EDITORIAL COMMENT: More needs to be done to curb abuse in women’s sport

THE world was this week drawn to the possible realities of women abuse in organised sport following the furore that tainted Spain Women’s World Cup celebrations.

The Spanish football federation’s president Luis Rubiales is currently in the eye of the storm after he kissed forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the celebrations of the team’s 1-0 victory over England in the final.

The wider football fraternity condemned the behaviour as “inappropriate” and there was outrage from all quarters despite the desperate attempts by the 46-year-old administrator to play down the incident.

What followed, the whole week, were concerted calls for Rubiales to step down, with political figures who included the Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, professional football players, supporters, clubs such as Real Madrid and many other influential voices around the globe, amplifying the noise.

However, Rubiales has remained adamant and yesterday insisted he will not step down as president of the Spanish football federation.

Some observers have questioned that if such debauched behaviour could be displayed in front of cameras, what more behind the scenes, away from the public glare?

When asked about the kiss, Hermoso told reporters that she “did not enjoy it” and later called for the federation’s president’s actions to “not go unpunished.”

This could have just been the tip of the ice-berg. 

It then becomes difficult not to imagine that many women could be suffering in silence at the hands of male administrators.

Women are afraid to come out in the open, but such devilish things are happening in many places where women find themselves under the tutelage of men administrators and officials.

They just cannot break the silence because of power dynamics and the fear of victimisation. Part from having top level administrators breaching the trust, there have also been reports of male coaches doing the unthinkable to their female subordinates.

Malawi netball legend Mary Waya, who was part of the commentary team at the recent Netball World Cup in South Africa bared it all in one of the live conversations.

Waya believes the behaviour of some male coaches in African netball remains the “biggest challenge” for female players.

In a report carried by BBC Sport, the former World Cup star said women were pressured into relationships in the hope of securing selection. 

The 55-year-old claimed female players were made to feel “insecure” by coaches.

“Most African teams have male coaches, so that’s the biggest challenge,” Waya told the Africa Daily podcast, saying the issue has endured since she was a teenage player.

“You will find that when you go to the competition, to the changing rooms, you feel insecure because of these male coaches.”

Waya believes different gender dynamics between male and female coaches and players can cause problems.

“If they are female coaches, you feel safe because you have got a ‘mother’ near you,” she added. “You know ‘I’m protected’.

“With male coaches, we always look at them as our ‘fathers’ and then they easily tell us, ‘I’m not your father — if you want to go to the national team, you have to be my [girlfriend], so that you can be at the top of the team’.”

That’s a sad scenario that our female athletes find themselves in.

Closer home in Zimbabwe, there have been several allegations of abuse and sexual harassment by the dominant males in the set up.

For example, allegations of sexual harassment of female referees was one of the major reasons for the Sports and Recreation Commission to suspend the ZIFA board, ultimately leading to the one-year ban of Zimbabwean football by FIFA for “third party interference.”

But FIFA, in their own investigations, found a former secretary-general of the ZIFA Referees Committee guilty of the charges and was banned from the sport for five years and fined 20,000 Swiss francs for sexually harassing three female referees.

During the latter part of 2020, the media — both local and international – extensively covered multiple allegations of alleged sexual harassment of female referees in Zimbabwe.

FIFA also acknowledged the possibility of more cases of this nature and have promised to conduct more investigations.

That’s how prevalent the scourge is; and it’s not only in football. 

It is better to put mechanisms that protect the female athletes and officials rather than react to these disgusting acts of mischief.

There is a need for stakeholders to come together and have serious conversations around these issues.