It seems unbelievable that only five days have passed since we saw the champions’ coach pass through our street, since we got hooked on television to follow the route to Madrid Río. It seems unbelievable that so little time has passed since I, a columnist on vacation, was writing in my mind the chronicle of that arrival of the team on the stage, of the joy that we were infected by their enthusiasm, so natural, so understandable, that we easily It caused a popular identification with his feat, even though it was the first time that we had subscribed to follow a World Cup. Yes, us, people like us who cannot be exalted by football and who on this occasion saw it moved by a deep emotion, the one felt by young women who have reached the top in a hostile universe.
I was especially moved by the neighborhood accent and the vivacity of the carabanchelera Jennifer Hermoso, to whom the organizers were kind enough to give a performance by Camela, who happens to be that duo with which everyone returns to a childhood of bumper cars, tombolas and the end of the fair. Embracing each other, singing loudly and dancing in leaps and bounds I dream with you, that song that we hum without knowing which beach market we learned it in, what the young athletes transmitted to us is that on this long journey to the final triumph, in addition to discipline and effort, there was also complicity, confidences, laughter, karaoke, in short, that emotional connection that you feel with a team with which you go to death protecting yourself from the elements.
I would have liked to be there and write that chronicle, the moment in which the players went into a bar before going on stage because they were hungry, and comment on their successive interventions after being introduced in which they left a trace of the sound of their accents and neighborhoods. Cheered on by a family audience, where the children were the ones who seemed to enjoy the most with the triumph of some champions who have managed to spread the enthusiasm for a game that was born in the street and that should never lose its essence as a popular sport.
But it was not possible to revel in that celebration or in the multiple sociological conclusions that emerged from it, such as that the women’s party was purer, closer and less overwhelming than that of the men, being they a kind of representation of all the girls who at some point wanted to play and were labeled clumsy or tomboyish. It was not possible to extend the deserved celebration because the stench of a universe prevailed that has confirmed the impunity with which its representatives move. There is something in the toxically machirulo environment that has prevented someone from sinking their teeth into those organizations that represent Spain. It is surprising that none of the outrages that the president of the federation, Luis Rubiales, has been committing, has been enough to sanction him or to remove him; The corruption, the mafia background and the cocky forms are surprising, all an inspiration for a Torrente immersed in some soccer plot. Well, there, in that already rotten environment, where the representatives of a rancid masculinity feel safe in their habitat, a series of resistant women who were not given much attention when they rose up against working conditions. precarious conditions and a poor regard for their work has said that this has to stop.
I imagine that these are not good days for Jenni Hermoso: the inevitable drop in adrenaline that follows a competition of this height is combined with having become the center of controversy and having received pressure from the federation to give up the issue for settled and went out with the primary Rubiales to give himself the peak of reconciliation. But Spain today has a very high feminist consciousness and this has caused such overwhelming support for the player that there is no turning back. Everything that the inscrutable soccer bodies have consented to has been denounced by the street and that voice is very difficult to silence. He spoke Financial Times that this issue is a reflection of Spanish society and the world of football. I think that as far as society is concerned it is debatable. The majority of Spanish society has been endorsing the most advanced laws in all matters related to gender, equality and civil rights.
So much so, that right now we are suffering the expected reaction to what have been times of progress, a reaction that, by the way, has stopped the ballot box for now. Therefore, consider me innocent if I think that everything that has been worked on during these years has borne its fruit by stopping a hustler with plenty of power. The abuse that this individual has allowed himself has to do with an idea of women as being inferior and underage: if he has behaved like this before millions of people, it is because during a lifetime he has been allowed and compensated financially for that specific job, keeping the girls, the girls, at bay.
“Fake feminism”
The speech that Luis Rubiales gave before his assembly would be funny if it weren’t for the shame it causes. He has undoubtedly renewed that ethical monologue of poor Fary when he was speaking in shorts beach about the triumph of the “soft man”. Because that a man cornered and accused of lack of decorum and abuse of power claims “the beak” and the “olé tus huevos” is unusual, it is a priceless spectacle, it is such a pathetic moment to use it in schools as a practical example of that to which one should never return. The reference to “false feminism” made me smile because it is a reactionary tradition to display the catalog of good and bad girls and the consequent distribution of cards. It’s also an old joke. They took my card several times and I feel very proud to have lost it to those who claim the legitimacy of granting them.
I understand that Jenni Hermoso is overwhelmed by this story, and that it has overshadowed what should only have been jumping, and laughter, and camaraderie, and euphoria, but she must feel proud of the solidarity unleashed, because whoever is alone, now, is the man who has not had the courage to admit his mistake. As for the applause that the guy received, given the ethics of those who high-fived, I predict that they will turn their backs on him as soon as they see him fall. The danger is that someone of the same rope will replace him. But this is #over. We are with you, dear Jenni, and may she sound again on the air Sara perché I love you.
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