Three weeks ago, I wrote If one child learnt from the World Cup Final that it’s not okay just to randomly grab a person and kiss them on the lips, then that’s progress.
When Rubiales congratulated Jenni Hermoso by forcing a kiss on her, it should have led to at the very least a debate, a great way for all of us to educate ourselves.
It never needed a man to lose his job and it certainly shouldn’t require him to be in court on Friday.
If the Football President had held his hands up, apologised and cited being caught up in euphoria having just seen his nation become World Champions he wouldn’t have been summoned by a Hight Court Judge , the whole Spanish squad who went to Australia wouldn’t have quit in protest , their manager wouldn’t have been sacked and people might actually have mentioned what happened on the pitch.
Naivety can’t be an excuse of course. Yet by defiantly digging in his heels, he made it worse for himself.
Taking the emotion out of things, the 44-year-old was being paid a lot of money to represent his country. He would have been taught how to conduct himself in certain events.
Decorum would have been expected in high profile occasions.
You don’t get a bigger spotlight then a World Cup Final, so from his employer’s point of view he should have had enough training to act with more professionalism than grabbing his crotch and kissing players on the lips.
Similar people have done his job and have been able to hand out medals without acting in the manner he did.
From a professional perspective someone whose job it was to represent their flag (and again financially benefitted) couldn’t have done more for the women’s achievement to be completely overshadowed.
Days later when he saw the backlash, he again put his pride above what was best for the sport he was an ambassador for.
81 players refused international duty unless Rubiales resigned, a resignation if he had made earlier could have saved close ally Jorge Vilda’s job and many could have learnt by a simple discussion.
It’s offensive to those who have been sexually assaulted that this incident has reached the point where legal teams are getting involved.
All very sad
Dan
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