SportGibraltar

Football: Spanish reports on AS favour Gibraltar's application for UEFA membership

The Spanish population are being turned to support Gibraltar’s cause. Not only have several Spaniards been signing the UEFA petition, in Gibraltar’s favour but significantly Spain’s second largest, daily, sports, paper has published two large spreads, on two separate days (17th and 18th November), defending Gibraltar’s right to be included.

Tim Stannard from When Saturday Comes was quoted as saying “'AS' along with 'Marca' is one of the biggest sports dailies in Spain and sells about 7 million copies or so a day. A huge victory for Gibraltar to get such favourable coverage in the paper”. It appears that the common sense of the issue and the real spirit of sport is prevailing. The newspaper has shied away from the Miniterio De Deportes’ unsportingly conduct towards Gibraltar’s application for UEFA membership and clearly mentioned the reasons for Gibraltar’s exclusion and how these have been overruled by the CAS.

Richard Manning, the GFA’s organiser for junior events, was quoted in the article as saying (translated from Spanish) “We do not want to be in UEFA to compete against the elite teams of Europe. We want to be there so that our kids can play against other teams and improve their skills and chances of progressing, instead of being isolated, as we are, from the rest of Europe”.

Albert Buhagier was also interviewed and commented that (translated from Spanish) “Our players ensure that we play fairly and certainly don’t appreciate those that dive inside the box. The Gibraltarian player has got the Latin traits of holding onto the ball but the English trait of commitment”.

Interestingly AS tried contacting the Spanish Football Federation, to enquire about their point of view on the matter. They refused to be interviewed but stated that on the 6 and 7 of December, UEFA will be making a decision. The Spanish Federation wished to make clear that they are against Gibraltar's inclusion into UEFA, as a full or a provisional member.

Click here to read the complete article, in Spanish.

Interview, in Spanish, with Albert Buhagier:
Albert Buhagier (pictured) was interviewed, at length, about the issue you may wish to visit the site and read more about it by clicking here. Albert admirably defends Gibraltar's right of inclusion, within the European, footballing community.

His opening quote reads: "VILLAR ES UNA MARIONETA Y EN GIBRALTAR SÓLO QUEREMOS QUE NOS DEJEN JUGAR" (Englsih translation) "Villar is a marionette, in Gibraltar we only want them to let us play".

Click here: to read more about what AS has previously reported about the topic.

Please take the time to SIGN THE UEFA PETITION, if you have already done so, then please forward it on to as many people you know will support the cause.

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