The president of the FER takes stock of his first hundred days in office
MADRID, 10 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Spanish Rugby Federation (FER), Juan Carlos Martín ‘Hansen’, assured this Thursday that he wants a “very strong federation style” so that Spanish rugby, a “sleeping giant”, grows, for which they want turning the organization into a great organizer of events, to also combat the 400,000 euro budget gap of the previous Board of Directors.
“We want a very strong federation style, thinking big and allowing Spanish rugby to grow. We want to see Spain win a match in the 2027 World Cup, but we want to think at all levels,” Hansen said at a press conference with reason for his first hundred days in office.
The president appeared together with the vice-president of the Sports Area, Planning and Strategy, Gabriel Sáez; the Vice President of the Government, Control and Audit Area, Juan Guitard; the Vice President of the Legal Area, José Antonio Garrote; the Vice President of the Marketing, Communication and Sponsorship Area, Eugenio Martínez; and the treasurer, Ramón Blanco.
Hansen began his speech by thanking the “patience” and “understanding” received by “all levels of Spanish rugby” in this “crisis situation”. “We have come to transform rugby in Spain and think big. Without growth, the FER is not going anywhere. That growth involves putting Spanish rugby in the foreground, and for that growth we need confidence, that is one of the the bases”, he analysed.
“We have to change the way we structure our income, we have to find a way to give value to our product, to the ‘Lions’. This happens through the organization of big events. Either we think big or we are not going to change,” he insisted, before to highlight the agreement with the General Association of Clubs.
After the resolution of the case regarding the eligibility of the player Gavin van den Berg, for which Spain suffered an economic sanction and the deduction of 10 points in its qualifying group and which left the team without the 2023 World Cup, Hansen acknowledged that ” it was hard” and “not easy” to sell the product of the national team to sponsors.
“We try to convey confidence. We have a very complete agenda, we have to work on sponsorships, you have to fit in with the company’s message. We are on the right track. We have closed most of the points of greatest risk. The less time we waste on issues of the past, much better for Spanish rugby”, he added.
In addition, Hansen stressed that “there will never be a new case like in the past”, because this new Board of Directors has put “the lines of control”. “We know what happened, we recognize the problems and it will not happen again,” he added.
“We have rebuilt international relations at all levels. Spain has a direct line with all the top-level presidents. We have shown that Spain will be important in rugby, it is the sleeping giant, we are going to grow. They see us as an opportunity,” he said of the new stage that opens for rugby in Spain.
SÁEZ: “IT IS A FEDERATION THAT WORKS WITH PEDALS”
Thus, and coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the FER in 2023, an event will be held with “international teams”. “Spain is an interesting place to land and play a game before the World Cup,” he advanced, in addition to announcing that Spain will host the final of the European Championship, in addition to other events that he did not reveal. “We have to change the cruising speed of the federation, the inertia is high,” he applauded.
In the economic field, Blanco reported a budget gap of 400,000 euros, “which is caused by a greater number of concentrations for the classification of the XV for the World Cup.” “As a result of the disqualification, there is a considerable fine and an expense for foreign lawyers,” he explained.
“In addition, there are expenses not included in the budget that in our opinion were essential for the proper functioning of the FER. As soon as we entered, we matched the amount of the men’s and women’s diets, before it was not like that. The concentrations of Sub -18 and U-20. And finally, there was no budget to broadcast the matches of the Liga de División de Honro and the open selection,” he added.
Therefore, the “commitment” of this new FER will be to reduce this gap before “the end of the year”, with a new “conservative, balanced budget, with income that will come from sponsorships related to investment in television”. “We want to turn the federation into a source of income through events,” he insisted, although they will try to increase, out of budget, income by 750,000 euros, for the sports part and the digitization of the FER.
The new Board of Directors commissioned a management audit that showed a “justified deficit”, according to Guitard, with a process that “admits a lot of immediate improvement”. Among them, the management of “a lot of cash”, which can generate “a lot of risk”.
In terms of eligibility, the FER, no longer responsible for everything to be correct regarding the players, advanced new rules “for next season.” “In the national teams we have created very demanding rules. The debutants must comply strictly or it cannot be done. For those who have already debuted, also a high level of rigor, we will review all the files,” added Guitard.
“We are financially underfunded, it is impossible to address the sporting objectives of this federation with these financial resources. The organization is very weak, there is a lack of medium and long-term planning. It is a federation that works a bit on the pedals and frayed, isolated nationally and internationally. With little room for maneuver to do things,” lamented Sáez during his speech.
The person in charge of the sports area warned that the budget must be raised “from 6 to 12 million” “to keep the four national teams alive.”
In addition, he pointed out that the continuity of the XV coach, Santiago Santos, is not an urgent matter right now. “Santiago Santos is the coach with the most victories in national rugby, he deserves respect. It was not an urgent or important issue, he will always have a place in the federation. His continuity will be decided in the future, we have other more important things to solve”, he explained .
The act with the media was initiated by the president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), José Manuel Franco, who valued the “energy, rigor and desire” of the Board of Directors headed by Hansen. “You have the full confidence of the CSD to face all the challenges that Spanish rugby has ahead. We will offer you loyalty and institutional support, blindly trusting that your knowledge will make the entire ecosystem of rugby in Spain shine,” he said.