Rubiales decided yesterday to lock himself in the castle and throw the key into the moat. Getting him out of there has become a state problem and some people ask me why it is so difficult.
To explain it, it is convenient to know that the federation is a private organization that does not receive any public subsidy, so it claims to be autonomous. But it has delegated public functions, especially the representation of the country in international soccer competitions. This allows him to exploit the name of Spain and its symbols to collect publicity, as well as to conveniently dispose of players paid, trained and medically cared for by the clubs, these are private companies.
It is governed by an assembly made up of 140 members that functions under a regime of territorial chieftains embodied in the 19 regional presidents, ex officio members of the assembly, such as the president of the federation itself. They create an almost impenetrable protective mesh for the system, which explains, for example, why Ángel María Villar stayed there for 29 years until he was literally removed by law enforcement. There are a few other natural members, including the three clubs that have been in the First Division all their lives.
The rest are members elected from different groups: clubs (45%), soccer players (30%), coaches (15%) and referees (10%). Representatives are elected in each collective, in a system truffled by the territorial ones. Then, in practice, the clubs attend with uncritical disinterest because the only thing that worries them is that they are not going to mistreat them with the arbitration appointments. The footballers, of course, are not going to break their club’s strategy. The referees are employees of the federation, and among the coaches there are also several, for example, the selectors. It was disappointing and alipori to see Luis De la Fuente applauding the deposition (take the word in the last and most degraded of its meanings) of Rubiales. By the way, among the 140 there are only six women.
That assembly can remove its president with a motion of censure that should be requested by at least one third and that would take effect if two thirds voted for it. Let’s abandon all hope, and even more seen what happened yesterday.
In case any information is missing, I will add that the Federation’s director of Integrity is a livestock named Miguel García Caba who, after passing through Real Madrid and LaLiga, arrived at the federation’s legal department. Once there, he jumped for one of those capricious seizures of the house. Once outside, it occurred to him that one way to earn merit to return was to meet with Tebas and González Otero, and record the conversation with a pen-recorder, in which he encouraged them to quit Rubiales. He then handed over the recording to ok diary to accuse Tebas and González Otero of conspiring against Rubiales. Such edifying service earned him the return to the federation as director of Integrity.
What can be done, then, to speed up the departure of Rubiales and with it this painful process? That the Higher Sports Council (CSD) notify the Administrative Court of Sports (TAD), which has the power to sanction, of the complaints that are arriving. And, meanwhile, he resolves to suspend him from his duties. The previous president of the CSD, José Manuel Franco, did not take advantage of this route in the various irregularities detected before in the Rubiales administration. Aware that Rubiales was well regarded by Pedro Sánchez (his father, a PSOE character in the Motril area, was one of his supports in difficult days) and Florentino Pérez (for whom anyone who is against Thebes is good), he stood in profile. Now he is in limbo in the Senate and the position is held by the former director general of federations, Víctor Francos, whom until now we have seen put a little more profile than his minister, Iceta, forceful from the first hour.
The TAD could sanction him in this case for “public and notorious acts that violate sporting dignity and decorum”, as well as for “abuse of power”, included in the new law. The bad thing is that the corresponding regulations have not yet been developed, and given the political traffic jam it will take time. Meanwhile, the sanctioning and disciplinary regime prior to this new law is still effective, where it is not so clear that these assumptions can be accommodated.
And then there is the Prosecutor’s Office, which they say there is.
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