letter saying the would no longer play for the national team while the coach Jorge Vidal was involved. They did this because of what they felt was unacceptable behavior and policies enforced by him towards the women on the team. Despite intervention by the Spanish Football Federation, 4 of the 15 refused to return and so they were not involved last week.
And despite the team winning their first world cup, and the heartbreaking news that the father of the winning goal scorer had died just two days before the final and that she played without knowing this news, the players and their families got almost no time to bask in their glory and instead the last few days has been a circus around the behavior of the federation President in the aftermath of the teams victory. A circus that paints a grim picture as to the mindset of those in charge.
Luis Rubiales is the President who was clearly jubilant in celebrating Spain's victory but he allowed his jubilation to get the better of him in how he reacted with the players immediately after they had received their medals. He forcibly pulled players to him and with one player in particular, Jenni Hermoso, he held her head in his hands and forcibly kissed her on the lips.
This thread isn't necessarily about his actions in the specific moment. I thought they did cross a line but I do understand his jubilation and the culture to some degree could have explained this if he had reacted differently once it was clear his actions made the player uncomfortable.
But its his action since then, and that of his federation that is particularly significant. Hermoso, was initially said to have consented to being embraced as she was and statements attributed to her were initially used by media to absolve the President. But it has since emerged that she never said what was attributed to her and not only that, but that her family were approached asking her to speak so as to say that she did not have an issue with how she was treated. In the last few days, Rubiales has been even more defiant that he did nothing wrong and despite appearing at a news conference where it was said he was going to resign, he vehemently refused to do so saying that the outcry was fake feminism. The federation apparently released a report where they had analyzed Hermoso's body language and said that it again supported the view that Rubiales behavior was acceptable and today the federation have announced that they are going to take legal action against the player claiming that she lied.
Over 80 (including the current full women's squad from the world cup) women players have signed a letter saying that he has to go from his role. Some (small numbers) from the mens team have also said the same. Even FIFA (no strangers to prejudiced views) are looking at this with open mouths and have just now suspended Rubiales for 90 days.
This whole episode is a very clear reminder of the challenges that exist for a lot of women, not only in the area of consent, but with respect to being treated fairly and respectfully. Could anyone believe that the complaints by the players last year about the environment under Vilda would have been handled correctly when this situation shows the mindset of the Federation? We recently saw reactions to professional football players being found not guilty of rape with the calls for the women who made the accusations to be prosecuted for false claims. Here, despite clear video evidence and the words of the person at the center of the incident as to how she felt, people are refusing to accept that their actions are a problem.
The world cup was a massive success in terms of coverage, support, engagement (Ireland being a part of this success), its ending has left a very sour taste in the mouth as to how much more has to happen so that young girls everywhere can expect to participate and engage in a way does not leave them feeling unsafe or mistreated or that they have to exclude themselves rather than just shut up and accept it. This time last week, people were saying that Prince William refusing to travel to the final was not a good look, this week has blown that story out of the water even though it was noteworthy in its own right.
