Words by Shayni Solanki
After earning the highest possible accomplishment in football, Jennifer Hermoso and the Spanish women’s football team had their World Cup victory stained by misogyny.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final should have been a joyful day for women’s sport. We got to see two talented rival teams play each other at the most anticipated event of the summer. After winning the Euros last summer, we had been rooting for our Lionesses all the way to the final. Still, despite Spain being our rivals, you’ve got to give them their credit. They beat England fair and square with a monumental victory, but the celebrations soon turned sour.
During the medal ceremony, each player was greeted and adorned by the Queen of Spain, her daughter, and some prominent figures in football. One of these figures included Luis Rubiales, the head of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Rubiales seemed especially excited about the victory and showed it by embracing all the players, but to a fault. He kissed Jennifer Hermoso on the lips during an embrace. He quite literally turned a hug into a full-fledged kiss, grabbing her head too. Not long after it all went down, the world erupted.
Jennifer Hermoso went on to assert that there was no consent involved and reaffirmed what we all knew – she was forcibly kissed. Watching it live was enough to show that Rubiales acted irresponsibly and disrespectfully: there shouldn’t really be a debate. One thing’s for sure though; he didn’t think there would be any consequences. The Spanish women’s football team have gone on to boycott matches until Rubiales has been removed from his position. Initially, the RFEF had backed him and given him the platform to state his refusal to resign. This didn’t stop widespread calls for him to resign. FIFA suspended him, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez denounced him, and the RFEF vice president and members of the national women’s football programme even resigned in protest.
This has been the tipping point for the Spanish women’s football team: they had been suffering under misogyny and mistreatment from their management for quite some time. After the Euros last summer, 15 players filed complaints against their manager Jorge Vilda over concerns about their mental and physical health. To make matters worse, only 3 of the 15 women who expressed their concerns were picked to play in the World Cup. It gets worse: the RFEF ended up backing the manager over the players anyway. With all this brewing in the run up to the World Cup final, Rubiales’ behaviour was even more disturbing in context.
A couple weeks have passed since the incident at the final, and Rubiales still has a job. Sure, he’s been suspended, but what does it matter if he ends up back in charge in a few months? Jennifer Hermoso deserves justice. Men in sport who harm women so often take some time off, then come back to resume their careers when the outrage dies down. On Tuesday, Spanish women’s football coach Jorge Vilda was fired by the RFEF for speaking out against Rubiales. Interestingly, Vilda wasn’t fired for any of the accusations of abuse towards his own players, instead it’s been decided that his criticism of Rubiales is where the RFEF draw the line.
It seems everything has gone to show that it’s not just a disrespect of women in sport, but a general disregard for women in general. Time will tell whether Rubiales ever faces just consequences for his actions. For now, women’s sport has been failed yet again.