Weaponisation of sex by feminists is bad for sports
This picture taken on August 20, 2023 shows President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales carrying Spain's Athenea del Castillo Beivide on his shoulder as they celebrate winning the Australia and New Zealand 2023 Women's World Cup final football match between Spain and England at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
What you need to know:
- My first submission is that this man Rubiales, who today stands accused, has up to this point been treated to an unfair trial by the media.
- A man who until very recently was an ‘unknown’ entity outside the Spanish football cycles has in a space of a few tumultuous weeks become a global household name – and for all the wrong reasons.
At the risk of irreparably damaging my relationship with a few feminist friends, I’m offering to play the devil’s advocate in this endless Luis Rubiales saga which, in my view, has been blown out of proportion.
My first submission is that this man Rubiales, who today stands accused, has up to this point been treated to an unfair trial by the media.
A man who until very recently was an ‘unknown’ entity outside the Spanish football cycles has in a space of a few tumultuous weeks become a global household name – and for all the wrong reasons.
Here is a man who has been prosecuted and found guilty in the court of public opinion, with the only thing remaining being the sentence, which I’m sure will be very harsh when it is finally delivered.
His crime? Planting that infamous “non-consensual” kiss on the lips of his compatriot and Spanish national team player Jenni Hermoso after the historic 1-0 victory over England that gifted Spain its first-ever Women’s World Cup title.
I keep asking myself, if a ‘mere’ kiss in the full glare of the international media has now become the subject of worldwide retribution, how bad then would it have been for Rubiales had the incident happened behind closed doors? Your guess is as good as mine. He would almost certainly have been accused of many other things bordering on rape or attempted rape.
Thankfully, for Rubiales, the incident happened in real time as the whole world watched. It will be hard to establish what Rubiales’ attentions were at that moment when he ‘forcefully’ kissed Hermoso, as the latter has now made the world believe.
However, it certainly wasn’t rape or anything remotely related to it. Rubiales is certainly off the hook on that count, even after Spanish prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into whether the incident amounted to a crime of sexual assault.
My gripe with what has been described in some quarters as Spain’s ‘Me Too Moment’ is how the feminist lynch mob has rushed to pass judgment and pronounce Rubiales guilty even before the conclusion of due process of the law. Doesn’t the old-age legal principle of an accused person being considered innocent until proven guilty apply anymore?
Hermoso’s case against the disgraced Rubiales must also not be treated in isolation. Those who keenly followed the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup before Rubiales happened must be aware of the fact that the Spanish team went to that tournament under a huge cloud of controversy.
World Cup-winning coach Jorge Vilda, who has since been fired, was a hugely unpopular figure among his players.
But Rubiales sided with him and he survived insubordination before guiding his mutinous charges to glory on the global stage.
From where I sit, the public trial of Rubiales smacks of vengeance. It all appears to be a case of payback time for an unhappy group of players who were all too happy when Rubiales unwittingly gave them the rope to hang him with.
The way this whole saga has unfolded points to the growing weaponisation of sex in the world of sport.
The likes of Benjamin Mendy and Mason Greenwood know all about it. It’s certainly the wrong way to go.
