The Journal. - The Kiss Rocking Women’s Soccer

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

Spain’s victory in the Women’s World Cup this month was quickly overshadowed when Luis Rubiales, a top Spanish soccer official, abruptly kissed a player on the lips while on stage. As WSJ’s Rachel Bachman explains, the incident has been met with condemnation and calls for bigger changes in the sport. Further Listening: -U.S. Soccer’s Equal Pay Deal and One Player Who Helped Negotiate It  -How Soccer Fans Killed the Super League  Further Reading: -Spain Soccer in Turmoil as Federation Chief Refuses to Quit Over World Cup Kiss  -A Year After a Players’ Mutiny Against the Coach, Spain Is in the Women’s World Cup Final  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This summer, 32 women's soccer teams competed in the World Cup. Australia in the green and gold. It was held in Australia and New Zealand and was the largest women's World Cup in history. Japan are on the score sheet first. The final match came down to Spain and England. Spain's team, which only qualified for its first Women's World Cup in 2015, overcame England, beat the Lionesses 1-0 in Sydney to win its first ever World Cup title. It is Spain wins the World Cup.

Our colleague Rachel Bachman was there. And after the final whistle, Spain's champion players poured onto the field, embraced, and dove on top of each other into a big pile of joy. And then the medal ceremony began right there on the same field. So there's a platform that's moved onto the field, and the players walk across the platform, almost like a graduation ceremony, and are handed their first place medals. And one of the people doing the congratulating was the president of the Spanish Soccer Federation,

Luis Rubiales. Rubiales greeted each player as they came through. He gave them big hugs and kissed several on the cheek. Then, one of Spain's veteran players, Jenny Hermoso, gets her medal and walks across the platform up to him. Rubialis grabbed her, hugged her, and then put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. and kissed her. It was startling.

It's customary for dignitaries to shake hands of players, typically. If they know them very well, they might hug them. I have never seen someone in his position kiss another player on the lips. That kiss has lit a firestorm. Now the entire team says it won't play unless Rubiales steps down. And he says he won't. Protests have erupted across Spain and around the world. And the incident is raising questions about gender politics in the sport. It's really breathtaking that even as we should be celebrating these women who have

achieved an accomplishment of a lifetime in a very competitive Women's World Cup, the biggest one ever, instead we're dealing with these allegations and this acrimony and players sidelining themselves because they're so desperate for change. sidelining themselves because they're so desperate for change. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Kate Leinbaugh. It's Tuesday, August 29th. Coming up on the show, the kiss that's wreaking havoc in women's soccer. Summer is like a cocktail. It has to be mixed just right.

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Bacardi, its trade dress and the bat device are trademarks of Bacardi and Company Limited. Rum 40% alcohol by volume. How would you describe this Spanish women's soccer team? Like a lot of great teams, they have a little bit of everything. So they have veterans like Hermoso, and they also have some really young stars who just played spectacularly at this World Cup. But they had nine players who scored goals during their World Cup run. So this is not a team with one or two stars. This is a team of all stars. And who is Jenny Hermoso?

What's her background? How long has she played? What's her career? So Hermoso is a veteran player. What's her background? How long has she played? What's her career? So Hermoso is a veteran player. She's 33 years old. She currently plays for a Mexican team, Pachuca, in the Mexican League. But she has played for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, the celebrated French club, and Atletico Madrid. And she's also, of course, played for the national team. National teams, which play in the World Cup and the Olympics,

are different from the professional teams. And they're managed by their country's soccer federations, which generally oversee both the women's and men's programs. In Spain, the body is called the Royal Spanish Football Federation and is headed by Luis Rubiales. So he has quite a bit of control over what happens on fields all across the country. Soccer federations essentially decide who will be on a national team. They call up the players.

They essentially invite players to play on the national team. They call up the players. They essentially invite players to play on the national team. So what this does is it gives the people in charge an extreme amount of power and control because at any given time, they can simply rescind the invitation and just say, you are not being called up to the national team. The leadership of these national federations is largely male-dominated. Out of over 200 around the world, only a handful are headed by women. Rachel says that gender disparity has contributed to a culture of neglect toward women's soccer. In Spain, the women's team has pushed back against their federation's leadership before. About a year ago, 15 players on Spain's women's team emailed the federation saying,

we have some grave concerns about our coach, a man named Jorge Vilda, and we really need your help in intervening and changing the conditions that we're working under because they're very distressing to us. They felt he was very controlling, the environment was very unprofessional, and it was hurting their mental health and it was hurting their performance. And what were their specific allegations or concerns? And what were their specific allegations or concerns? He would monitor, you know, where they went for coffee, who they were going to see. For a time, he required them to keep their hotel doors open so he could check on them while they were at training camp. And they felt very surveilled.

They felt like this was really an intrusion. Remember, these were adult women. This is not summer camp. You know, this is the top level of global soccer. The Spanish Soccer Federation, led by Rubiales, stood by Coach Vilda and attacked the players who made the complaints. It said the players were disloyal, that they could be punished for their disloyalty, including suspension or not being called up to the national team. The response of the Federation, which really comes from Realis, was to publicize these private emails, to call out the players as disloyal, and to threaten to suspend them for multiple years for that disloyalty. So what did the players do? Well, it depends on the player. There was a range of reactions. Some players didn't return to the

national team. Others had some private communications with the federation and came to some kind of detente and were invited back to the national team. What was the sort of public reaction or reaction from international governing bodies to this incident? Honestly, it was fairly muted. People in the women's soccer community were upset and supported the players, at least moral support. But, you know, for much of the rest of the soccer world, I think, you know, this was business as usual. Was there a sense that Rubiales was protecting the coach? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Like, do they have a relationship? You know, that I don't know. But my understanding is that Jorge Vilda, the coach, his father is also a member of the Spanish Soccer Federation.

So I think it's safe to say this is sort of a textbook old boys club. The Spanish Soccer Federation kept Vilda on as the coach. And 12 of the 15 players who'd written the email were not called up to join the national team. This controversy was hanging over Spain as it competed in the World Cup. And when they won, their victory was instantly overshadowed by the kiss. Coming up, how the women's team and the world of soccer are trying to move forward. With Uber Reserve, good things come to those who plan ahead. Family vacay? Reserve your ride as soon as you book your flights.

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Is that a squirrel? Bear! Run! Collect more moments with more ways to earn. Air Mile. After the awards ceremony at the World Cup, the Spanish team went back to the locker room to celebrate their win. And in a social media live stream,

Jenny Hermoso was asked about the kiss from Luis Rubiales. There was a video that appeared to be taken in Spain's locker room in which Hermosa herself was asked about the kiss and she says, I really didn't like it. So it was clear from immediately after this incident that it was not consensual. And the outrage on social media began to grow from there. What followed were days of conflicting statements

from Rubiales and the Spanish Soccer Federation and responses from Hermoso. Rubiales first dismissed the criticism, saying, quote, we do not pay attention to idiots and stupid people. The next day, the Federation released a statement supporting Rubiales. saying, quote, we do not pay attention to idiots and stupid people. The next day, the Federation released a statement supporting Rubiales. It included a quote it claimed was from Hermoso, saying the kiss was, quote, mutual.

Then, that same day, Rubiales issued another response in a video. He apologized to people who felt hurt by the kiss and said he needed to be more careful. But he also said the kiss was normal and natural. Rubiales sort of gave a half-hearted apology, but very soon after that, Hermoso herself spoke forcefully about how the kiss was not consensual, she didn't want it, and that she had been pressured by the Spanish Federation to support the president and dismiss the incident. Hermoso later called the kiss a, quote, impulsive macho act. And her teammates rallied behind her.

The entire Spanish Women's World Cup team has come out in support of her and said, it will not play as long as the people in power remain in power. And they've been supported by dozens of other Spanish players, including a handful of male players. Individual players have said, I will not accept a call-up to the national team until these leaders are gone. In a news conference on Friday, Rubiales accused his critics of trying to take him down with, quote, fake feminism. He called the public response to his kiss social assassination. He'd gotten tons of criticism that this was completely inappropriate and shouldn't have happened.

He appeared at an assembly of the Spanish Federation, and instead of resigning, he repeatedly said, I will not resign. And this triggered another wave of outrage. Right now on Twitter, the hashtag Contigo Jenny is trending. That means with you, Jenny. So there's a real standoff. That means with you, Jenny. So there's a real standoff.

There's absolutely a standoff. And the players are saying we will not come back as long as Ruby Alice is in charge. They're essentially on strike. Yes. Yeah. And this controversy has gone beyond the world of soccer. Support for Armoso has poured onto the streets. In Spain, hundreds of people marched, holding up red cards and calling for Rubiales to step down.

It has also prompted calls for FIFA, the host of the World Cup, and the international governing body of soccer, to take action. FIFA suspended Rubialis. Its disciplinary committee is investigating the incident. It's hard to say how long that will take. It said the suspension will last for as many as 90 days, so it could take quite a while to get to the bottom of this. But I think it's notable that FIFA intervened at all. Why? Because typically it really leaves the federations to their own devices, other than just following sort of basic rules and the calendar and things like that. So the fact that FIFA did interfere in this time speaks to the gravity of this situation. Yesterday, Spanish prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into Rubiales

for potential sexual assault. Also yesterday came a sign that he is losing support inside his own organization. A top commission in the Spanish Soccer Federation called on Rubiales to resign immediately. So we have a team of players that just won the World Cup who says they won't play again unless this guy is out. And yet Rubiales is still there. What does that say about women's soccer? For a lot of women's teams, that is what it takes to get attention, right? We're only having this conversation because Spain won. Right. And they had so many of these same problems a year ago before they'd won anything. And we're listening now because they have the medals around their necks. And that pretty much says it all, that, you know,

they cannot find support from their federation. They have to hope that it comes from elsewhere. And they hope that it comes soon. You know, in February, this team will have to play to try to qualify for next summer's Olympics. So, you know, time marches on. And I'm sure they would love to get back to the field, but this has to be settled first. You just brought the Olympics on stage. So it's not like the World Cup is over and we can hang up our cleats. There's more to be done. Absolutely.

This team is going to be a favorite to qualify for the Olympics and even a favorite to win a gold medal. Why wouldn't it be? to qualify for the Olympics and even a favorite to win a gold medal. Why wouldn't it be? So the fact that it's lead up to qualifying for the next global tournament is being marred by this episode. It's just another sad chapter. These women should not have to worry about this. They've achieved the pinnacle, and yet they're still fighting.

They're still fighting. That's all for today, Tuesday, August 29th. The Journal is a co-production of Gimlet and The Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in this episode by Joshua Robinson. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.