Soccer coach Hernan Dario “Bolillo” Gomez will continue leading Colombia’s national team despite the controversy over him hitting a woman in a Bogota bar.
The vice-president of Colombia’s soccer federation told national radio Sunday that the board of the federation “has received the support to make ‘Bolillo’ stay and does not accept his resignation.”
While widely criticized over the Bogota incident, in which Gomez struck a woman after receiving soccer-related insults, the coach got full support of his team and soccer federation Colfutbol was hesitant to accept the resignation.
A poll held this week showed that the coach also received the support of 54% of Colombians, who indicated that they wanted Gomez to stay on.
Colfutbol vice president Alvaro Alzate lashed out against some of the critics of the coach, calling them “hypocrites” using double standards.
“What if Piedad Cordoba, a woman who deserves our respect but according to polls is hated to death by three quarters of the country, was hit by a man? Wouldn’t the whole country be applauding and congratulating the man that hit her, adding that he shouldn’t have just hit her, but should have left her in a coma? These double standards should not be applied on soccer,” said the soccer executive.
