The replacement of honor by law, the president’s social capital and other factors play in his favour
The president of the RFEF is already one of the most unpopular and suspicious figures in Spain. Whether at a bar or on social networks, people have it very clear. A majority of journalists have no doubts either. The Rubiales scandals are unacceptable: the compadre with his friend Piqué so that he would approve a major commission for the Super Cup or the accusations that he secretly recorded private conversations with senior government officials are just some of his excesses.
The audio that “El Confidencial” continues to reveal shows a man doing and undoing what he wants and ignoring that his position doesn’t allow him to make comments from fans like “let’s see if we clean these basins,” referring to the encounter Real Madrid played against Sevilla. If, to make matters worse, the match ends with a win for the team you love, with a questionable intervention by the VAR and the cancellation of a goal against the Sevilla team, then you don’t have to be very smart to connecting points.
How does Rubiales manage to resist? One of the reasons has to do with the scant culture of resignation in this country, born of the weakening of another culture, that of honor. In Japan, for example, there is still a certain morality that goes back to the medieval samurai. The coward or the corrupt must take his own life and cut his belly open. The ‘harakiri’ has its less gory version: the resignation of all public offices, at the slightest suspicion. The subject is tarnished, but safeguards the dignity of his family, his relatives or his party.
Contemporary institutions have replaced the control of civil society (with mechanisms such as loss of status with dishonor) with lawyers: the law and the courts. The Public Prosecution Service for anti-corruption has been investigating Rubiales for months. Since the legal proceedings are delayed, the presumption of innocence of the person under investigation seems sufficient not to assume any responsibility. It’s as if the law is the only legitimate tool to ensure coexistence and besides, it’s not allowed to single out the dishonest until we have a legal solution. It is enough that the accused denies everything, because he also knows that if he resigns, it will be taken as a sign of guilt. Anyone who holds a position knows it: you tolerate the mood best.
In any case, the law does not replace ethics. Receiving a gross annual salary of 675,000 euros, receiving additional help from the Federation to be able to enjoy a luxury apartment in Madrid or not having the caution not to comment on your likes and dislikes, even private, may be legal, but it is not lawful or at least incompatible with exemplary behavior. On the other hand, an alarming level of suspicion erodes the institution one represents: Caesar’s wife must not only be honest, but appear that way.
Of course Rubiales is not stupid. It is known in the epicenter of a dirty war. Find out who his worst enemies are, starting with Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga. But he has had the ability to create his own army of unreserved supporters, including Alejandro Blanco, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, and most of those who make up the RFEF’s highest governing body: presidents of regional federations and representatives of the estates of clubs, referees, coaches and footballers.
Anthropology calls it “social capital,” a kind of power that is sustained through gifts and reciprocity. As the conversations with Piqué have shown, Rubiales is an ax at something as Spanish as “you to me and me to you.” At the last General Assembly of the Federation, held in June, 95% of its members approved the accounts of the previous year. No one has taken the floor to ask the president for an explanation. Suspicious.
I think there’s another, no less Spanish, reason why Rubiales clings to the chair: the “here’s my pants” culture. Despite intimidation, there are still those who appreciate the subject’s provocative and testosterone-like demeanor, which fits particularly well with the personality and attitude of an ex-footballer. Rubiales is a beautiful specimen of the Iberian male.
October 12, National Day. But how much has yet to change in this country!
Source: La Verdad
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