The mother of Luis Rubiales has reportedly been taken to hospital amid her hunger strike in Spain. Angeles Bejar started the protest in defence of her son, the under-fire Spanish FA president, claiming that he is the subject of a witch hunt.
Rubiales has reportedly sent unseen footage to FIFA of Spain’s women’s team laughing and chanting ‘kiss’ after the World Cup final earlier this month. Rubiales faces mounting pressure to resign after kissing forward Jenni Hermoso during the trophy presentation.
FIFA has suspended Rubiales while football’s governing body investigates his behaviour. It is claimed that his defence includes the video that was taken on the team coach in Australia.
In the clip, members of the Spanish team can be seen laughing at social media memes of Rubiales kissing Hermoso. The forward – who insists the kiss was non-consensual – is seen explaining how the Spanish football chief “all excited, came to me and grabbed me like this”.
Hermoso then demonstrates with her hands exactly how Rubiales grabbed her face and kissed her. Her team-mates can be seen shouting “besi”, meaning kiss, and “presi”, seemingly short for ‘president’.
Later in the clip, Rubiales is seen saying he felt “embarrassed”. It is not clear if he is referring to the incident.
In her only public statement, Hermoso has described Rubiales’s kiss as ‘non-consensual’. Spain’s World Cup-winning team have all signed a letter demanding that the former defender resigns from his position as president of the Spanish FA.
Another widely-shared video from the dressing room shows Hermoso saying she had disliked the kiss. She has since said that her initial reaction to the kiss was one of “shock, due to the context of a celebration”.
According to the El Espanol news website, Rubiales has sent the video to FIFA as part of a desperate defence. It is the latest in a long line of shocking twists the saga has taken.
With the entire sporting world expecting Rubiales to step down amid mounting pressure, he held a press conference last Friday in which he repeatedly shouted: “No, I will not resign!”
The 47-year-old’s mother is currently staging a hunger strike while locked in a church, believing there to be a witch hunt against her son. Rubiales claims he asked Hermoso if he could give Hermoso a ‘peck’, to which he alleges she said “OK.”
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