Peter: behavior “unacceptable”
Rummenigge receives revealing solidarity from the ex-DFB boss
By Till Erdenberger
08/30/2023, 10:11 am
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge thinks that when it comes to the attack on Spain’s World Cup heroine Jennifer Hermoso, “the church should be left in the village”. The ex-boss of FC Bayern is sharply criticized for this. A former DFB president sends a revealing note of solidarity.
Former international Babett Peter has criticized Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for his reaction to the kiss debate after Spain’s World Cup title. “Inappropriate, unnecessary and unacceptable for a man with his experience and in his role, in which he has held important positions in international football for decades and is still a member of the UEFA Executive Committee today,” the Olympic champion told “Sport Bild”.
The Spanish association president Luis Rubiales kissed the player Jennifer Hermoso on the mouth without being asked after winning the World Cup final. Rummenigge had expressed understanding for Rubiales’ behavior. “When you become world champion, you are emotional. And what he did there is – sorry, with all due respect – absolutely okay,” said Rummenigge. In addition, emotionality is important in football, one should “leave the church in the village”. Hermoso had declared himself kissing Rubiales’ “felt vulnerable and the victim of an assault, an impulsive, macho act that was inappropriate and I did not consent to,” Hermoso wrote on Instagram: “I wasn’t respected”. The kiss was “not consensual”.
Unsuccessful solidarity note to Rummenigge
Former DFB President Reinhard Grindel sent an unsuccessful and revealing note of solidarity in the direction of Rummenigges. “You have to see with Rummenigge: He’s on the UEFA Executive Committee with Rubiales. And Rummenigge is a very loyal man. He’s decent, through and through. But he doesn’t want to publicly give the impression that he’s pushing something into someone,” said Grindel of the German Press Agency – and thus involuntarily revealed the power structures and loyalties in world football that have been loudly criticized by numerous organizations and most recently by the candidate for the FIFA presidency, Lise Klaveness. Norwegian Football Association president Klaveness denounced a “century of misogyny” that has “once again overshadowed the joy of the game, the pride of the national team and the remarkable performances on the pitch”. “Rather than celebrating the achievements of women’s football, it tells a familiar story: the need to defend the players and the sport itself.”
Grindel, President of the DFB from 2016 to 2019, further explained: “I could imagine that he (Rummenigge) would phrase it differently today. But I see this statement more as an expression of loyalty to a colleague with whom he is sitting at a table as a trivialization of the thing itself.” Almost two weeks after the incident, neither Grindel nor Rummenigge could be carried away to a note of solidarity with Hermoso and the resigned world champion team.
The team council of the DFB team had reacted to the incident – and perhaps also to Rummenigge, of course without mentioning the former Bayern boss, who was still powerful in European football: “Such behavior is not acceptable and is far more intolerable, it is too yet to downplay. […] Nobody, absolutely nobody should dismiss this as a trifle,” says a statement published by national players such as Svenja Huth or Lina Magull, which was not shared on official DFB profiles. It was “sad, even if in the German football world are apparently not all enlightened enough to be able to assess this. “With regard to the revolt in Spain’s women’s national team last autumn, the team council expressed its “greatest respect” for all players “who have the courage to report such abuses. For a change in all global football and sport”.
Babett Peter, who played 118 international matches for the DFB and won the World Cup in 2007, sees Rummenigge “in his position at FC Bayern as a representative for one of the best women’s football teams in Germany and Europe. The sign he gave with his totally misguided statement also sent to their own players, worries me.”
The UN Human Rights Office had previously sided with Hermoso: “Women continue to be subjected to sexual harassment and abuse in sport. Each of us has a responsibility to ensure that such abuse is denounced. We join the Spanish Jenni Hermoso and all those who are campaigning to end abuse and sexism in sport. Make this a game changer,” it wrote.