Luxembourg federation embroiled in protest controversy ahead of Republic of Ireland friendly
Luxembourg's football association – the Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football (FLF) – has issued an apology to supporters following the approach taken by stadium stewards towards protesters demonstrating against the continued selection of Gerson Rodrigues during the country's 1-0 defeat to Slovenia on Friday.
The demonstrations come ahead of the Republic of Ireland's visit to Luxembourg on Tuesday (kick-of 7.45pm Irish time).
Rodrigues is serving an 18-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, the former Miss Luxembourg, Emilie Boland.
In April, Rodrigues lost his appeal against the charges and subsequent fines.
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Luxembourg's head coach Luc Holtz stated last week that the Portuguese-born forward was called up as he does not 'feel called to judge [the player] a second time.' Rodrigues played the full 90 minutes against Slovenia.
On Sunday evening, the FLF responded to criticism from the county's sports minister Georges Mischo and the women's rights group which organised the protest at Stade de Luxembourg.
'We would like to address the selection of a player for the national team whose criminal record has sparked significant public debate,' the FLF statement said. 'Being fully aware of the controversy that such a decision could generate, it was made seriously and in accordance with the current legal and sporting framework. Nonetheless, we fully understand the sensitivities that this choice may have provoked.
'Furthermore, during the same match, banners were displayed in the stands as a form of protest. While some of them were considered to violate FIFA/UEFA regulations – which prohibit political, offensive, sexual, discriminatory, or commercial messages – an unfortunate miscommunication occurred between the General Secretariat of the FLF and the security personnel.
'This lack of co-ordination led to several banners being removed, beyond what was necessary to comply with the regulations. This regrettable situation was also publicly acknowledged by the Secretary General during the post-match press conference, where he admitted that the handling of the incident did not meet expectations,' the statement added.
'We want to be absolutely clear on this point: no instruction was given by the FLF Board of Directors to remove all messages. That was not, and never will be, our philosophy – out of respect for our loyal supporters. Dialogue, listening, and transparency remain fundamental values for our Federation.
'We sincerely apologise to all those affected. We reaffirm our commitment to ensuring full freedom of expression for all football fans and supporters of our national team, whether outside or inside a football stadium.
'We, as the Board of Directors, will draw the necessary lessons to ensure such incidents do not happen again in the future. We dare to hope that our supporters will come out in large numbers for the Luxembourg –
Republic of Ireland
match next Tuesday,' the FLF statement concluded.
In response to the continued selection of Rodrigues, Ms Boland posted a picture of her facial injuries on Instagram over the weekend with a direct message FLF and the team's head coach: 'Dear Mr Holtz, would the decision be different if this would be your daughter?
'Gerson Rodrigues has never presented his excuses so, no, I do not believe he regrets anything that he has done.'
Holtz is due to hold a prematch press conference at 3pm on Monday ahead of Tuesday's friendly against Heimir Hallgrímsson's side.
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