Rayo Vallecano defend decision to hire women’s coach who made gang rape remark

Carlos Santiso was recently appointed as the head coach of the Rayo Vallecano women's team

Content Warning: This piece contains quotes from the conversation Carlos Santiso had with his staff which some may find disturbing. Rayo Vallecano have defended their decision to hire Carlos Santiso as the head coach of their women's team, despite being aware of a leaked recording in which he makes a remark to staff members about finding a girl to gang rape as a way of team-bonding. The Spanish side confirmed the appointment of the disgraced coach last week despite being forced to resign from his position of coach of the Real Madrid Under 12s team in November. As per The Guardian, in the recorded phone conversation between Santiso and his staff, he can be heard referencing Arandina CF, a third division Spanish side who had three players sentenced to 38 years in prison for the gang rape of a 15-year-old back in 2017. He said: "This staff is incredible, but there are things we still lack, that we still need. We still need, I still say it, to do something like what those from Arandina did, man. "We need to grab a girl, but overage so we don’t get ourselves into trouble, and to [cargarnosla – which roughly translates to ‘screw her’] there all together. That’s what really brings a staff, a team together. Look at the Arandina lot: they went straight up." Santiso confirmed the message was real to Spanish radio station Cadena SER but also claimed it was part of a "friendly, informal chat." Rayo faced protests from their fanbase, however the club have insisted that they will not reverse their decision and have maintained that Santiso will be their manager going forward. https://twitter.com/matagigantesNET/status/1487438296036823043 A statement from the supporters club read: "For Carlos Santiso, sexually abusing a girl is what really unites a team. We cannot allow a person with such grave thoughts in their head to sit on the bench and represent Rayo Vallecano." Related links:

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