In science it will be hyper commodification mentioned, says criminologist Tine Vertommen, who conducts research into sexual violence in sports for the Thomas More Hogeschool in Antwerp. “Who you are is only traced back to the performance you deliver and the money you bring in. The person behind the footballer is perhaps sometimes overlooked.”
Vertommen (38) cautiously formulates the question of whether there is an explanation for the remarkably high number of top football players accused of rape. Whether that actually happens more often, she doesn’t know. “You have to take into account that these cases get into the media faster than cases with more anonymous perpetrators.”
The most recent case is that of Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi, whom the public prosecutor in Nanterre, a western suburb of Paris, has launched a preliminary investigation into. A 23-year-old woman went to police this weekend and said she had been raped by Hakimi, 24, writes ESPN. The Moroccan-Spanish player, who reached the semi-finals of the World Cup with Morocco, did not play on Sunday due to an injury to his thigh. Both Hakimi and Paris Saint-Germain have not yet responded.
Over the past five years, several top players have been discredited by rape cases. Among them are the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (insufficient evidence, after a settlement and non-disclosure contract had previously been agreed), the Frenchman Benjamin Mendy (is due in court in June for two charges after being partially acquitted) and the Brazilian Dani Alves, who is currently stuck.
Are you surprised by these things?
“No, because unfortunately there are many victims of sexual violence within and outside the sports world. Although there are no figures showing that it happens more among top athletes, or more specifically top football players, than in other groups or more often than in the past.”
Also read: the number of reports of transgressive behavior in sport increasesas it turned out in January of this year
Does this say anything about the football world?
“Top football players live in a very special environment, in which they often grow up from a young age. Often in top sports centers, in a structure where they are the center of an entire team that is focused on making them perform. In an environment where many people want to use them. Making it difficult for a football player to have normal healthy, social, emotional and sexual development. Outside of that elite sports vacuum in which they live, it can be difficult to estimate consent and social conventions.
“There may be a problem with building healthy, mature relationships. They may also get little to hear about that, few opportunities to practice it. If you have such a status, you walk into a bar or other social setting in a different way. So there are extra difficulties for those men.”
Some may never have built up a love relationship in a normal way.
“I don’t want to generalize and I don’t know the background of those things. So I certainly don’t want to say that’s the reason now. But they are in a certain setting: everything revolves around you, you are the goldcrest, a money machine. They are the center of a business that revolves around their performance. And they never knew anything else. This can lead to a breakdown in standards. It’s not an excuse, not an excuse. I do think that as a sports sector we can look at the environment we create for top football players, if it also makes it possible for this cross-border behavior to take place.”
Ronaldo’s image survived after a rape case. However, cases were started against other players in the following years. What do you say?
“It is striking that these women dare to take the step. That takes an enormous amount of courage. It now looks like a snowball effect in football, something that you also see in other sectors. I think these women are going through the MeToomovement no longer feel alone. Where they previously placed a lot of guilt and shame on themselves, most now realize: this is not my fault, I have a right to speak.”
Do you see a pattern?
“I certainly can’t say that. I do see that sexual violence is easier to discuss nowadays and that there is more media attention for it. This may have an impact on how the police and judiciary take these matters more seriously. That they do more with it than, say, thirty years ago.”
Can the sports sector learn from this?
“Look beyond the individuals who display the unwanted behavior. How can we as a sports world take our responsibility to prevent this behaviour? You could say that sport should only concern itself with performance, but my plea is to see athletes primarily as people. Often young people, who are developing and growing up. From the sport we can help to educate them into respectable people who know what a healthy development is. Who indicate their own physical boundaries and respect other people’s boundaries, also on a sexual level.”
Does this have enough attention within football clubs?
It’s hard to say because it varies. There are many clubs and sports associations that are positive about this. There are still those who don’t pay attention to it, who think it’s a ‘far-from-my-bed-show’, or who don’t think it’s an important theme. The challenge for the federations involved is to find a way to convey this information to the athletes. That is difficult, because many associations are led by volunteers, who have many other tasks.”
Does football have a culture problem in this area?
“The sports world certainly has cultural problems in certain areas. We are now beginning to recognize that. Now a long marathon is starting to realize a culture change.”