The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, leaves to testify at the National Court – EDUARDO PARRA / EUROPA PRESS
He argues that the proposal for a 3-year disqualification is not in the Sports Law and describes it as “unfair” and “disproportionate”
He regrets that his case was very good for a “radicalized sector” of politics and compares it to the application of article 155 in Catalonia
MADRID, 13 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales has requested the archive and dismissal of the file opened by the Administrative Court of Sports (TAD), which proposed a sanction of 3 years of disqualification for the kiss against Jenni Hermoso and her performance in the box after the final of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
This is what it says in the 18-page document of allegations, to which Europa Press has had access, presented this Monday by Luis Rubiales before the TAD after the proposal of two sanctions, each one of one year and six months, for considering actions such as serious infractions by the Sports Law and sports discipline legislation.
These sanctions “do not correspond”, according to Rubiales’ defense, with the reasoning in the rest of the text of the proposed resolution but rather appear “disconnected” and project an “arbitrary” and “unjustified” request. In this sense, he considers that the sanction should be a warning, fine or disqualification of three or six months.
In the letter, the former president of the RFEF regretted that the TAD requested, despite considering that the facts were “notorious” and “public”, a report to the CSD, which includes a “mere compilation of press articles”, but not the impact on social networks, thereby confessing its “permeability” and “influence” by media pressure and political powers.
In this sense, he announced that, in the event that the sanction is based on “arbitrariness”, “permeability” and “absence of legal objectivity and classification”, he is being “served on a platter” by resorting to criminal jurisdiction. “Which is what I have already announced to you that I will do in the event that a sanction is imposed for these events,” he said.
Rubiales stressed that both the initiating agreement and the proposed resolution highlight that the consensual or non-consensual nature of the kiss remains “outside the walls of the sporting disciplinary field”, which is why the news that appeared in the report that refers to ‘forced kiss’, ‘ tax’, ‘unsolicited’, ‘unwanted’ or ‘stolen’ could not, in his opinion, be taken into consideration.
“The fleeting kiss (not on the mouth but) on the lips was consensual, and anyone who says otherwise is being untrue. Everything I have stated to date has been my only version and that is how it will be. The visual evidence , behavioral, even the spontaneous statements of both parties after what happened indicate this,” he reiterated against the version offered by Jenni Hermoso in her statement before the prosecution.
For Rubiales there has been a “bestial theatricalization”, a “brutal demagoguery” and a “lynching” for various factors. “One, that I made a mistake. Two, that they had been after me for a long time. Three, that it was very good for some radicalized sector of Spanish politics. Four, that this matter constituted, without a doubt, a media bonanza,” summarized.
THE “WHIMOUS COINCIDENCE” OF 155
Likewise, he sees a “capricious coincidence” in the number of his file, 155, with the article of the Constitution that the Government applied in 2017 in Catalonia, after the declaration of independence by the Parliament.
“It is evident that parallels cannot be made between my case and the significance and political relevance that that number, 155, had a few years ago. But it does come to (…) that we live in a State of Law, and it is not reasonable to twist the legal interpretation to try to protect an extremely unfair and disproportionate sanction,” he stressed.
He elaborates on his allegations that he had Hermoso’s consent and regretted the changes in versions when there are crimes involved that they want to exonerate or “when there are none, but the intention is to dramatize and take the pressure to the maximum extreme to point out and criminalize.”
“In my case, many have changed from private to public opinion (others remain silent, which is safer). There are also those who have modified their version, they will know why. Some have spuriously wanted to use me to criminalize an act of joy and celebration, mutual and consensual. Simply and plainly, I asked and she told me ‘Okay’. Full stop. You cannot prove otherwise. Neither you nor anyone because what I say is the truth,” he stated.
THE GESTURE, DIRECTED TO VILDA
On the other hand, he censured and described as “very serious” the “malicious” leak of the proposed 3-year sanction by a member of the TAD to the press, generating “a parallel public trial” and “total helplessness,” and recalled that The sanctions of athletes or coaches “for grabbing the crotch” have never gone beyond a “slap on the wrist” such as a game sanction or a financial fine.
He admitted that the gesture of touching his genitals in the box was a “gross,” “inappropriate” and “ordinary” act, but he reiterated that it was directed at the national coach, Jorge Vilda, who “had suffered a lot from blackmail by those who are now taking advantage to obtain profits and execute a sweet revenge with the false excuse of ‘Earning in rights'”, he points out in the allegations to which Europa Press has had access.
In said writing, he argues that neither this gesture nor the kiss to Jenni Hermoso “are contrary to sporting dignity and decorum”, and that in the case of the former “it is not sexist” and that a warning could be a sanction “even harsh.” “, but that “may be admissible and fair.”
Likewise, she confessed that she should have omitted the kiss to Hermoso, although she once again insisted that it was a “mutual” and “spontaneous” gesture due to the immense joy of having just won the first women’s soccer World Cup in history, as well as that she had no has any impact on sports competition and cannot be sanctioned “with the law in hand.”
Finally, Rubiales defended that he has been the main promoter of equality between men and women in the practice of football by professionalizing the technical bodies of the women’s team, the “historic agreement” on bonuses for internationals and, among other milestones, the increase from 2.7 to 27 million in the budget and the professionalization of the women’s First Division.