Jenni Hermoso had waited her whole career for this. She’d played for her country almost 100 times, was Spain’s top goal scorer, winning the World Cup was her ambition and finally she did it. This was her moment to celebrate but instead a man ruined it. He was her boss, Luis Rubiales, the then much heralded former president of Spain’s Football Association, who live on air, put his hands around her head and kissed her on the mouth. He was recently found guilty of assaulting her, but you could say that this kiss was just a symptom of a much bigger problem.
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00:00When the Spanish team lifted the World Cup last Sunday, it was a historic moment, but
00:11the way in which the National Football Federation president, Luis Rubiales, celebrated has made
00:17this a bittersweet week for Spanish football.
00:21The tip of the iceberg, the final straw and a peek at the structural misogyny that has
00:29been plaguing the Spanish women's football team for years.
00:32An unwelcome kiss on the lips from the president of your association is bad enough, but this
00:37was so much worse.
00:38Here's why.
00:39It was the first time the Spanish women's team had ever won the World Cup.
00:46It was also the first time women's football was getting the recognition it deserved.
00:50And their forward, Jenny Hermoso, was at the pinnacle of her career.
00:54She's Spain's top goalscorer.
00:55She played basically every minute of every match in the World Cup.
00:59She scored three goals and provided two assists.
01:01She is one of the greatest women's players of all time.
01:04She's the Spanish top scorer.
01:06And that doesn't just come from finishing ability, but also all-round technical talent.
01:11We are talking about an icon for the women's game.
01:13So she had a lot to be proud of.
01:14This was her moment to celebrate, to spend the evening in pure euphoria, but it was never
01:19going to be good, was it?
01:20Instead, a man ruined it.
01:24Who was he?
01:25Her boss, Luis Rubiales.
01:27The then much-heralded former president of the Spanish Football Association, who live
01:31on air put his hands around her head and kissed her on the mouth.
01:34Hermoso later went on to describe how this kiss tarnished one of the happiest days of
01:38her life.
01:39Now, two years later, following a two-week-long trial, Luis Rubiales has been found guilty
01:44of sexual assault, although he was cleared of coercion.
01:47He's ordered to pay Hermoso €10,800.
01:50He's banned from going within a 200-metre radius of her and communicating with her for
01:54a year.
01:55But there's much, much more to the story.
01:57He wasn't the only man Hermoso brought to court.
01:59He was tried alongside Ruben Ribera, the Spanish Football Association's former head of marketing,
02:03Albert Luque, who was director of the Spanish national football team, and Jorge Vilda, their
02:08coach, who we'll be talking about later.
02:10These men were all accused of coercion, however, they were cleared.
02:14During the court case, the jurors had details about how Hermoso in no way consented to the
02:18kiss, that Hermoso felt coerced into publicly supporting Rubiales in saying the kiss was
02:23consensual, and that her celebratory holiday to Ibiza was ruined because of the constant
02:27haranguing she received from these men, who allegedly suggested her career would benefit
02:32if she said she didn't mind having been assaulted.
02:34They really, really wanted her to protect her boss from the public backlash that he
02:38was understandably receiving.
02:40When Hermoso was just trying to chill out in Ibiza, Albert Luque, a seemingly normal,
02:45functioning member of society, and in fact, a very powerful member of the Spanish Football
02:49Federation, sent her friend a message saying she will find herself all alone, all alone,
02:57and me, as someone who isn't made happy by anybody's ills, I'll be happy for the first
03:02time in my life!
03:06The road to Rubiales' guilty verdict wasn't a simple one, and this kiss has become one
03:10of the most talked about moments in women's footballing history.
03:13Let's rewind.
03:15Post-kiss in the dressing room after the match, you can see Rubiales telling Hermoso and her
03:22team that he wanted to marry her during their celebratory team trip to Ibiza, a trip which
03:27he didn't actually go on, by the way.
03:30Weird.
03:31Also in the dressing room, Hermoso was quick to make it clear to her teammates that she
03:34didn't enjoy the kiss.
03:36What she said was, what was I supposed to do?
03:38I didn't like it, huh?
03:39But the Spanish FA wanted to portray a different story.
03:42They put out a statement which they claimed was on behalf of Jenny Hermoso.
03:47This was a totally spontaneous and mutual gesture.
03:50The president and I have a great relationship.
03:52His behaviour with everyone has been excellent.
03:55Wait a minute!
03:57Prosecutors alleged that Hermoso was asked to approve a statement in her name playing
04:01down the kiss, which she refused to do.
04:03The gall to even try that, it was incredible really.
04:07And that's, before you even get to actually, I would say, almost the more serious issue
04:11of the pressure being applied to her.
04:13That in itself should have been instantly career-ending.
04:16I'm really surprised more hasn't been made of that statement.
04:19But I suppose, when I was kind of looking back over that week really, there are so many
04:25astounding details in that week that something like that, which in any other story would
04:29be this massive headline.
04:30It's safe to say that Rubi Alas was not remorseful, as he told a journalist that same evening.
04:35He did film an apology video, however he seemed to have been taking some tips from
04:44The Terrible Boyfriend or the YouTuber School of Apology.
04:47It's giving, I'm sorry you felt that way.
04:52And while there were quickly calls for him to resign, he surprised everyone in an assembly
04:56by saying, I will not resign.
04:59I will not resign.
05:00I will not resign.
05:02He'd been told that he was going to, before the speech, he was going to resign.
05:06It's one of the most extraordinary about-turns that I've ever seen.
05:09No voy a dimitir, no voy a dimitir, no voy a dimitir, no voy a dimitir, no voy a dimitir.
05:22The obnoxiousness of how he didn't really feel that he had anything to answer for, and
05:26I think this is something that's come up in Spanish football since then.
05:29There's been a lot of scrutiny on who was in the room at the time and who responded
05:33favourably.
05:34It obviously, that was very far from kind of the general response, but there were people
05:39in that room who obviously applauded him.
05:41It was like he thought he was doing a very sort of moving and historic sort of speech.
05:47And again, there's so many kind of echoes of kind of wider political issues here, because
05:54we're literally talking about kind of like post-truth stuff.
05:57He started to go on about kind of the false feminism.
05:59He called the crowd that was predominantly filled with men, real feminists.
06:04Unlike that fake feminism out there.
06:06And while he's speaking to any actual women, it still reeks of a man on a date telling
06:11you, you're not like the other girls.
06:13In fact, let's just play that speech again.
06:15No voy a dimitir.
06:19Notice how none of the women are clapping.
06:20When Alexia Puteas, who was once named the best female footballer in the world, saw this
06:25She wrote a tweet which read,
06:27This is unacceptable.
06:28It's over.
06:29With you.
06:30Partner.
06:31Jenny Emoso.
06:32Hashtag it's over, or in Spanish, se acabo.
06:33Caught on.
06:34It felt like Spanish football's equivalent of Me Too, and it appeared on the football
06:37shirts of the Seville men's team the following week.
06:40So the story divided people.
06:41Emoso gathered a huge wave of support, but Ruby Alice had his own supporters.
06:46You know, starting with the people he was paying.
06:48His mother, who went on a hunger strike and locked herself in a church.
06:51And these people.
06:52We know how men get excited sometimes, don't we?
06:54Some people are naturally huggy, kissy people.
06:57I just don't think what we witnessed constitutes any kind of crime.
07:01Feminists have become martinets.
07:04Although when anyone has a sit down with Piers Morgan, you know things probably aren't looking
07:07great for them.
07:09The kiss caused a lot of controversy, but so did something else you did that day.
07:13You were sitting just a few seats away from Queen Letizia of Spain and her 16-year-old
07:18daughter, Infanta Sofia, the princess.
07:21And you very provocatively grabbed your crotch.
07:24They got sent a video of Ruby Alice doing that infamous crotch gesture.
07:29So he grabbed his crotch in front of the Spanish royal family.
07:32Yeah.
07:33Like that's the behavior of someone who either A, doesn't know how to behave in such circumstances,
07:39or B, and this is probably more likely, doesn't care.
07:41I think I wrote at the time, that phrase basically taken to mean, I am the man.
07:46And for him to be kind of doing that in that way, at this moment of a women's victory,
07:50I mean, it was quite symbolic in itself.
07:52Ruby Alice has spent the last two years arguing his case.
07:55He claimed the kiss was consensual, saying he had a relationship with her like that.
07:59Saying she picked him up first, and if you read their lips, you can see that he's asking
08:03to kiss her, and she's giving him permission.
08:11And the Spanish Football Federation initially rallied against Hermoso.
08:15They carried out an investigation, where they published four photos of Hermoso celebrating
08:20after the match.
08:21Suggesting she must have been down for a kiss from her boss.
08:24His position was untenable, and it should have been immediately clear it was untenable.
08:27There were all sorts of stories about how he spoke to women, how he spoke to them in
08:30a kind of a suggestive sexual fashion.
08:33With one official, he spoke to her about her underwear, and talked about how she was going
08:38to wear knee pads, which you would presume was in reference to a sexual position.
08:43It was from a Spanish football official, Tamara Ramos.
08:46I'm not at all surprised by what is happening.
08:48I have known him for many years, and I have suffered from him.
08:50In front of everyone, he, with the sarcastic manner he has of laughing at himself, told
08:54me, you'll see, you've come here to put your knee pads on.
08:57These are words that nobody deserves, especially a professional, who, as I was, has come to
09:01work.
09:02Research suggests that 40% of women and 18% of men experience unwanted sexual behaviour
09:07in the workplace.
09:08And this isn't even the first time that Spanish football has faced controversy.
09:12In fact, if I told you that the Spanish Football Federation was rotten to the core, I wouldn't
09:18be the only person thinking that.
09:21Spain's first national football coach, Ignacio Caer, was accused of being homophobic and
09:28patronising women.
09:29He would pinch players' stomachs, squeeze their cheeks, and tell them they needed a
09:32dick in their lives.
09:33Well, they already had a dickhead.
09:35Yet, somehow, he kept his job for over 24 years, in spite of not qualifying for a single
09:41tournament.
09:42That's the longest coaching career in international football ever.
09:46The players actually wrote a letter, presented to him, demanding that he be moved aside.
09:52The previous Spanish Federation president, Villar, he refused it, rejected it, and actually
09:57described it privately as nonsense from the girls.
10:00In 2021, a documentary came out detailing the fear, bigotry and sexism they experienced
10:05under Caer.
10:06Eventually, he finally got the boot.
10:09The moves after that were, they did bring some change.
10:14It was only ever superficial change.
10:16After Caer, came another coach who also appeared to outstay his welcome.
10:20This is the coach that the team got to the final with, Jorge Vilda, the one who Jenny
10:24Hermosa took to court.
10:26The second ever Spanish women's football coach, oh, and he was a nepo.
10:29Vilda got his job seven years before the 2023 final, having never coached a professional
10:34team in his life.
10:35But that's okay, because his father was Ángel Vilda, the former manager of the Spanish women's
10:40under-19s team.
10:42Was he any good at the job though, you ask?
10:44No.
10:45Spain had the best players in the world, but were failing to win a single knockout stage
10:50match in their first four tournaments.
10:52He was seen as a company man.
10:54A lot of the players felt he had a bit of an authoritarian attitude to the team, that
10:57he didn't listen to them.
10:58They didn't think the training was anywhere near the level of their club teams.
11:04Even his own father said Jorge wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes in the national team if
11:08it wasn't for Rubiales' support.
11:13Family dinners at the Vilda household can't have been fun.
11:15Unremarkable was an understatement.
11:18Although unlike any men's football team coach with the same track record, he still
11:22kept his job.
11:23And Vilda wasn't just a terrible football manager.
11:25The women felt that he was a terrible person.
11:27He allegedly made them leave their hotel doors open so he could check when they went to bed.
11:32The women felt strongly that they were being treated unfairly.
11:34While other teams got chartered flights, they got five-hour bus journeys between matches.
11:39They didn't have their own changing rooms, and couldn't use the only gym available
11:42because it was for the men.
11:43Who did the women turn to for help?
11:45Luis Rubiales.
11:46A story as ironic as Alanis Morissette's 1995 hit.
11:50And what did he do to help?
11:54Nada.
11:55So with the World Cup on the horizon and the women feeling completely unsupported by these
11:59two men, this is when the public protest really began.
12:0115-star players asked not to be called for the national team.
12:05They maintained they weren't asking for the manager to be changed, that they were just
12:09showcasing their unhappiness with how things were going and the sense that the potential
12:14of this team was being wasted.
12:15They were called las quince.
12:16Some of them actually missed out on the best moments of their career out of their principals.
12:20It was meant to be a private matter, but the email was leaked, the women's names were made
12:23public and the Spanish Football Federation tried to frame these women as unpatriotic
12:28and childish.
12:29To a lot of people, particularly a lot of people in football, there's almost this sense
12:33that if you go against your country or if you're perceived to go against your national
12:37team in any way, then that's just argument over.
12:40And I think that very simplistic and I would say incorrect argument influenced a lot of
12:45the discussion around this.
12:46Eventually they managed to coax eight women back into the team as they realised this could
12:50be their only chance to play a World Cup tournament.
12:53But there was tension.
12:54It was Wilder and Rubiales versus the women.
12:56And many felt they could see distance between the women and their coach during the matches.
13:00Especially in this widely shared clip, where no one seems to be celebrating with Wilder.
13:10Poor little Jorge didn't have any friends.
13:12The way they behaved around Wilder in the aftermath of victories was untypical.
13:18I mean, look, there are cases where even in men's football where teams succeed despite
13:23hating the manager, that can happen.
13:25But this is obviously a very different dynamic and it led to kind of something a bit more
13:29pronounced in the response.
13:31Nonetheless, these talented women were still winning.
13:34One of the reasons this story was even more resonant was because of the competition it
13:39took place in.
13:40There was a huge buzz around the entire competition.
13:44The World Cup has been watched by more people than you could imagine.
13:48This should take women's football throughout the world onto another level altogether.
13:55To have a Spain's journey through the competition, given what everyone knew, was one side of it.
14:02Then, of course, there was the European champions in England on the other side.
14:05For Spain, I think, there was this sense of kind of, I don't want to say vindication,
14:11because they didn't really have to vindicate.
14:12It was more a sense of actually showing what they were capable of in the right support.
14:18And again, it should be stressed, this was Spain doing this without even necessarily
14:23having all the same support as some of their rival teams, certainly compared to USA and even England.
14:30But as Jonathan Loo professically wrote in The Guardian the day before the final match
14:34in Australia, the careful but fragile show of unity Jorge Vilda and his players have
14:39cultivated throughout this tournament will last until about 10.30pm Sydney time.
14:44After that, what happens is anyone's guess.
14:46As we all now know, what happened after 10.30 was in fact no one's guess.
14:50A good guess might have been a dodged handshake between someone on the team and this guy.
14:54No, the last thing anyone expected was a kiss.
14:57Or at least not a friendly one, the way Ruby Ales was describing it.
15:00Emoso's teammates recall her immediately telling them about the kiss, but they were
15:04almost too shocked to believe her.
15:06Which makes sense, because it doesn't seem like Ruby Ales was exactly close with anyone on the team.
15:11It definitely doesn't seem like him and Emoso knew each other like that.
15:15They didn't really think too much of him at all, and they would have seen him as someone
15:18who emboldened a manager and defended a manager who they didn't have much time for in Vilda.
15:25Although one predictable thing did happen in the press room.
15:28While the women talked about how special it was to win this tournament for the first time,
15:32Ruby Ales chose to talk about...
15:35Vilda.
15:36Trying to push a man as champion, when there were many, many women who it might have been
15:41more appropriate to congratulate.
15:43You know, the people who actually played on the pitch?
15:45I guess he's a real feminist though, isn't he? So what do I know?
15:52So Ruby Ales got convicted.
15:54He's no longer the president of the Spanish Football Federation.
15:57Vilda, although receiving no legal punishment, lost his position as Spain's coach.
16:01Albert Luque was also sacked amid his involvement in this legal case.
16:05Which means that today...
16:08None of these men work for the Spanish Football Federation.
16:11According to her lawyer, Emoso still plans to appeal the verdict.
16:15But things are starting to look a lot brighter for the Spanish women's team.
16:19Uniquely, this time events took on a momentum of their own
16:22and there was a much greater political will for something to happen.
16:25After the verdict came in, Emoso wrote on Instagram...
16:28This will set an important precedent in an environment in which there is still much to be done.
16:32My heart is full of each of the people who have been, are and will continue with me in this fight.
16:38And now, yes, it's over.
16:40If one good thing can come from this moment, it's putting this issue on an international stage.
16:44Making people see what these women have been going through for years.
16:47Now let's finish this story the way it should have been finished in 2023.
16:51With celebration.