Author: Amrit Santlani
After causing a huge controversy by kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain’s victory over England in the FIFA World Cup, the president of the Spanish FA, Luis Rubiales, has refused to resign. Previously, it was reported that Rubiales, who had already apologized for his actions, was due to resign on Friday, but instead he offered an explanation saying that the kiss was “consensual”.
The 46-year-old spoke at the RFEF general assembly, claiming that a “social assassination” is taking place against him.
Our assessment after watching the video
(we recognize everyone’s right to any opinion on this situation)
Yes, kissing someone without asking for consent is wrong. But Rubiales apologized for this. It seems that the situation is artificially “inflated”. Think for yourself: what the official is accused of, the real criminals prefer to do without witnesses. But this episode happened in a public place, when there are lots of TV cameras and people around. What’s more, the “kiss” only lasted a second. It seems that Rubiales simply couldn’t contain his emotions after the victory.
“I’m not resigning, I’m not resigning. There’s a social murder going on,” said the Spaniard. On Thursday, world soccer’s governing body opened disciplinary proceedings against the RFEF president, who apologized again on Friday but, instead of resigning, insisted that he will fight “until the end. I don’t deserve this manhunt that I’m suffering,” added Rubiales.
The RFEF director defended himself by saying that he was trying to cheer Hermoso up after the missed penalty against England.
“It was Jenni who lifted me up. I told her to ‘forget the penalty’ and told her ‘a little kiss? and she said ‘OK‘”, added Rubiales.
The administrator who had been appointed president of the RFEF in May 2018 was widely criticized. Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, recently said that an apology from Luis was not enough, and his vice-president, Yolanda Diaz, also called for Rubiales’ resignation.
It’s interesting to note that Hermoso herself was teased by her teammates about the kiss shortly after the incident in the dressing room, and she said she “didn’t like it”.
However, she later released a statement defending Rubiales. Following the veteran’s decision to continue in his current post, Spanish men’s club footballer Borja Iglesias has announced that he will boycott the national team’s matches unless Rubiales resigns.