Spaniards celebrated their nation’s first Ladies’s World Cup victory on Sunday afternoon by holding dance events within the streets and sharing their giddy delight.
But it surely was a kiss seen world wide that was the speak of social media.
Amid the nationwide jubilation, many had been jolted by an impromptu kiss planted on the Spanish ahead Jennifer Hermoso by the president of Spain’s soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, throughout the medals ceremony, an disagreeable reminder to most of the sexism scandals which have plagued Spanish ladies’s soccer.
After the Spanish gamers defeated England 1-0 and lined up onstage in Sydney, Australia, to gather their medals earlier than lifting the World Cup trophy, Mr. Rubiales enthusiastically grabbed Ms. Hermoso, kissed her on the cheeks after which kissed her totally on the lips, video of the encounter confirmed. Spain’s Queen Letizia was onstage on the time.
Later, in one other video, Ms. Hermoso is seen apparently making her distaste identified, responding, “Hey, however I didn’t like that!”
The video of what many concluded had been an undesirable smooch was broadly shared on social media, spurring confusion amongst many Spaniards and prompting others to denounce it as extremely inappropriate conduct. Some known as it disgraceful and proof of lingering sexism in soccer. Others demanded that Mr. Rubiales resign.
As of Sunday night time, he had not responded to the criticism.
The kissing episode revived recollections of the mistreatment of Spain’s feminine soccer gamers. For 27 years, the ladies’s nationwide crew had the identical coach, who was notorious for dismissing the gamers as “chavalitas,” or immature ladies. He was dismissed in 2015 after gamers protested.
Present members of the ladies’s nationwide crew have additionally complained that they’ve been disrespected by prime male soccer executives and denied the sort of elite tools and therapy given to the boys’s groups. The ladies have stated that the amenities the federation supplied for them are subpar and that Jorge Vilda, their coach, fostered an oppressive office atmosphere, one during which the gamers’ each transfer was monitored by his employees.
Final fall, many gamers revolted towards the coach and federation, accusing them of mistreatment and withdrawing from consideration for the nationwide crew. Ms. Hermoso was seen as having tacitly supported the riot.
The controversies didn’t cease Spain from profitable this yr’s World Cup. However the sudden kiss added one other dimension to the ladies’s victory.
In a reside video posted on Instagram and shared on different social media platforms, Ms. Hermoso is seen celebrating together with her teammates within the locker room after the ultimate and smiling whilst she says the kiss was not wished.
Including to the confusion, Mr. Rubiales is heard in one other video telling the gamers that they’d be rewarded with a visit to Ibiza for his or her victory and including that it could be a chance to rejoice his “marriage ceremony” to Ms. Hermoso — an obvious reference to the kiss.
There isn’t a indication that Mr. Rubiales and Ms. Hermoso are in a relationship.
Nadia Tronchoni, an editor at El País, Spain’s greatest newspaper, famous in an opinion piece that Sunday’s victory was “greater than a title” for Spanish ladies.
“The ladies, the ladies of this nation celebrated the truth that our stubbornness has lastly defeated machismo,” she stated, referring to feminine gamers’ lengthy battle to be acknowledged. “Rubiales’s kiss to Hermoso reminds us that the highway forward is a protracted one.”
