Inside Spain: How the President of the Spanish FA ruined World Cup celebrations harassing his star forward
Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.
It couldn’t have just been about glory of winning the World Cup for the first time in their history in the women’s game. A sensational achievement, giving they were fighting for professional pay just four years ago, that should have formed the basis of this article. But this week in Spain has been dominated by a man instead, who kissed Spain’s star forward without consent.
The incident occurred during Spain’s celebrations, when President of the RFEF (Spanish FA) Luis Rubiales grabbed Jenni Hermoso’s head and kissed her on the lips without her consent. After the match during a live stream, Hermoso said ‘What am I supposed to do? I didn’t like it though.’
Outcry was starting to gather pace back in Spain, but things seemed to calm down when Hermoso emitted a statement saying that it was a spontaneous moment, that meant nothing to either of them and they had an excellent relationship. Except that it wasn’t her who had written or said those words, rather someone in the communications department at the RFEF.
Rubiales apologised, in a sense of the word, but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for further action, while Vice-President Yolanda Diaz became part of an overwhelming mass demanding his resignation. On Wednesday, Hermoso put out a statement with her union, who will pursue action against Rubiales – her testimony could be key legally, and it obliterates any of the arguements Rubiales had been hanging onto. The latest is that Rubiales is determined to hang onto his job, and is negotiating his own six-month suspension, a deal which would allow
Read on caughtoffside.com
