That World Cup kiss

[mids2019]

The news about the world cup is being dominated by an unsolicited kiss on the lips on a Spanish player. I do not want to condone the rather bizarre and overly personal celebration of the head of Spanish football (idiot) but I do feel the whole matter has drawn focus away from the football on the pitch and made the hugely successful world cup a feminist issue where discussions are now revolving around appropriate behaviour between men and women rather than the actual sport.

Young girl players instead of looking up to the heroic exploits of our players are now getting drawn into much more general discussions about personal limits and what constitutes assault. I think this is all a pity really.

Rubiales has flying monkeys.....

I am ambivalent if I'm honest. He knew her and it was winning goal of the World Cup. It's fairly common here to kiss someone you know ...

So you're happy for anyone to kiss you on the lips as long as they know you? Would that include, say, a sleazeball boss you didn't like? Maybe one who had form for taking liberties with young women he had authority over. He'd know you. He'd also know probably know full well that you would hate to be kissed by him. He might well use the fact that there were lots of people watching to make you less likely to feel you could object and make a fuss, especially if it was a special occasion.

😂
You are spot on.
This is a never ending saga.

'So you're happy for anyone to kiss you on the lips as long as they know you? Would that include, say, a sleazeball boss you didn't like?'

There seems to be absolutely no getting through to some people about this. They are deaf to anything Jenni Hermoso has to say, and desperate to minimise what Rubiales did and play it down.

I hope people remember this situation next time someone asks 'but why didn't she report him / make more of a fuss?'. Far too many people are far too invested in making excuses for men's behaviour, and blaming it on anything and anyone else

There seems to be absolutely no getting through to some people about this.

Exactly. It's baffling really. I can only sadly assume that they've been so socially conditioned into accepting this behaviour from men that it's easier to pretend it's fine than to accept the upsetting truth that it's not and never was ok.

All the stupid man had to do (other than not force players into physical contact they don't want) was to say sorry and agree to go on some tokenistic training.

But no.

Trying to slur Hermoso is just making him look worse and worse.

What is the general feeling in Spain now, girlswillbegirls?

“Football is never just football; maybe with time, victory in Sydney will be seen as a catalyst for something bigger. Hopelessly optimistic, perhaps, but something to hold on to.”

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2023/aug/28/luis-rubiales-rfef-spain-world-cup-se-acabo-la-liga

Yup. Smells an awful lot like mansplaining...

❤

I would say the general feeling is that this is a historic moment for women. There is definitely a big shift, and there is a consensus that there is no room for leading men like Rubiales anywhere anymore. From male football teams to the government and the oposition- It's Over or Se acabó :)
The football federations of the 19 Spanish autonomies had a long meeting today and are asking for not just Rubiales' resignation but for the restructure of the whole organisation. So Vilda is in this too and will have to go too. They have no female team, no technical team and the whole country and public opinion wanting them to go.
The public prosecutor also investigating if this could be considered sexual assault.

I do feel very emotional. I normally don't watch football but followed the female football World Cup. Being Spanish I wanted Spain to win but it wasn't about Spain. It was about women. I never thought back in the 90s we could be watching a world cup with female football players at this level. And to see all this solidarity between women, and men with women, the left and right aligned and the agreement from every part of Spain is unprecendented and just beautiful.

Sorry for the long essay!

This.

Brilliant!❤

his mother is going on hunger strike!

Where does this go from here though? Do you need separate men and women s FA? I think one issue is that the make and female games are intertwined in that in England at least the F A is the sporting body that oversees all football in this cointry. The W SL shares names, facilities, and marketing etc. with their male counterparts.

At a local level there is a great deal of support by men for the girls game including supply of coaches, admisnistrators, referees and linesmen. The continued support of men is actually a boon so I don't think (or hope) all men in the women's game will be tarnished by this.

I suspect unfortunatly that there will not be the most vocal or impassioned support of feminist issues from your average premier league male.player (I may be wrong).

it will be interesting to see if many male established pundits give air to their views or keep quiet?

Of course you don’t separate the infrastructure, that would be a massive punishment to female players for the actions of some men.

You wouldn’t solve sexual harassment at work by having male only and female only firms, would you? Or maybe you would, @mids2019

You do it like this. Speaking out. Having sanctions. Exposing predators. Changing culture.

Whatever happens next to Rubiales, hopefully there are a few men in sport who will rein in some of their behaviour if they see this kind of consequence. And that will make it better for the next team.

There used to be a separate Women's FA because the FA didn't recognise Women's teams. We do not want to go backwards.

With the vast disparity in terms of money and resource in the women's and men's game of will probably be true that governing bodies may be dominated by males for some time. Do you think this position works of the men behave appropriately or is there an image problem with male dominance itself (numerically)?

Possibly there will be a culture change instigated throughout football.itself but I think it may take time to bed in. I think the reality is it may be an ask to start removing absolutely every male that has sexist views on football that is directly or indirectly invoked in football so I don't think this is the end to the story

It was striking how , in the moments after the final whistle, the players and the coaching team celebrated in different parts of the pitch.

Imagine how brilliant Spain would be without such divisive management?

There have already been so many culture changes in football, I'm hopeful this will continue with this situation.

There has been progress on racism, povertyhomophobia, and women's football. It may be slow but things do change and there are some great spokespeople eg Marcus R and Gary L.

girlswillbegirls that is wonderful.

'You do it like this. Speaking out. Having sanctions. Exposing predators. Changing culture.'

Absolutely. Consequences for their actions, for a change

Honestly don't know what to say about his hunger-striking mother 🤦🏻‍♂️

Does it matter to you at all if the recipient wants the kiss or do you force yourself onto anyone you want? Do you think it's ok for you to grab young adult men you know well and kiss them without their consent?

Personally I think it's clearly about more than a kiss, more like it's the straw that broke the camels back, finally in public so couldn't be minimised especially on top of the crotch grabbing because he was so excited. He also made a comment about taking them all to Ibiza and marrying Jenni on the beach, so he's clearly picked her out as his favourite. What else does he says when she can't prove it? When she was scared for her place on the team?

She's an excellent role model for teaching girls and women that no one is ever too important to pay attention to your boundaries and I've been heartened by the seemingly supportive Spanish team and public. I question if England would have been so supportive to the Lionesses outside of their computers