Luxembourg head coach Luc Holtz has defended his decision to continue selecting Gerson Rodrigues despite a crowd protest over the striker’s presence in last Friday’s 1-0 loss to Slovenia.
The Republic of Ireland face Luxembourg in a friendly international on Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm).
Rodrigues was given an 18-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, the 2020 Miss Luxembourg, Emilie Boland.
In April, Rodrigues lost his appeal against the charges and subsequent fines.
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Holtz stated last week that the Portuguese-born forward was retained in the Luxembourg squad as he does not “feel called to judge [the player] a second time”. Rodrigues played the full 90 minutes against Slovenia.
“The focus for the team is only on the pitch,” said Holtz at a press conference ahead of Tuesday’s match. “What is happening off the pitch is not a distraction to the players.”
When Holtz was asked what message selecting Rodrigues was sending out to young female footballers in Luxembourg, a spokesman for the federation, Marc Diederich, said: “The federation allowed the coach to select him because he got his punishment from the court.
“The court is the only instance that can punish people. It is not a reason for the public or the journalists to give him a second punishment for the same thing.
“The punishment comes from the court and the court says he does not have to go to prison. He is free to do everything. He is free to go to the supermarket, he can play football for his team and be selected for the national team.
“That is the reason we selected him.”
Diederich then compared the Rodrigues situation to England continuing to select Harry Maguire [aggravated assault] and France playing Lucas Hernández [breaking a restraining order] despite their past legal issues.
“We have a lot of examples in foreign countries, where the same thing happened,” he said.
Holtz was also asked if the other cases, mentioned by Diederich, make the Rodrigues situation acceptable to the Luxembourg federation.
Diederich answered for the coach: “No, it is not okay, nobody said it is okay to batter a woman. But he got a second chance from the court and we also give him a second chance. But we say clearly to him: it will never happen again. That is the reason.”
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 the selection of Rodrigues during last Friday’s game.
On Sunday evening, the FLF responded to criticism from the country’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, Boland posted a picture of her facial injuries on Instagram over the weekend with a direct message to the 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.”
