Leah Williamson defends Jenni Hermoso over leaked video laughing off World Cup kiss

Lionesses captain Leah Williamson has defended Jenni Hermoso after Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales sent a video to FIFA showing the forward joking about their kiss after the Women’s World Cup final.

The 46-year-old has been provisionally suspended for 90 days by football’s world governing body after he grabbed Hermoso by the head during the presentation ceremony and kissed her on the lips.

Rubiales had been expected to resign from his position with the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at an emergency assembly last week but instead he attacked the ‘false feminism’ and ‘social murder’ he claims to have been victim to and repeatedly refused to step down in an astonishing speech.

The RFEF subsequently accused Hermoso of ‘lying’ about the incident and threatened legal action in a now deleted statement, while Rubiales is using a video from the team bus – in which Hermoso is seen joking with team-mates about the kiss afterwards – to defend himself to FIFA.

Jenni Hermoso’s Reaction to the Kiss

In the video, Hermoso is seen showing her team-mates a meme on her phone of the kiss with Rubiales alongside an image of former Spain men’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas kissing Sara Carbonero, a Spanish TV reporter he went on to marry, after La Roja’s World Cup win in 2010.

Williamson, who missed the tournament Down Under due to an ACL injury, does not believe the footage in any way undermines Hermoso’s complaints against Rubiales and says women have been conditioned to brush off such incidents.

Asked about the leaked video from the team bus on the Lorraine show on Thursday, Williamson said: ‘It’s conditioned behaviour. I don’t know anyone that hasn’t had that sort of experience. Maybe not to those extremes, but a sexist, misogynistic experience throughout her life, and she is conditioned to laugh it off.’

The Lionesses star continued: ‘I think it’s really sad. I put myself in Jenni’s shoes, as a female athlete, she should be celebrating the biggest achievement of her life and unfortunately it’s been overshadowed by this. But I also think it’s important to remember we’ve lived – especially women and women in football – in this misogynistic, sexist environment for a hundred years, you know, and it’s not changed.’

Women’s Conditioned Response to Sexism

‘I think she’s really brave to speak out and to say, actually, the shock of what happened after that, and after that settled down, to think, “This is wrong and I’m not going to let this happen to future women”.’

Asked if the problem extends beyond just the Spanish game and Rubiales, Williamson added: ‘I think for women in football it’s maybe different degrees, but it’s actually a lot more common than you think. That’s actually why everyone is standing unconditionally with Jenni now because you don’t want something like this to happen but when it does you have to use it to educate and re-educate people, because it does happen on a daily basis just not in that form.’

Conclusion

The incident involving Luis Rubiales and Jenni Hermoso has sparked a much needed conversation about sexism in sport. Leah Williamson has spoken out in defense of Hermoso and highlighted how women are often conditioned to brush off such incidents. It is important that we continue to have these conversations and take action against sexism in sport.

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