Touching an opponent's private parts: sexual assault or provocation?

BarcelonaElbow strikes, pulling down trousers, pinching and even touching of the genitals. "As a centre-back, when I was going to finish a corner they stuck a finger up my arse," says Joan (fictitious name) in a conversation with ARA. Roberto, Carlos and Lucas (also fictitious names) are other people who have suffered this type of gesture. All four agree that the behaviour occurs during the moments before a corner or a dead ball is taken. The same thing that happened in the action between Mapi León and Daniela Caracas, in the women's derby last weekend. When the game stops, the areas are transformed into a trench war. Each battle is an attempt to destabilize the opponent physically and psychologically. The players act in the theater of intimidation. For his part, the referee tries to uncover the forest of deceptions and traps of the athletes.

According to Alberto Carrio, professor of philosophy at UPF and deputy director of Fair Play, Journal of Philosophy, Ethics and Sports Law, Touching the genitals of rivals is unethical and a tactic used to upset the opponent. He also considers it a lack of respect for the ethical codes of FIFA and the Olympic Committee, which "ensure comprehensive respect for the person." Carrio told ARA that players carry out an action that is contrary to the rules of the game in order to gain an advantage. The philosopher also points out that team sports have more followers and, in their practice, there are more violent situations than in other individual disciplines. "The public itself encourages this aggressive behavior."

Thousands of fans watched as Madrid player Míchel obviously touched the genitals of Valladolid midfielder Valderrama during a corner in September 1991. The image is still present in the footballing imagination and often appears on social media. José Domingo Valls, a professor of civil law at the UB and member of the Barcelona arbitration court, believes that in sport these gestures are more tolerated because they are considered part of the game. However, in other professional fields it is unthinkable: "Breaking a tooth in the street means four years in prison. On a football pitch it does not aggravate the aggression; it is a certain number of games."

ARA has also spoken to Xesco Espar, a sports psychologist, to analyse the reactions of the player's entourage. "Sponsors don't like it when players behave aggressively." The attitude of the sportsmen in defensive plays is far from representing the doctrines learned in grassroots football. "Any coach who sees such behaviour condemns it with a good reprimand," says Espar.

"I was sixteen or seventeen years old and we played with thirty-somethings," says Lucas while denouncing the touching he received in defensive plays. However, he downplays the facts and states that "it was just another factor in the game and that after the match it was forgotten." Carrio, for his part, states that in a competitive environment it is difficult to control this behaviour. "Unsportsmanlike behaviour is due to chemical issues such as adrenaline or blood pressure and there are people who have a more altered chemistry." In this line, Espar considers that the touching of genitals between rivals is the result of competitiveness and is similar to stepping on a player. "It is a gesture to destabilize and annoy him."

Sílvia Martínez, professor of communication and sports journalism, emphasizes the value of non-verbal communication. "With certain gestures, for example, you can make the other team believe that you have a high degree of confidence and security in order to destabilize them," she says in the ARA. She also refers to the terminology used in sports reports. Often, this language is related to the war context. "In this vocabulary we find expressions such as rival, fight for the ball, attack or generate a dangerous situation."

Sexually aggressive behaviors

Robert, a former roller hockey player, received multiple blows from stick in his Achilles heel. "It was a moment of surprise, but I didn't experience it as a moment of intrusion into my genitals, even though it was entering into my privacy." Carrio considers that "touching the balls" is an expression of machismo because it produces a feeling of belittling the rival. Unlike Robert, Lucas played indoor soccer when he was young. Now he is about to turn 60 and believes that in the past this behavior was not on society's radar: "Nowadays, there has been a cultural change; thirty years ago you didn't consider that a genital touch was a sexual assault."

Espar believes that this behavior occurs mainly in the male environment, but that nobody takes it as a sexual assault, but rather as an unsportsmanlike and instinctive action resulting from the game, conditioned, for example, by the competitiveness of a derby. Domingo Valls adds that the sentences for sexual assault depend on the type of touch. In addition, they look for a situation of advantage of one over the other. "The footballers on the pitch are in a position of equality," he says.

Punishing the ego of athletes

The ego of sportsmen prevents professionals from apologising for disrespectful gestures. "Clubs or players must do some work to raise awareness so that they recognise their mistakes," says Carrio. Likewise, the expert in sport and equality believes that behaviour that occurs at a dead ball should be sanctioned. "In football there should be a warning for a verbal statement that is worth more than a card." In hockey there is the blue card that covers, among others, non-serious sporting behaviour. José Domingo Valls affirms that, from a legal point of view, the behaviour of touching one's genitals cannot be punishable, except for an insult, slander or libel.

On the other hand, Vall Lloret explains that from a sporting point of view it is sanctioned as a lack of consideration towards the opponent and is included in the sporting and federation regulations. "All sports regulations speak of sporting acts, of contempt directed at referees, players or managers and also of derogatory acts, making gestures or touching genitals." The referee is the only person in charge of sanctioning a player in the sporting field. If he does not act accordingly, the evidence can be provided to the sanctioning committees of each federation. "Outside the sporting field, there is little that has been appreciated and a sentence has been obtained," says Domingo Valls.

Looking to the future, the expert in civil and sports law thinks that, to regulate this type of behavior, "either the current regulations are respected and it continues to be categorized as game actions, or the same regulations that exist in the civil field are applied and the person is protected more."