Spanish rugby federation to challenge Rugby Europe decision on Gibraltar membership

The Royal Spanish Rugby Federation said it will challenge the decision by Rugby Europe’s General Assembly to admit the Gibraltar Rugby Football Union as the governing body’s 49th full member.
The Spanish federation expressed “deep dissatisfaction and total opposition” to Gibraltar’s admission and said it would “exhaust all legal avenues to seek to overturn the decision”.
In a statement, the federation said it had worked alongside Spain’s Consejo Superior de Deportes and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prevent both the approval of Rugby Europe’s revised statutes and consideration of Gibraltar’s candidacy.
It said this stance was not new, describing opposition to Gibraltar’s membership as “a legal and political battle” it had pursued from the outset.
The RFER argued that Saturday’s decision was the culmination of a process with “serious flaws”, including what it described as an alleged failure to secure the two thirds majority required for approval.
Gibraltar’s candidacy had been approved “by just one vote”, it said.
The federation said it had formally appealed the votes and filed Rugby Europe’s new statutes before a Paris court, adding it considered them “not in accordance with the law”.
The previous statues made it harder for territories like Gibraltar to join but were changed following a legal case in France.
According to the statement, Spain’s position is that the statutes should be annulled so that Rugby Europe returns to being an organisation composed exclusively of countries, excluding colonies and non-autonomous territories.
In Gibraltar, rugby officials said they were aware of the Spanish statement.

“Gibraltar Rugby is aware of the press release made by the [Spanish federation],” said Chad Thomson, CEO of Gibraltar Rugby.

“Gibraltar Rugby is satisfied that they carried out their application process in line with the Rugby Europe bylaws.”