The FIFA disciplinary committee, which handed down a three-year ban to former Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales for his controversial conduct through the Women’s World Cup closing, admitted to being tempted to impose an excellent harsher penalty.
The ban was imposed on Oct. 30, stemming from Rubiales’ actions after the Spain-England closing match on Aug. 20 in Sydney.
During the extraordinary moments of celebration after Spain’s victory, Rubiales shocked onlookers by grabbing his genitals within the VIP space.
The controversy escalated when he proceeded to kiss midfielder Jennifer Hermoso on the lips through the medal presentation, a kiss that Hermoso later clarified was with out her consent.
The committee, in its written resolution, expressed deep concern over Rubiales’ “sense of complete impunity” throughout the soccer atmosphere.
Despite the emotional context of the match, the committee emphasised that Rubiales, as the previous president of the Spanish Football Federation, was anticipated to uphold the best requirements of professionalism, particularly throughout a pinnacle second for ladies’s soccer.
The severity of the incidents prompted the committee to ponder much more stringent sanctions, highlighting the profound unfavorable impression Rubiales’ actions had on FIFA’s picture, girls’s soccer and girls’s sport usually.
Evidence offered by Football Association Chair Debbie Hewitt, who was current through the presentation ceremony, performed a pivotal function within the committee’s resolution.
According to Hewitt, Rubiales not solely engaged in inappropriate bodily contact with the English gamers but additionally exhibited odd conduct by “cupping and stroking” the face of participant Laura Coombs.
Hewitt’s account additional described Rubiales as changing into “boisterous” when the Spanish gamers stepped onto the rostrum, creating an uncomfortable environment.
Regarding the controversial kiss with Hermoso, Hewitt asserted that there was “no evidence” of consent, highlighting Hermoso’s physique language, together with eye-rolling, which urged embarrassment.
The committee listed a number of aggravating elements that contributed to the imposition of a three-year ban.
These included Rubiales’ failure to situation a public apology, his continued insistence that the Hermoso kiss was consensual and his public insults directed at those that noticed the incident in another way.
Rubiales’ misuse of the Real Federacion Espanola de Futbol (RFEF) platforms, pressuring and “emotionally coercing” Hermoso and the publication of an unauthorized assertion in Hermoso’s title additional fueled the severity of the committee’s resolution.
The disgraced former president, who initially refused to step down, however later resigned on Sept. 10, instantly expressed his intention to attraction the ban on the day it was issued.
Source: www.dailysabah.com