“We cannot position ourselves and preemptively condemn without really knowing what has happened,” Dani Carvajal replied when asked about the non-consensual kiss from Luis Rubiales to Jennifer Hermoso. He did not convey a special enthusiasm for addressing the question, but in the end he ended up letting go and declared that he lacked data to give an opinion, that he did not have all of it with him and that he sympathized with his colleague, although without fully believing it, a bit as those people who, when passing in front of a beggar, point to a tear in their pants or even their watch, stand in solidarity, due to being in a hurry. “Yes, I understand you, but look how I’m doing. Each one has his own”, the scene would come to be completed.
The statement before the judge and subsequent formalization of the complaint by the soccer player have been enough to dismantle a part of the discourse that, for a few days, began to prevail among those who have chosen to turn their backs on both the victim and reality . “Jennifer has not filed any complaint,” stressed Carvajal who would not take long to qualify his first statements: “I have only said that the presumption of innocence must be preserved.”
The truth is that he said many more things, but in the latter no one can contradict him. He was not asked to give a sentence either, but it is already known that the winger has a certain tendency to fill up with the ball. It was simply a matter of giving his opinion, as we have all done. And he has given it.
Jenni Hermoso’s complaint against Luis Rubiales is a brave act by a soccer player who has a lot to lose and very little to gain, at least for herself. His is not an opinion, like Carvajal’s or mine, but the formal statement of what happened. And the verification that there was no kind of consent in the kiss perpetrated by Rubiales, who will tell me what kind of behavior that would justify the use of the verb perpetrate together with the most romantic word in the world.
All the noise and all the pressure endured in the weeks prior to the formalization of the complaint will be nothing compared to what is to come, since we already know how certain layers of our subsoil behave when they feel that someone from a doubtful stratum, in this case a female soccer player, she gets on the vine. Next to her “This time is personal”, is usually announced in the best sequels to the worst action movie sagas. And it will be.
Jenni Hermoso will be attacked by that part of society that usually feels entitled to insult a referee, a rival fan, a stranger who thinks differently, an abused woman or a victim of terrorism: in this country, unfortunately, We have already seen almost everything. A part of society accustomed to moving in the mud and that, suddenly, says they feel threatened because they can no longer grab a woman by the head and plant a kiss on her nose during a celebration. Or touch a boob, if the euphoria is too much. “I only say that the presumption of innocence must be preserved”, I insist on the point of Dani Carvajal. On the third repetition it sounds almost like a refrain. And we already know, more or less, how this goes, right? In the end it will turn out that the preserver that preserves the most will be a good preserver.
You can follow EL PAÍS Sports on Facebook y Twitterpoint here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
