It’s not often that World Cup finals are remembered for anything other than the winning goal. No one is talking about the goal of the Spanish captain Olga Carmona in the final battle between Spain and England at the World Cup for women in Australia and New Zealand. The endlessly repeated images since that final are not about the goal with which the Spanish women surprisingly became world champions for the first time, but about an unwanted kiss on the podium.
The president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, took the stage at Stadium Australia in Sydney to congratulate the football players one by one, with hugs and kisses on the cheeks. He did the same with the Spanish striker Jennifer Hermoso, but then he grabbed her head with both hands and kissed her full on the mouth. Hermoso said afterwards that this kiss was unwanted.
Since then, a row has broken out in Spain about sexual misconduct and the position of Rubiales. Initially, the federation chairman announced that he would resign because of the incident, but he later came back to that. At Friday’s league meeting in Madrid, Rubiales insisted that Hermoso had spread a lie. He said he was the victim of a “character assassination” and therefore indicated that he would not give up his position. The applause of the (mainly male) attendees spoke volumes.
With this, the Spanish Football Federation pretends that the kiss is just a matter of perspective. But even before the ceremony on the field, Luis Rubiales behaved like a rough macho. In the grandstand, in the presence of the Spanish Queen Letizia, the federation president made an obscene gesture: after the final whistle, he grabbed his crotch. Uninhibited, he continued his misbehavior on the field, where apart from the inappropriate kiss, he hugged other players way too tightly and lifted a football star over his shoulder like a fire hose.
More than eighty women now refuse to play football for the national team if he does not resign and the men also stand up for their female colleagues. Last weekend, Sevilla’s male players walked onto the pitch with the message #SeAcabó (‘It’s over’) on their shirts. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the assault. Irene Montero, the minister of equality, stressed that ‘only a yes is a yes’, according to her law to crack down on rape,’Solo si es si‘.
The Spanish federation seems to be wrong about the social resistance against sexual misconduct. Since #MeToo, behaviors such as that of Rubiales in the football world have rightly come under a magnifying glass. Not only is transgressive behavior recognized and rejected more quickly, action is also expected. For example, the position of former technical director Marc Overmars at Ajax became untenable during a journalistic investigation into his misconduct towards women. Also significant is the (as yet temporary) suspension of Rubiales by world football association FIFA, traditionally not the most progressive organization.
With the world title, the Spanish football women have achieved a unique sporting achievement for their country. Unintentionally, they are now punching holes in a macho culture with their resistance to undesirable behavior that has been taken for granted for too long, especially in football. That too will prove to be an important victory.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper on August 29, 2023.