The president of the RFEF is confident that the new disciplinary regulations will be “exemplary”
The RFEF organizes the conference on ‘Freedom of expression in football’
MADRID, 21 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, inaugurated this Wednesday the days of debate on ‘Freedom of expression in football’, an important part of the sport that entails respect and education, for which he expressed his wish that the new disciplinary regulation is “exemplary”.
The Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas (Madrid) hosted this conference with jurists and specialists from all levels of football, in which freedom of expression in the field of football was analyzed from a theoretical perspective and with practical cases.
“Freedom of expression is not that anyone says what they want. There are people who hide behind the generic framework of freedom of expression so that anything is worth it, everyone is subject to any opinion without limit and that is not freedom of expression”, said Rubiales in his speech in the Luis Aragonés hall of the Ciudad del Fútbol.
“You cannot say what you want, there are limits, demagogy should not be done with something so important. In Spain we have a system that allowed us to appeal a sanction beyond the federal bodies by going to the ordinary jurisdiction, and that generates us a major problem in terms of time, legal certainty and when explaining to people who love football that there are identical issues that are judged one way or another. This generates tremendous inequality,” he added.
After the intervention of the president of the RFEF, the State lawyer Luis María Cazorla, one of the pioneers of sports legislation in Spain, made the first presentation providing a legal and sports vision of freedom of expression in football. “It is not the same to highlight a specific ruling by a person, for example an arbitrator, than to make an accusation about the entire arbitral group,” he said.
A round table was then held with a group of specialists made up of Andreu Camps, general secretary of the RFEF; Alejandra Domínguez, lawyer and member of the Professional Women’s Soccer Competition Committee; Toni García, lawyer and UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary inspector; Pedro González, lawyer and director of the Legal Department of the RFEF; and Alfonso Ramos, State attorney and member of the TAD.
Camps stressed the importance of preserving values in the world of football, insisting on the importance of the change in legislation when it comes to being able to forcefully apply the disciplinary regulations. Meanwhile, Alejandra Domínguez explained how the Competition Committee works according to what manifestations and Toni García gave concrete examples in which UEFA has had to act.
In addition, Pedro González valued the figure of the referees, even more so in a season in which “red lines have been crossed”, and the table concluded with the intervention of Alberto Ramos.
The day continued with a round table entitled ‘Football players and freedom of expression: problems and solutions’, with the participation of Juan Ignacio Gallardo, director of the newspaper MARCA; Luis Nieto, deputy director of the newspaper AS; Luis Medina Cantalejo, president of the Technical Committee of Referees; Iraia Iturregui, coach of the Athletic Club Femenino; and Fernando Sanz, Director of International Business Development of the RFEF.
“At the end of the matches, the phrase I have to shut up has become fashionable because if I speak they sanction me, but the referees do not sanction, we draw up a record and if we see that they question the honorability of the referee we transfer it to the committees correspondents”, indicated Luis Medina Cantalejo.
“A player or coach has never been penalized for saying that a referee could harm them with his decisions, but calling a referee a thief is not disrespect. For example, if a player insults his coach, they kick him out of the club,” he added. .
The conference was closed with the presence of Miguel García Caba, deputy secretary general and director of integrity of the RFEF, and Salva Gomar, vice president of the RFEF and president of its Legal Commission, positions that he makes compatible with the presidency of the Football Federation of the Valencian Community.
“Freedom of expression can be summed up in two words: education and respect. Soccer is a victim of society’s problems and must be above all else, we must be an example above all else, we must be exemplary,” Salva said. gomar.
For his part, García Caba was optimistic about the next Disciplinary Code because “it will be a tool that will provide legal certainty to all of us.” “Soccer has an arrival in society that no other activity has, hence we have that plus of having to be exemplary,” he said.