UEFA has opened an investigation into footballers Rodrigo Hernández and Álvaro Morata for a possible breach of the Disciplinary Regulations of Europe’s top sporting body during the celebration of the triumph at the European Championship on Monday 15 July.
During the celebrations, which took place in Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles, some of the Spanish national team’s players chanted “Gibraltar, Spanish”, which were branded “stale” by the Gibraltarian government. Hours later, Gibraltar’s football governing body lodged an official complaint with UEFA.
The Gibraltar Football Association said the nature of the “unacceptable” songs was “extremely provocative and insulting”. “There is no place in football for behaviour of this nature”, it concluded in a statement.
Some “discriminatory political statements”
The head of the Rock of Gibraltar’s Executive, Fabián Picardo, said he was “disappointed after seeing that several players from the Spanish men’s football team celebrated their victory in the European Championship by chanting stale comments about Gibraltar.” In a statement shared through his social networks, Picardo said that the comment “glorifies the dictatorial policy of a serial killer like Franco.”
The Gibraltar Government believes that “this is a completely unnecessary mixing of a great sporting success with discriminatory political statements that are highly offensive to Gibraltarians”. In this regard, it argued that “the regrettable use of the platform of the celebration around the Euro victory to promote the idea of usurping Gibraltar’s territory is contrary to the principle that sport should not be used to promote any politically controversial ideology”.
Some videos showed the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, together with Infanta Elena, dancing and singing the song “Gibraltar is Spanish”.
The Spanish government’s spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, responded shortly afterwards to Picardo’s complaint at the press conference following the Council of Ministers. Alegría wanted to downplay the events: “These celebrations must be put into context.” “I don’t think anyone has any doubt that a country’s foreign policy is established by the government of that country,” she added.
The controversy comes amid negotiations between Brussels and London on Gibraltar’s future relationship with the EU after Brexit. After more than two years of talks, an agreement has not yet materialised, although the arrival of the Labour Party in Downing Street on 4 July has raised new expectations, although for now there is no date for the resumption of contacts. “We were very close to an agreement, now even closer with two progressive governments that are going to understand each other,” said the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, after his meeting with the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, last Thursday.
Two-match ban, the latest precedent
The latest precedent of a UEFA sanction for a breach of the Disciplinary Regulations was Turkish footballer Merih Demiral. The defender celebrated his second goal against Austria in the round of 16 of the European Championship with the gesture used by the far-right paramilitary group Grey Wolves, which has been banned in some countries such as France.
After the match, Demiral, 26, justified his gesture by saying that the way he celebrated his goal “has something to do” with his “Turkish identity”, adding that his aim was to express the pride he feels in being a citizen of this country. The punishment imposed by the European body at the time was two matches, meaning he missed the quarter-finals and semi-finals, where his team was eliminated.
UEFA said the Turkish defender had breached general principles of conduct by “using sporting events for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature and by bringing football into disrepute”.
Source: www.eldiario.es