The Spanish government on Wednesday demanded a “transparent and urgent” investigation from the national football federation splashed by the forced kiss of its president, Luis Rubiales, on a La Roja player in the World Cup final. The pressure is still mounting on the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), who is coming under a rain of international criticism after forcibly kissing the player Jenni Hermoso on the mouth in front of the cameras, after the coronation of Spain on Sunday in Sydney.
Victor Francos, Spain’s secretary of state for sport and president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), said the council would take action if the RFEF failed to do so, and could take the case to the Administrative Court sports in Spain. “I imagine that the competent people will talk to the two parties concerned and make a report,” he told Cadena Ser radio.
Megan Rapinoe evokes a “deep level of misogyny and sexism”
“I have personally informed the Federation that this report must be transparent and urgent. Because if it is not, we are obviously obliged to take the corresponding additional measures,” he added. Tuesday evening, the RFEF announced that because of the “emergency”, it would hold an extraordinary general meeting on Friday devoted to this forced kiss. The case went up to the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez who on Tuesday described the gesture of the president of the RFEF as “unacceptable” and his excuses as “insufficient” and “inappropriate”, while refraining from calling for resignation, unlike other ministers.
Several football personalities have also condemned this forced kiss: after a stern statement on Tuesday from the association of Spanish footballers (players and players), American striker Megan Rapinoe, the most publicized player in the world, was scathing in an interview with the American monthly The Atlantic Tuesday. “What upside down world do we live in? On the biggest stage, where we should be celebrating, Jenni must be physically assaulted by this guy,” Rapinoe said, decrying a “deep level of misogyny and sexism.” .
“A totally spontaneous mutual gesture”
The number three in the government, the communist Yolanda Diaz, indicated on Wednesday that her party, Sumar, would also seize the CSD. “I didn’t like it, huh!” Reacted the Spanish number 10 in the locker room during a live broadcast on Instagram. She later explained, in statements sent to the press by the RFEF, that it was “a totally spontaneous mutual gesture because of the immense joy that victory in the World Cup brings”. For his part, Luis Rubiales, 46, initially brushed off these criticisms before apologizing in a video.