Mason Greenwood Allegedly Abused By His Girlfriend, Violence Against Women Rises: So, Speak Up!

Mason Greenwood, the Manchester United striker who is suspected of molesting his girlfriend, Harriet Robson. (Photo: EPA-EFE/Peter Powell)

JAKARTA - The career of footballer Mason Greenwood is in danger of being destroyed, after he was caught in a case of violence against women. Greenwood, a young 20-year-old striker from English Premier League club Manchester United, is accused of molesting Harriet Robson, who is none other than his girlfriend.

It started with uploading a video on Robson's Instagram and Twitter accounts on Sunday, January 30, 2022, which showed cuts and bruises all over his body. Robson added the caption "for everyone who wants to know what Mason Greenwood did to me" in the video, which shows his bleeding lips.

According to media reports in the UK, Greenwood asked Robson to make love but the request was refused. This woman also uploaded a recording of the conversation, to prove that Greenwood forced Robson.

Police immediately arrested Greenwood, and arrested him on charges of attempted rape and assault. The basis for the arrest of the striker who is paid 75,000 pounds sterling per week, or around Rp. 1.4 billion, is Robson's video upload on social media.

Mason Greenwood and Harriet Robson (Photo: Instagram)

"Police are concerned about images or videos posted on social media by women who complain of being physically abused," the Manchester Police statement read.

United also issued a statement that the club will not play the striker, who has scored 35 goals in 129 appearances for the Red Devils, until the investigation into his case is complete.

"Mason Greenwod will not be training or playing until further announcements are made," United said in a statement, as reported by The Sun.

Greenwood is the youngest player in history to enter United's main squad. He was just 17 years old when coach Jose Mourinho called him up to the first team in 2018, for a pre-season tour of America. Greenwood has been scouted at United since he was 6 years old, when he entered the club's football academy.

Harriet Robson's upload on social media accounts about Mason Greenwood's violence. (Photo: Twitter)

Greenwood's name became more prominent after coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer played him, to replace Ashley Young in the 87th minute', during the match against Paris Saint Germain in the Champions Cup in Paris on March 6 2019. That was Greenwood's debut in an official competition. In 2020 coach Gareth Southgate called up Greenwood to strengthen the England national team.

Case in Indonesia

Even though he was only suspected of being a perpetrator of violence against women, Greenwood has lost many golden opportunities as a top professional footballer. Sports equipment manufacturer Nike immediately suspended its sponsorship contract. United also stripped all knick-knacks that smelled of Greenwood sold in their gift shop.

All over the world, including Indonesia, there are many “other Greenwoods” who also commit acts of violence against women. Several cases in Indonesia can be summarized by VOI, including those involving national team player Saddil Ramdani.

Saddil (23 years old) who now plays for the Sabah FC club in the Malaysian Super League, in 2018 was reported to have abused his girlfriend, Anugrah Sekar Larasati. At that time Saddil, who was only 19 years old, was still strengthening the Persela Lamongan club. Saddil was detained but the case resulted in the revocation of the girlfriend's family report, and was resolved amicably.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic with red paint on his face as part of the anti-violence campaign against women. (Photo: AC Milan)

In 2017 news emerged of a rape case against a woman named IR (20 years old) in Palembang. There were three suspected perpetrators, and all of them were members of the U-19 national team at that time. They are Maldini Pali, Marco Sandy Merauje, and Hendra Sandi. The three players at that time defended the Sriwijaya FC Palembang club. The case also ended peacefully.

Former national team striker Andika Yudhistira Lubis also stumbled upon a case of violence against women in Medan in 2018. The player whose name rose while defending Indonesia at the 2009 Laos SEA Games was proven guilty of robbery and acts of violence against a woman. The Medan District Court sentenced Andika to one year in prison on August 14, 2018.

Nigerian naturalized player Greg Nwokolo has also been accused of sexual harassment. However, the case evaporated because there was not enough evidence to bring the former Indonesian national team striker to court.

Up To 75 Percent Increase

The campaign against violence against women continues, including through football as the world's most popular sport. In 2018, the Italian league competition Serie A supported the campaign promoted by the Italian non-profit organization WeWorld Onlus. The campaign aims to oppose acts of violence against women that often occur in Italy and other parts of the world.

The form of the campaign is to paint red paint on the faces of soccer players competing in the Italian League Serie A. Top footballers such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Francesco Toldo, to Alessandro Del Piero support the campaign.

“Violence is a cultural issue. To solve this problem, our children must be taught the right values and they must know how to respect each other," said Toldo, a former goalkeeper for the Italian national team and club Inter Milan as quoted by The Sun.

The campaign, which is marked with the hashtag #unrossoalviolenza or a red card against violence, is routinely carried out until now.

Based on Komnas Perempuan data from January to September 2021, there were 4000 cases of violence against women in Indonesia. The patriarchal culture in Indonesia is often blamed as the reason why many women in Indonesia are not willing to disclose cases of violence experienced.

According to the information from the Public Communications Team of the National Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 delivered by Reisa Broto Asmoro, there has been a 75 percent increase in cases of violence against women during the pandemic since 2020. This figure is a combination of records from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (Kemen PPPA) and Komnas Perempuan.

Reisa Broto Asmoro. (Photo: Doc. BNPB)

The total number of cases recorded by the Ministry of PPPA and Komnas Perempuan during the COVID-19 pandemic was 14,719. The most cases were physical violence which reached 5548 cases, sexual violence 4898 cases, psychological violence 2123 cases, economic violence 1528 cases, and violence against migrant workers as many as 610 cases.

"Victims can report to the local government in Jakarta, for example, there is a call center service available to serve complaints of violence, in the current pandemic situation services are still open by prioritizing health protocols, for example by recording all documents and handling online by officers," said Reisa, while doing a live broadcast on the YouTube channel of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) on July 10, 2020.

The Vaginismus Fighter Community, which was spearheaded by a women's activist, Dian Mustika, on November 25, 2021, launched the Acacia application. According to Dian, the beginning of this application was created from several complaints from members of the Vanigismus Fighter Community, and several close friends who experienced cases of violence against women.

Acacia Application. (Photo: Special)

"From these complaints, I finally decided to make the Acacia application which will later become a guardian for Indonesian women," said Dian.

Acacia application has a main feature called Panic Button. A woman who has experienced violence or harassment, only needs to press a button on her cellphone. The signal from the victim of violence against women will be immediately received by people in the nearest radius, who also access the Acacia application.

The receiver of the signal is expected to be able to immediately provide assistance to the victim. Seeing the rapid growth of internet users in Indonesia, Acacia should be installed more by women so that they can quickly uncover cases of violence against women.

There are many ways to report cases of violence against women. It's just a matter of dealing with the patriarchal culture in Indonesia, which makes women reluctant to reveal the violence they experience. So, speak up!