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Irish Independent
05-08-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Luxembourg axe star man Gerson Rodrigues after controversial appearance at home to Ireland
Their manager Luc Holtz had already paid the price for his role in the episode by being denied a contract extension. Ireland's friendly in Luxembourg in June was marked by protests from home supporters at the presence of Rodrigues in the side, their second home friendly of that June window. He had been convicted of a domestic abuse charge and was given an 18-month suspended sentence but politicians and women's rights groups there protested at the fact he was being selected. Irish fans in the stadium joined in the protests, with travelling supporters from Ireland displaying the red card and booing any time Rodrigues touched the ball. Long-serving coach Holtz had defended, before the game and in the aftermath, his call to select the player saying there was no legal block on his selection. Last month the Luxembourg FA decided, after a 'thorough analysis' of the matter, not to extend Holtz's contract when his current deal runs out in December, though they plan for him to be in charge for World Cup qualifiers, including a date with Northern Ireland. The FLF also apologised to a local journalist who had been barred from attending a press conference over his coverage of the affair. And now they have stated that Rodrigues – who has since moved to a club in Thailand – will not be selected for national team duty. They begin their World Cup campaign at home to Northern Ireland next month. 'The image of the Luxembourg football institution and all its members has been affected by the 'Gerson Rodrigues affair'. We would like to point out that the reputation of the Federation and its members is above any individuality and sporting considerations,' the FLF said. 'Despite the advice and recommendations that the Federation officials tried to give to the player concerned, he did not respond favourably. 'Consequently, the board of directors has decided that the aforementioned player is no longer eligible for selection until further notice for future international matches of the national team.'
The Irish Sun
10-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Republic of Ireland's toothless attack fires blanks as Heimir Hallgrimsson's side stumble to bore draw in Luxembourg
AND the winners from Ireland's last game before their summer holidays were the players already on their summer holidays. 2 Ireland players leave the field after a scoreless draw against minnows Luxembourg 2 Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson won't be happy with the end-of-season showing on his birthday A 0-0 draw against the Grand Duchy was as good as it got, as Ireland never looked like losing and rarely looked like winning. In truth, it was typical end of season friendly fare on the final day before everyone on the pitch goes on their summer holidays. But it meant the real winners were those that Hallgrísson had told to go on their holidays already. When picking his squad, he left out the majority of Championship players because their season finished five weeks ago telling them to rest up for the World Cup qualifiers. read more on football In fact, they told them to take a holiday this year because there would be none next year as Ireland prepared for the World Cup! If Josh Cullen, Finn Azaz et al were watching last night in a beach bar, they will have seen that they were missed and should be back in the side for the autumn qualifiers. This June window has seen the emergence of That said, it was a game that Ireland could still have won. Most read in Football But a win would have just painted over the cracks that Ireland's performance was well below par - especially in the first half. Heimir Hallgrimsson gives first call-up to four Ireland players in squad for friendlies vs Senegal and Luxembourg During that 45 minutes, an average team - nevermind a good one - would have punished the Boys in Green. Fortunately, Luxembourg are below average as their one win in the past 18 months proves with their team having more problems than simply getting results. That was evident even before kick-off from the banners around the ground aimed at the local FA - FLF - and the selection of Gerson Rodrigues. In March, he lost his appeal against a conviction for three assault and battery charges, including one on his former girlfriend. There were banners in the stands that made the feelings of many Luxembourgers clear. 'Red card for violence against women' and'Shame on you, FLF' were hung while red cards were brandished by a small section of fans. Rodrigues was also booed, but the majority of that came from the Ireland fans who had little to cheer from their own team. There were five changes to the team as Max O'Leary came in for his debut and Hallgrímsson spoke about how his side have got the 'basics' right but there were few signs of that in Luxembourg as they struggled to gain any foothold. The warning signs were there early on as Collins hit a long diagonal that Robbie Brady could not keep in play and Dara O'Shea was cajoling his teammates to up the tempo. By ten minutes, boss Hallgrímsson was standing on the edge of his technical area, and moved Will Smallbone more centrally after 25 minutes, as his head hardly got a kick. The summer holidays start today but Luxembourg were often able to glide through the Ireland midfield as if they were already in flip flops. Had Luxembourg posed a real threat, they could have punished Ireland but the positive - if we are clutching at straws - was the Boys in Green's backline did hold firm. Debut goalkeeper O'Leary had little to do but did it well coming and making a few catches cleanly though his distribution was erratic. In fairness to him, neither Troy Parrott nor Evan Ferguson were getting any favours from Austrian referee Stefan Ebner despite some robust Luxembourg challenges. But the ball was not sticking to either of them and meant that the Irish backline was continually under pressure. O'Leary had to make a decent save to turn away a Danel Sinani shot from distance after Ferguson gave the ball away and allowed the Luxembourg front man to race forward. Early in the second half, O'Leary again did well when he denied Laurent Jans' effort from a tight angle with his legs after Parrott had lost possession in his own half. Later, he saw a cross from Vincent Thill come back off the butt of his post. And the second half did see Luxembourg pepper O'Leary's goal more often though, in truth, they were largely from distance where you never expected Ireland to concede. That said, Ireland did create chances too and could have won without playing well. Collins came close to an opening goal just before half time when he headed against the post after O'Shea had headed a deep Smallbone free kick back across goal. Early in the second half, Friday's goal scorer McAteer showed his attacking flare with a run from inside his own half and shot that fizzed just wide. And the winger was involved in Ireland's next decent chance when he arrived at the far post to drill Ryan Manning's left cross from the left into the six-yard box. Unfortunately for Ireland, Parrott could not adjust his feet quick enough to turn the ball in as he was then adjusted to have handled the ball as it bounced up awkwardly. Parrott did have the ball in the net on 67 minutes but it was rightly ruled out for offside as he made his run onto McAteer's pass too early. And McAteer - who was moved to the left flank in the second half before going off - also flashed a shot wide as he stretched to reach a ball over the top from Jake O'Brien. Taylor also saw a 20-yard drive cannon off the crossbar four minutes from time that could have earned the Boys in Green a win. But Ireland are going to have to play a lot better in the autumn World Cup qualifiers. Luxembourg 0 Ireland 0
RTÉ News
09-06-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Luxembourg boss stands by decision to play Gerson Rodrigues ahead of Ireland clash
Defiant Luxembourg boss Luc Holtz insisted he would not be swayed on his decision to continue selecting Gerson Rodrigues after the player lost an appeal against his sentence for assaulting a former girlfriend. Rodrigues was handed an 18-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of beating his partner at the time, former Miss Luxembourg Emilie Boland, in an incident in November 2022, and was also convicted of two other assaults. He failed in an appeal against the punishment in April and was subsequently selected by his country to play against Slovenia at the Stade de Luxembourg on Friday night amid angry protests, and is in line to face the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday evening. Asked if the issue had been a distraction for he and his players, Holtz said: "No. The focus from the team is only on the pitch. All that is not on the pitch does not distract the players. It's not a distraction, no." Pressed on whether the protests would affect his team selection for the Ireland game, he said: "That's nothing to interest the team of the coach. The focus is on the pitch and everything outside the pitch does not distract the team and has not distracted the team." When Holtz was asked further what message that sent out, press officer Marc Diederich stepped in and said Rodrigues had received his punishment from the court and should not be punished twice. When he in turn was asked if that meant it was OK, Diederich replied: "No, it's not OK. Nobody says that. But he got a second chance from the court and we gave him also a second chance. "But we said clearly to him, it should never happen again. That's the reason." The Luxembourg football association, the Federation Luxembourgeoise de Football, issued an apology to supporters for the way in which the protests were handled during the 1-0 defeat by Slovenia after stewards were tasked with removing banners "deemed to violate FIFA/UEFA regulations", but went too far because of "an unfortunate confusion occurred in the communication between the FLF General Secretariat and security officials". An FLF statement read: "We sincerely apologise to all those involved. We re-affirm our commitment to guaranteeing full freedom of opinion for all fans of football and our national team, whether outside or inside a football stadium. "We are drawing the necessary lessons from this at the board of directors to ensure that such incidents do not recur in the future. We hope that many of our supporters will attend the Luxembourg-Republic of Ireland match next Tuesday." AVS striker Rodrigues, 29, scored the only goal when Luxembourg beat Ireland in a World Cup qualifier at Aviva Stadium in March 2021.
Irish Times
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
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. READ MORE 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.
