New development: Spanish prosecutor files complaint against suspended Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales for sexual assault and coercion after the World Cup final kiss on Jenni Hermoso https://t.co/z8H5RFrxwL— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) September 8, 2023 #ÚLTIMAHORA🚨 El ministerio público traslada ya el ‘Caso Rubiales’ a la Audiencia Nacional. Esta debe decidir qué Juzgado de Instrucción asume la investigación.https://t.co/nRsGjmgEWp— Diario AS (@diarioas) September 8, 2023 💰Rubiales, sentenced to having his child support payments for his daughters doubled: he had refused even after seeing a 880% salary increase.When it rains, it pours.https://t.co/N3b0TkuSD6— SHE scores bangers (@SHEscoresbanger) September 8, 2023
That last article is particularly interesting. A rough Google translation includes: The publication of this sentence thus joins the former president of the RFEF in a new controversy just a week after he made use of the image of his daughters to justify himself to those who accused him of being sexist for the non-consensual kiss to Jenni Hermoso in the celebration of the Women's World Cup. So he used the fact that he had daughters to try and support his image when he was actually fighting paying more money for their support. His hubris is going to cause him as much difficulty as his actual actions.
It seems that support is welling up all over: That is a good thing. 'I'm ready to fight' - Lionesses star Lucy Bronze calls for urgent change in wake of Luis Rubiales scandal and sends support to Jenni Hermoso Also more from Spain https://www.football-espana.net/202...e-were-aware-of-what-happened-in-kiss-scandal
🚨 BREAKING: Luis Rubiales has resigned as RFEF President As well as resigning from his his vice-president position in UEFA pic.twitter.com/Nb2cDXLlbU— Alex Ibaceta (@alexibaceta23) September 10, 2023
This is good news. I wonder why it took so long for it to actually happen. I have mentioned before but this situation reminds me of the USA's "Nixon" scandal. I just hope he does not pull a Nixon and get "pardoned" to "avoid the bad publicity and discord." He needs to be prosecuted for the assault at least. But, typically, malefactors go unpunished by the law no matter where in the world they are or what they do as long as there is enough money available for bribes and other "considerations." This has, so far, gone better that I expected but my "expectations" are always low when a powerful person commits a crime.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...-action-day-Luis-Rubiales-announces-quit.html Spain's Jenni Hermoso receives emotional tribute as she returns to club action on the same day Luis Rubiales announces he will quit World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso, 33, was warmly welcomed back to her club Pachuca hung a huge banner with her face on it, and gifted her a framed jersey Hermoso returned to her club hours after Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales quit
Agreement between Liga F and unions to call off the strike After a new and long day of negotiation under the mediation of SIMA, Liga F and the unions have reached an agreement regarding the minimum wage that allows the strike to be called off. Thus, the parties have signed an agreement for the next three seasons by which a minimum salary of: 2023/24 season: 21,000 euros, which can be increased to 23,000 euros depending on the growth of the competition's commercial income. 2024/25 season: 22,500 euros, which can be increased to 25,000 euros depending on the growth of the competition's commercial income. 2025/26 season: 23,500 euros, which can be increased to 28,000 euros depending on the growth of the competition's commercial income. https://ligaf.es/noticia/acuerdo-entre-liga-f-y-sindicatos-para-desconvocar-la-huelga
Spanish players will NOT return to the national team “The changes made are not enough for the players to feel safe, where women are respected, where there is support for women’s football and where we can maximise our potential.” 39 Spain players have signed a statement and won't be available for a call-up. 3pm squad announcement has been delayed indefinitely. Of the WWC 23, Claudia Zornoza and Athenea del Castillo remain available for selection. (didn't sign it)
They are requesting: - Restructuring of the Women's Football Organizational Chart - Restructuring of the Presidency's Cabinet and General Secretariat - Resignation of the President of the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) - Restructuring of the Communication and Marketing Department - Restructuring of the Integrity Department Rubiales is gone, and RFEF is setting up a new election. I guess all the restructuring is to clear out all the people who backed Rubiales when he refused to resign. A scorched earth approach?! I wonder how RFEF will respond. It makes sense to have a new president, but will they be able to rebuild RFEF from scratch? It's hard to tell if RFEF will be able or willing to meet all these demands. Measuring Spanish public support in this case is also challenging. The players might have overplayed their hand.
Zornoza didn't sign the statement cuz she retire from NT for good and from now on will focus only on club duty (Real Madrid).
I believe they would be quite "competitive." The general Spanish style is possession with a little extra possession thrown in. When you get below about the 30th-40th players you, probably, get to players that can execute "possession" quite well but have trouble, often a LOT of trouble, transitioning from possession into attack. Clearly lower level Spanish players do not have the level of skill of the top players and they will "probably" also show lacks in the defensive skill area. I believe the Spanish "C" team could avoid embarrassment against everybody below the current # 10 or so in the world. However I also believe the matches would be hideously boring with few actual attacks. But I think we will not have to worry much. The "solution" I see in Spain is similar to what we have seen here in the USA. That is a solution that satisfies nobody and both sides see as incomplete. I hope Spain does better than we have but I do not have much in the way of real expectations that the world of women's soccer will be "improved" by what is happening. I do think that Spain has handled this very badly but that is NOT the fault of the players. The "fault" lies, as it does here, with the ingrained bureaucracy that runs soccer. BTW: I wonder if the future prosecution for the assault will now get shoved under the rug. It happens on this side of the pond quite often and I do not think the Spanish bureaucracy is more immune to "protecting their asses" than our are and one of the best ways for bureaucrats to protect themselves and other bureaucrats is to just allow problems to slip out of view from neglect and lack of follow-up.
I wouldn't call it "scorched earth approach" but simply consequential. - Resignation of the President of the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) This is what happened already with Rubiales' resignation. - Restructuring of the Women's Football Organizational Chart Quite logical request once you consider the main reason Vilda was able to stick to his post so long is that his father is heading the department. - Restructuring of the Presidency's Cabinet and General Secretariat Somebody on this board was asking who was making the decisions of RFEF while Rubiales was already banned by FIFA but the vice president didn't yet take over. The answer is general secretary Andreu Camps. Of course he should go together with his president. - Restructuring of the Communication and Marketing Department Remember the tone deaf press statements by RFEF right after winning WWC, singularly focusing on defending Rubiales? This is who is responsible for such, of course there are changes needed. - Restructuring of the Integrity Department Why was all that stuff allowed to fester for years at the RFEF? It's the very job of the ethics board to inhibit such negative destructive development. This obviously didn't work so far. So again a logical request to restructure that as well. While Rubiales is the face of the scandal he's not solely responsible so the solution neither can't be just removing him. That's the opposite of a "scorched earth approach" to me.
I don't know what a restructuring of a department means. Does it means replacing the head or the entire work force? I thought they were asking for most of the RFEF work force to be replaced, thus the scorched earth approach... If they want just the heads of the departments to be replaced; it could be considered consequential due Rubiales obvious support among RFEF heads. I find their demands a bit vague and confusing.
Not a surprise that they want to "restructure" the communication and marketing department, since it was this department (Patricia Perez, Chief Press Officer) that confirmed the initial press release from the federation was in fact approved by Hermoso. Also not a surprise that they want to "restructure" the Integrity department since it was this department (Javier Lopez Vallejo, Integrity Officer) that concluded, based on its investigation, that there was no force, violence or assault towards Hermoso and that incident was mutual and a product of the euphoria of the moment. Restructuring the Women's Football Org chart? Spain's Women's teams are world champions in virtually every age group from youth to the senior team. No country in history has had this level of success in such a short time frame. No one can deny that these accomplishments are in large part due to Rubiales, Vilda, and Rafael del Amo (head of Womens football) and the work of their respective teams. Now, a group of players want to blow the whole thing up? Rubiales and Vilda are gone. Changes have been made and will continue to be made. Why now condemn everyone who has been responsible for your success?
I find it dishonest to demand from players that they spell out exactly how a federation should be led. That's obviously not their job. They spelled out that they feel uncomfortable with the status quo in many areas many times, this is by far not the first time, and RFEF in the past neglected to listen to them, never mind react in a positive way. Of course now they put the pressure on the RFEF to act, and act fast. Only a group of 40 players, among them 21 of the 23 strong WWC squad (one resigned from international matches altogether, the other one just didn't sign the manifest). Yeah, why oh why...
Any thoughts from other players? Was there a vote on how to organize a federation? What about the men? Oh yeah, forgot about them. What about the 1.5 million federated players in Spain. Anyone ask them? Nah, lets just let one group of players make the call for the entire Spanish football federation who represent (elected) all regional and local federations within Spain. Yes, Why, is exactly they question. Why? Can you tell me? Can you give me me facts and specifics, not just rumors and innuendo?
There is a basic flaw in how we, humans, approach issues like this and that is we 'expect" anyone that points out a "flaw" to also have ideas as to how to correct it. But the fact is that often seeing and exposing a flaw often requires a very different skill set than fixing that flaw. It is like, back in the days when we actually fixed TVs and other electronics, a customer bringing a TV into a shop and saying "My TV just makes a loud buzzing sound" and then a repair person asks "what do you think should be replaced?" While the fact that the customer knows that something is wrong implies that they know what is wrong and what needs to be fixed the fact is that most people really know nothing more than "The damn thing is busted." It is totally unreasonable to think that knowing it is broken implies that the customer knows how to fix it. The same is true for organizations and even more so. Like I know the USA Congress (in fact the government overall) is broken but I have no workable idea how to fix it. I feel the same about USA soccer. The Spanish players are much closer to their organization than I am to ours or to our government but the problem is similar. Running an organization is very very different that being in said organization and I would not expect the players to know how to run their fed than I know how to run our government. Remember knowing what you want from an organization is extremely different from knowing how that organization can provide what I want.
The link (in Spanish) provides the necessary context. The players do not trust (not surprisingly) a few persons on those departments who they blame for spreading misinformation about the infamous kiss and backing Rubiales. So it isn't really a complete overhaul of the work force but a group of individuals who " had, incited, concealed, or applauded actions that go against the dignity of women." (free translation from the players letter).
You could ask them. Why should there? As I wrote even the women do not tell "how to organize a federation". Maybe stop with your dishonest discourse style? They already called the events wholly unacceptable. Feel free to start with asking them if you really think that makes a difference. Considering how sure you appear to be it absolutely must be worth your time. All of which incidentally from very early on requested Rubiales to resign. You really don't think you are picking the wrong side there? You think complaints are a sign of quality? Your previous post is exactly the kind of reactions that allows messy situations to fester, and you apparently prefer to continue with that instead suggesting improvements? By its very own interests RFEF should restructure the communication and marketing department since by doing what it did it allowed the scandal to blow up more. In the current flow you are essentially defending the indefensible. Again by its very own interests RFEF should restructure the integry department since by doing what it did it it did nothing at all to stop the scandal. In the current flow you are essentially defending the indefensible. That's why the players are demanding changes and point out where they want changes, but don't spell out how the changed state should look like in the end. And that perfectly fine that way. As a football federation it's the RFEF's job to optimally accommodate the players it represents.
Their request is too vague; it can be easily misconstrued as calling for the complete dissolution of the federation. They need to maintain public support in Spain. If the demands appear to negatively affect the Spanish men's national team, they could lose public backing rapidly. Therefore, specifying their demands would be a better approach, IMHO.
It's not the job of players to worry how a federation is organized, so I consider the expectation of them to spell out just that wholly misplaced. It's the RFEF's job to optimally accommodate the players it represents. I'm not sure how "the demands [can] negatively affect the Spanish men's national team". By the same token it could well be said the implied demands by Spanish men's national team is continuously negatively affecting the women side, as like virtually all football federations in the world it is vastly male dominated. But this is not about an either/or face-off but essentially "only" about respecting the concerns of women players. Something the RFEF under Rubiales and precursors had a history of radically brushing off. Something I'm sure none of all the affected player over all the years want to see yet another repeat of. So they understandably put the pressure now so that there's no chance of this happening again in the future. Which also should be in RFEF's own interests.
The problem is that they are refusing to play for the national team unless these demands are met. They have issued an ultimatum to the RFEF. Therefore, their demands should have been very specific to avoid any misunderstanding or mischaracterization. I do hope the RFEF meets all their demands, but we shouldn't be naive and think that public opinion isn't the actual driving force here. If their demands are perceived (or misinterpreted) as vindictive or excessive by the Spanish population, they will lose a lot of support and influence.
Oh, that's so clever. You must be so much fun at parties. Your writing style resembles that of a punk. Is that correct? No need to answer. Right, you want me to be reassured by a group of virtue signalers, many of who have had serious indiscretions of their own; some of who currently play or have played football in countries where it is legal to stone women to death and hang homosexuals? You want me to take advice on women's rights from these men? ummm, how about they be your moral heroes, instead. Again, you are so witty. Do you have to work at this or does it come naturally? Oh, so you're saying this federation can actually do something right? Respectfully, please make up your mind, then post. Improvements? You do realize Spanish women's football is a story of great success in the last few years? How about the players work with the federation instead of resorting to blackmail. Changes have been made and there is an interest to continue change but people generally don't take kindly to blackmail. Groups can work together towards a common goal, cant they? One side is not always 100% right and the other 100% wrong. You just have to look to the 15 blackmailers of just a few months ago. How did that work out for them? You don't even know half the story. But feel free to continue to opine. See prior comment Finally, do us all a favor, please don't answer my posts anymore. Its clear that your feathers are easily ruffled and you resort to emotion to guide your analysis. Let's not waste anyone's time. You post your opinions and I'll post mine.
Right, as players that's their one trump card. The problem is RFEF's, clearly the trust that the RFEF will handle it well without this kind of pressure is not there. Yet anyway. Public support is something RFEF in the past liked to twist its way indeed. To the credit of the RFEF under interim president Pedro Rocha they appear to be taking the issues carefully. The federation initiated public shaming of players that usually happened at this point in the past is very unlikely to repeat. I think there will be immediate changes and longer term plans, and compromises to make the upcoming matches able to go forward. You of course do know as well as we all do that the 19 regional federations the RFEF consists of are still different entities from the overarching RFEF that's the whole topic of our discussion. https://www.espn.co.uk/football/sto...regional-presidents-call-luis-rubiales-resign Likewise. Bye.