Sporting Gijón official apologizes for Women’s Day video of girl cleaning lines off soccer field

MADRID (AP) — An official at Spanish soccer club Sporting Gijón has apologized for a video meant to commemorate International Women’s Day that sparked widespread criticism.

The club’s short video featured a young girl painting a woman symbol on its field. But the opening sequence showed the girl on her hands and knees removing the original white lines with a brush.

Among the critics of the video, Gijón’s mayor Carmen Moriyón asked publicly for it to be taken down.

“I find his video inappropriate and that it does not represent equality in sports or in society overall,” Moriyón said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Sporting’s communications director Carlos Andrés Llamas apologized.

“I am responsible for the video and assume the error,” he said on X, adding that the sequence of the girl erasing the lines “was not a necessary sequence. It was a poorly executed idea. I am sorry.”

Second-tier Sporting re-posted an edited version of the video on X that does not include the opening sequence.

Spain has for years been one of the most active countries in celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, when thousands of people join in marches across the southern European country.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer