The Alcobendas club will be relegated to the second division of Spanish rugby for “falsification by club members of the document of its player Gavi van den Berg”, the Spanish rugby federation announced on Thursday, a month after the exclusion of Spain of the Mondial-2023 in France.
The Spanish federation (FER) has recorded the “relegation of Alcobendas to Liga Division d’Honneur B”, but the club from the northern suburbs of Madrid can still appeal this decision.
At the end of April, Spain had been excluded by the international federation from the Rugby World Cup 2023 organized in France for having aligned during the qualifications the player of Alcobendas of South African origin Gavin van den Berg, who was not eligible with the Leones.
Gavin van den Berg had been aligned twice against the Netherlands (victories 43-0 in 2020 and 52-7 in 2021), during Tournament B, qualifying for the World Cup-2023. But he would not have completed the three years of presence in Spain without interruption of more than 60 days necessary to be eligible, according to World Rugby regulations.
In the process, the Spanish federation had opened extraordinary disciplinary proceedings against the club of Alcobendas, that of Gavin van den Berg, because the FER had “been aware of a possible modification of an official document which granted the status of player eligible for Gavin van den Berg”.
The president of the Spanish federation, Alfonso Feijoo, had announced that he would resign at the end of this procedure.
The Alcobendas club, qualified for the quarter-finals of the Spanish championship, was also eliminated from the playoffs on green carpet. Alcobendas was also due to play in the Copa del Rey final against El Salvador, but it is Sevillian club Ciencias, which Alcobendas had eliminated in the semi-finals, who will play the final.
