Last year, the world’s most famous football player, Cristiano Ronaldo was publicly accused of rape by Kathryn Mayorga, a 34-year-old former school teacher. Kathryn chose to forgo her anonymity by talking to Der Spiegel, a German publication that has been reporting on the case for over a year. Ronaldo has denied the allegations in a statement on Twitter.
We say publicly, because this allegation isn’t new, it was made nine years ago but settled privately out-of-court in a deal that included Kathryn staying silent. The accusation came after a night out in Las Vegas where Ronaldo allegedly invited a 25-year-old Kathryn and her friends to his penthouse for a party, where Kathryn claims he raped her in one of the bedrooms.
Her harrowing account -which you can read in full here- states that she said 'no' several times, which Ronaldo appears to confirm in a questionnaire he filled out for his lawyers in the initial case. Der Spiegel's reporting reveals contradictions in Kathryn and Ronaldo's accounts; at one stage, Ronaldo seems to suggest he believed there was some form of consent because she had ‘made herself available.’ Against that, when asked if she ever raised her voice, screamed or yelled, he apparently answered: 'she said no and stop several times.'
Subsequently, Kathryn’s lawyer struck a deal with Ronaldo’s team to settle for $375,000 on the condition that she stay silent but also that he read a letter she wrote to him.
Nine years later, in 2018, Kathryn said that she has been inspired to pursue civil action by the #MeToo movement, with a new lawyer who wanted to void her original settlement as Ronaldo apparently never received the aforementioned letter. Las Vegas prosecutorsre-opened the case, but in July this year revealed he would not face charges.
According to Clark County district attorney Steve Wolfson, there is not enough evidence available to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt. 'Based upon a review of the information presented at this time, the allegations of sexual assault against Cristiano Ronaldo cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,' he said in a statement, 'Therefore, no charges will be forthcoming.'
At the time the case was re-opened last year, the news was strangely slow to spread. In fact, most major media outlets didn't pick it up until Ronaldo took to Instagram to call Der Spiegel’s article ‘fake news', and many in the football community on social media remained silent. BBC Sport only began reporting on it three days after the news broke. talkSPORT, a sporting commentary outlet with over 1.6million Twitter followers, tweeted 66 times in a 24 hour period days after the news broke, but never mentioned it on their feed - only tweeting 'this has to hurt for Ronaldo' when he was removed from the FIFA 19 cover after the case was re-opened .
The silence was so deafening that Spanish football correspondent for London Evening Standard, Ben Hayward, shared Der Spiegel's article and tweeted, 'Plenty staying silent, I didn't want to.'
Other journalists have also noted the silence from the sporting world:
And while the story gradually began getting the attention it deserved, they sat amid a sea of reports about Ronaldo's football statistics. At the time these allegations were big news, six of the stories about Ronaldo in Google News were about the rape case, while 13 about his transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus.
According to Alison Kelvin, sports editor at the Mail on Sunday, this is because it's out of their remit. 'I would really discourage my reporters at the moment from reporting on a heavily legal issue,' she told Grazia at the time the story broke, 'because they're not doing the research, the news reporters are. News reporters are the ones going off to Spain and America where the woman is to try and talk to her, not sports reporters.
'But while he's playing he would still be covered as part of the sports coverage,' she continued, 'there has to be a separation there. While he's innocent, I wouldn't change the way we report on it.'
Outside of official media the worship of Ronaldo continues apace. Scrolling through tweets about the allegations and seeing endless videos of his best football moments makes for uncomfortable reading. His own team, Juventus FC, despite sidelining him for upcoming matches, tweeted referring to him as a 'great champion'.
But it's the backlash towards Kathryn that is more troubling. Widely accused on social media of lying, of wanting more money or fame, she was forced to go into hiding because she was too 'emotionally fragile,' according to her lawyer Larissa Drohobyczer. 'She has decided not to make herself available to the media and the public because of her emotional state. It’s not pleasant for her,' Drohobyczer said at the time.
'What's also weak is the reactions of some of [Ronaldo's] fans here on Twitter. I'm not going to comment much about them, but they truly, honestly shock me,' tweeted Christoph Winterbach, the sports editor who worked on the original story, 'I can now understand why Mayorga was afraid to go public with her claims back in 2009. I can imagine that she didn't take the decision lightly to put her name and face to this story now.'
It was an uncomfortable repeating of history, fans avidly supporting sportsmen despite being accused or charged with abhorrent crimes. And such worship continues to this day for some of the world's 'greats'.
Floyd Mayweather, a court-certified domestic abuser, still commands respect as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Bruno Fernandes, a Brazilian goalkeeper, was signed to a professional team after serving four years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend. Danny Simpson still plays for Leicester City despite being convicted of assaulting the mother of his children.
Kobe Bryant - another 'world's greatest' - continued to play for the LA Lakers until 2016 despite being accused of sexual assault in 2003. He denied the accusation, but during the investigation he said, 'I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter', but the case was dropped when the accuser refused to testify.
There are many, many more stories just like this. Ronaldo himself was sentenced to a two-year-suspended-sentence for tax evasion in June last year, days before playing in the World Cup where he scored a hat trick for Portugal and was celebrated as a hero. It's admittedly a very different crime to sexual assault, but it serves to prove that as long as you excel in sport, you can be charged, convicted and even serve jail time, but you will always receive a hero’s welcome upon your return.
'Athletes have been associated with heroes like Heracles since ancient times,' says Heather Reid, a professor specialising in sports philosophy, 'I think that their athletic excellence inspires us to believe that humanity can achieve great things, even, and especially, when we come from humble origins.'
'[Athletes] are expected to benefit the community, but they are quite capable of harming it,' she continued, 'Achilles in the Iliad is a good example of a hero who did great things, but also committed the abominable sin of dragging Hector's dead body behind his chariot. Greatness is a double-edged sword, heroes can do great good and great harm. Letting them get away with doing great social harm, however, only compounds it.'
This very damage has even spawned scientific research. According to a study into the arrest and conviction rates of male collegiate and professional athletes, these men are ‘significantly less likely to be convicted’ of sexual assault, despite being ‘far more likely’ to be arrested or indicted for the crime. And this is all tied to their heroism.
Male athletes at a professional level are protected by their club, their talent brings love and support from fans- which in turn brings money and status to the team they play for. The athlete is awarded with further money and power and status, all of which they can use to defend themselves against any criminal charges they are faced with.
The silence around the Ronaldo case when it first occurred, the aggressive support on his side before the charges were dropped, the fact that he could laugh and joke on Instagram live after being accused of rape, it all proves that sportsmen are treated as though they’re above the law and even if they're facing criminal conviction, that worship will continue and so their careers will excel regardless.
As we reach the two year anniversary of #MeToo, is it not time we stop worshipping sportsmen and begin to worship the women that attempt to speak out against them? They are the true heroes in this world.