The members of the Administrative Court for Sport, who agreed on Friday, contrary to the criteria of the Supreme Sports Council, to classify the non-consensual kiss of Luis Rubiales on the player Jennifer Hermoso during the celebrations for the Women’s World Cup as only a serious offense, are at the doorstep a difficult situation. The reasoned petition to which EL PAIS has had access and which the Government has sent in response to the Sports Court to act ex officio and provisionally suspend Luis Rubiales while the serious procedure initiated is clarified is based on the damage to the image of Spain and his sport at home and abroad.
“The acts are particularly serious since they occurred during the celebrations of the final of the Women’s World Cup and were therefore the subject of exceptional dissemination at international level, which had a direct impact on the image of Spanish sport.” And this is taking into account the fact “that these events were carried out both in the authorities’ box and at the trophy presentation by the President of the RFEF, the highest representative of Spanish football,” the text reads.
The CSD can no longer suspend Rubiales, FIFA has been doing this for 90 days because it could only do so if the kiss was considered very serious. With this move, it is now the exclusive responsibility of TAD members to decide whether Rubiales’ actions and those he may commit in the future will damage Spain’s reputation. The incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also made comments in this direction this Saturday. “With all this controversy that has occurred around the World Cup and the Spanish women’s football team, I am convinced that there are many people who are wondering whether this has damaged Spain’s external image,” said Sánchez, who added: “One cannot strive to represent Spain and put Spain in a bad light with attitudes and speeches that embarrass us and do not represent us.”
The CSD’s reasoned request to the TAD to provisionally suspend Rubiales states that in the introduction to the text of the new sports law, not only due to Spain’s projection, reference is made to the representation of its leaders as a matter of public interest in the field of sports, but also in the economic area, which is why the country’s growth is affected. “In the preamble to Law 39/2022, of December 30, on Sport, elite sport and the representation of Spanish sport are defined as matters of public interest due to the preeminent position of Spain and its Autonomous Communities with powers in the public interest, which makes this significant at international level means and which is reflected not only at the sporting level, but in many other economic sectors that promote the growth of the state,” it says.
According to the letter, Rubiales’ actions were not limited to the above, but his subsequent actions have continued to damage Spain’s image and may continue to do so. In this sense, the document points to the letter that the federation’s general secretary, Andreu Camps, sent to UEFA in order to maintain Rubialism so that it could be forwarded to FIFA, and which jeopardized the participation of the players. Spanish teams and the national team in international competitions: “The events that led to the initiation of the sanctioning process have not been exhausted with the commission of the alleged violations, rather their effects continue to be felt and are even intensifying.” And this is due to the enormous national ones and international impact of these events. Proof of this is also the request that the RFEF sent to FIFA to impose sanctions against Spain, which, in addition to affecting the image of Spanish sport, would also affect clubs, players, technicians and third parties in general.
Although the federation’s interim president, Pedro Rocha of Extremadura, ordered the withdrawal of the threatening letter, the text emphasizes that Rubiales could damage the joint candidacy of Spain, Portugal and Morocco to host the 2030 World Cup. “In this sense, these reputational effects are negatives that only highlight the serious damage that is still being done to Spanish sport today, affecting relations with international associations that could harm Spain if it were prevented from hosting important sporting events such as the 2030 FIFA World Cup is granted. In an interview in this newspaper, Rubiales himself estimated the economic benefit that organizing the World Cup would bring at 30 billion euros.
The decision of the members of the TAD is not only being examined in Spain. The president of the Sports Court, Miguel Pajuelo, was the only one to submit a dissenting vote against the non-classification of the kiss as very serious, as stated in the TAD resolution, which was also accessible to this newspaper. The other five who will have to decide whether or not to provisionally suspend Rubiales are members Eva Fernández (prosecutor), Pilar Juárez (professor at Carlos III University), Alfonso Ramos del Molins (prosecutor) and Marina Adela Porta Serrano (prosecutor ). ) and Jaime Caravaca (prosecutor). The latter, as EL PAÍS reported, is the nephew of Ramón Caravaca, linked to the GC law firm headed by the association’s external legal advisor, Tomás González Cueto.
The TAD statement contains the motion requested by the Footballers’ Union (AFE) and the Transparency and Democracy in Sports Association to abstain from Jaime Caravaca’s vote. “On August 30, two documents were filed with this court requesting the challenge of the member of this court, Mr. Jaime Caravaca Fontán,” the TAD resolution states. The abstention was rejected because the court considered that both organizations were not entitled to do so. If Jaime Caravaca did not voluntarily abstain from voting, as everything suggests, he could at least influence the previous deliberations with his opinion, which calls into question the independence of the court in its decision not to consider Rubiales’ kiss as very serious Jennifer Hermoso would pose.
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