Gibraltar

Jutting out from the southernmost tip of Spain, the unreservedly British Gibraltar shares many things with its mother land, not least a passion for rugby. Their ground would be the envy of international sides, if only they got to showcase it on the global scene. Instead, they find themselves in rugby’s no-man’s land.

Gibraltar isn’t a place that you’d expect to be immediately synonymous with rugby union. Insurance underwriting, financial services, online gambling, ship maintenance and import/export are the stocks in trade of this magnificent peninsula, once famed for its miliary connections and of course, its tourism. But rugby, not so much.

Gibraltar is a bit of a global anomaly. With a population of 32,000, technically it’s a part of the UK as a ‘British Overseas Territory’ yet it is effectively an adjunct of the Spanish mainland, surrounded on three sides by sea and dominated by the 426m-high limestone mountain known as the Rock of Gibraltar. Its very location, forming the gateway to the Mediterranean, has always underlined its strategic military and political importance and its history is full of incident, ownership challenge and of course, confrontation going way back to the early days of civilisation.

Human occupation can be dated back as far as the Neanderthal era, some 127,000 years ago. Phoenician and later Carthaginian sea-traders then made use of its caves as places of worship and in 711 AD, Berber troops from North Africa, under their leader Tarik ibn-Ziyad, landed at the foot of the Rock, setting the Muslim conquest of Iberia into action. Hence, the modern name Gibraltar, which is a derivation of the older name ‘Jebel Tarik’, meaning Tarik’s Mountain. 

Sieges are second nature to the Gibraltarians due to the shape and location of their land. There’s been a total of thirteen of them, the last between 1779-83, but significant miliary action during both World Wars has continued Gibraltar’s association with the military.

One of your lasting impressions of Gibraltar is how cramped the streets are and how high the buildings are relative to the 2.6 square mile footprint of the Rock. It’s a small wonder that the territory hasn’t yet produced a world class F1 driver as the skills required to weave through the obstacles and the width of the streets defies belief. It makes you believe that Gibraltarians could thread an SUV through the eye of a needle such is their ability behind the wheel. Boy racers are about as welcome as an Owen Farrell tackle as the national speed limit is 50kph and is enforced strictly – to the point that one hapless driver caught doing a reckless 91kph (56mph) made headline news on the local radio stations as he was charged with driving at ‘the fastest speed ever recorded in Gibraltar’. 

Roadside wildlife includes monkeys – thought to have been brought here by the Moors over a thousand years ago – especially on the rather frightening drive to the top of the Rock, a journey that might well have inspired Hitchcock to release a themed sequel to Vertigo, such is the nature of the drops from the roadside. “Gibraltar is a mix of many historical ethnicities,” explains Stephen Payas, president of Gibraltar Rugby. “Genoese, Italian, Maltese, Moroccan, Spanish, English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish all creating vibrant ingredients to what is a Gibraltarian. We have our own distinct culture, known as Llanitos, we are Latin British, as opposed to Anglo-Saxon or Celtic British, nevertheless British we are, just like Hong Kong was, similarly to Caymanian or Bermudians.”

On the southernmost point of the Rock is the magnificent Europa Park, a £32m stadium development that was the brainchild of sports minister Steven Linares, and one built around the love of rugby in the local community, all funded by the Gibraltarian government. Even up to the mid-1980s, rugby on the Rock had a major problem, namely the lack of grass. Games were frequently played on a rocky surface, and visitors had to play tag rugby. Now, all the teams use the new stadium. 

The numbers underline the love of the sport there; six per cent of all native male Gibraltarians play or have played rugby, with 1.72 per cent of the population members of Gibraltar Rugby, some 600 people, a huge amount compared to say England, where only 0.5 per cent of the population play or South Africa where the figure is 1 per cent. The Ministry of Sport is responsible for sports policy matters and providing support to educational establishments and sports governing bodies in Gibraltar and, under the chairmanship of the minister, a Gibraltar Sports Advisory Council was set up to advise HM Government on all matters relating to the key sports, which include football, cricket, hockey and of course rugby, all played on the superb Europa Park.

Spend a moment or two wandering around the impressive facility and you will be in wonderment of the attention to detail of every single touchpoint of Linares’ and the clubs’ vision. “We need to get some more framed shirts and rugby memorabilia,” says Chad Thompson, chief executive of the game’s governing body Gibraltar Rugby, but also, by day, a financial services broker. “It’s too bland and we need the clubhouse feel.”

As he walks us around the facility, Chad beams with pride as he explains the world-class sporting options Europa Park offers. A three-storey building houses a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning room, one that visiting World Cup referee Karl Dickson described as ‘good as anything I’ve seen’. Next to that a three-lane indoor pro-standard cricket facility with the same surface as the Lords Indoor School, six magnificent, glazed squash courts, a multi-purpose gymnastics basketball and badminton hall (with spectator seating) and much more. Every turn of the polished concrete corridors brings even more sporting gems to the point that you conclude they’ve thought about almost everything. “We got some special green rubber crumb made for the 4G rugby pitch,” explains Chad. “Although I confess this solution was initially mooted by our cricketers, who spend a lot more time out there in high temperatures than us.

“The black crumb simply absorbs too much heat and that can have an adverse effect on the players,” he continues, further evidence that the Gloucester-born Gibraltarian is a details man, one who is not only a skilled organiser, but who has also played at a high level himself, having had a few seasons at Kingsholm as a somewhat robust number eight.

The main outdoor arena is equally as impressive as the offerings found indoors. The pitch is big enough to stage cricket, hockey and virtually any field sport you can think of, augmented by powerful floodlights around the perimeter and of course, a pleasant Atlantic breeze wafting in from the adjacent ocean. It makes you want to put your boots on and have a trot out, whatever sport is your choice – and even if you’re among the halt and lame of the elder generation, the seating on the east side and the magnificent clubhouse balcony on the south side (which also has a rear view over the sea to Morocco, just sixteen miles in the distance) is enough to make you want to idle every hour possible there. 

Gibraltar’s national league involves four clubs: DHL Europa Stormers, Inline Framing Straits Sharks, Ibex Buccaneers, and Rock Scorpions, with huge interest in both the men’s and women’s game and a particular emphasis on youth rugby. All four club sides and several school sides use the facility.

It’s no great surprise that because of these efforts, the Gibraltar Sevens, our reason for visiting, has become one of the highpoints of the European Rugby Invitational Sevens circuit, one that offers a real depth of interest on the continent. Due to the situation with the national status of Gibraltar, the tournament isn’t yet ratified on the full eight-leg circuit, but many regard it as a show good enough to be included when appropriate.

So far so good. This sounds amazing, say most people who visit or learn about the facility. Surely it must be included within the global international calendar? A marquee centre of excellence for rugby in Tier Two nations? Alas no. 

Underneath this glossy and positive exterior lies a frustration for all Gibraltarian rugby players – their continued exclusion from any form of international rugby by the international rugby governing bodies.

The simple truth is a pure Gibraltarian has no international team to play for. They are homeless rugby folk. While legally British they are neither English, Welsh, Scottish nor Northern Irish, and as a result are excluded from the game mostly at the behest of the Spanish voice in rugby, a country recently removed from the Rugby World Cup for fielding an ineligible player in qualifying. Sure, Gibraltar’s Sevens players could represent GB in the Olympics, but no British nationalistic qualification gives the right to play for any of the home unions, unless by parental right or birth right.

Despite achieving international status in the parallel worlds of FIFA football and ICC cricket, the bar within rugby appears to be so high that Gibraltar is unable to climb over it, despite consistently getting a majority support (bizarrely they need 66 per cent of Rugby Europe to vote in support to achieve international status, not 51 per cent).

Spain has consistently lobbied their allies within Europe to block Gibraltar, based upon their adamance of rights to ownership of the Rock despite over 90 per cent of Gibraltarians wishing to stay as a British territory in a recent referendum. It is rumoured that some within the Spanish rugby authorities are sympathetic to the plight of Gibraltar Rugby, but when votes have come to be cast, mainstream political figures have intervened, threatening those Spanish officials with firing and more, should they dare vote against the wishes of the Spanish government. “We are, in sporting terms, a country, separate to any other rugby country,” says Chad. “Gibraltar has over twenty sports in international competition. Notably FIH hockey, UEFA/FIFA, ICC and FIBA – basketball.

“In my opinion, World Rugby and Rugby Europe are provably failing to live by their values of growing the game. The Olympic charter states that IAs – International Associations – are to grow their respective sports.

“I am minded,” he continues, “that Rugby Europe has been politically influenced over the years to block our membership; as a result, we have Gibraltarian rugby players that have not been given the same pathway to rugby as other European rugby players. In short, they are excluded.

“We are left in limbo, on our own, isolated and excluded simply because of the history of the animosity over the territorial ownership of Gib, none of which is anything to do with lads who simply want to be the best versions of themselves in a sport that’s supposed to be inclusive.”

The original byelaws of both World Rugby and Rugby Europe required Gibraltar to meet one of the following criteria: be a UN sovereign country; have a recognised IOC; be recognised by the Union’s Ministry of Sport. “We fulfilled the third criteria but for some reason best known to themselves RE changed the by-laws in 2015 and removed the third one – the one that gave us international status,” explains Chad. “So now it is just either a UN sovereign country or has a recognised IOC – it seems convenient to some that this legislation was implemented almost at the point of us seeing a real chance of being included.”

Although Gibraltar aren’t taking it lying down, while the toing and froing continues, one group suffers. “Worse still, while this happens, the players don’t qualify for any other union and they are actively being excluded from the game,” continues Chad, “a sport that has core values built around inclusion, friendship and camaraderie.

“Put simply, Gibraltarians are British. Yet Britain doesn’t play rugby except for the GB7s in the Olympics which Gibraltarians are eligible for, but in elite rugby, GB plays as four independent unions – England, Wales, Northern Ireland (part of the Irish Rugby Football Union) and Scotland, none of whom can accept our people.

“We have no vehicle in which our Gibraltarians can play any form of international rugby. It hurts,” Chad continues, with clear emotion in his voice. “We do our best, but to deny the emotional frustration of our situation would be wrong – it exists and the only way we can overcome our plight is by being absolutely brilliant at the things we can control ourselves. And that’s my focus. Make Gibraltar an incredible place to visit for rugby union.”

Some solace comes from their presence on the European Sevens Circuit, albeit in invitational form: “We are now on – I would term it – the ‘Invitational’ European Sevens circuit,” says Chad. “And the key to sustainability of the site and the resilience of Gibraltar Rugby is attracting touring teams and clubs. Aside from our facilities we’re only two and a half hours from the UK, the British pound is the  currency, we have a wholly safe, inclusive and wonderful environment and of course, sports tourism is a key focus of the Sports and Tourism Ministry.”

The Gibraltar Sevens has grown from a one-day event to a four-day one. “As word has got around, the growth and interest has been quite staggering,” explains tournament director Mike Mulroy when we meet in one of the world’s most scenic yet professional tournament offices, overlooking both the pitch and the Mediterranean behind it. “The tournament grows each season – in simple numbers we’ve had 23 teams, 361 participants, fifteen match officials from six countries, six volunteers from overseas, twenty local volunteers, 40 RAF Air Cadets and staff all combining to deliver this event. We’ve seen 67 games of rugby plus RAF vets and a Bermuda U19 game, 996 minutes played (16.6 hours) and a massive 2,385 points scored.

“We prefaced the weekend with an invitation match between Bermuda U18 and the Gibraltar U18, as something of a curtain raiser on the Thursday night which seems to have also gone down particularly well.

“It was great to see local side the Wailers – from Newcastle – get so close in the final, but Spanish specialists the Viator Barbarians are one hell of an outfit, with a number of their players capped at Test 15s level by Spain.”

Naturally, the growth in rugby is also linked to a key part of the Gibraltar DNA – the British Military. Gibraltar has been a major port of support for the Royal Navy for a long time. After defeating a larger combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the body of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson was brought to Gibraltar aboard his flagship the HMS Victory. The Royal Navy maintained mastery of the seas for the next 100 years, ensuring a period of peace and stability.

With advances in naval technology, the beginning of the last century saw the construction of Gibraltar’s torpedo-proof harbour and three dry docks, one of which was extended to take HMS Dreadnought, the biggest battleship in the world in 1906. These facilities proved invaluable in supporting naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean during World War I and thereafter, World War 2, where the Rock’s already extensive defences were once again strengthened and expanded with a huge tunnel system constructed to house a garrison of 17,000 troops inside the Rock itself. 

The tunnels remain, 34 miles or so of them permeating the Rock, outnumbering the 31 miles of open roads and connecting places directly for locals and visitors, to save time circumnavigating the limestone edifice.

In November 1942, General Dwight Eisenhower used Gibraltar as his base to support Operation Torch, the allied invasion of North Africa. Following the success of this operation, Gibraltar was never attacked again, but remains an active naval base supporting ongoing operations in the Mediterranean region.

As a garrison town, British Gibraltar has been under military rule for a large portion of its history and, as a result, vets and serving teams from all three services take part in the tournament, with a formidable presence from the RAF Vets one of the social highlights of the weekend. “You cannot separate Gibraltar and the military – it’s been a place of huge strategic importance since the year dot and the interest we have from that community is huge,” explains Mike.

John Grindrod is a retired RAF Sergeant and, to complete the picture, is a huge former Combined Services tighthead prop weighing in at some 145kgs, looking rather resplendent in his tour regulation Hawaiian shirt. “Many of us were based here in Gibraltar during our service careers, so it’s just nice to come back and see the place, although when we played rugby here, we used to play in Sattar Grande old ground,” he says. “For us it’s about those memories – the time we spent here and those incredible reference points serving together. And it’s the same for the Marines, Army and Navy too.”

John’s RAF Vets were defeated in the Vets final by Maesteg Celtic, an Army-based team, but despite the result, his enthusiasm for rugby on the Rock couldn’t be diminished.  “Obviously, we go to other tournaments but this one’s a standout for us and always over-subscribed – guaranteed sunshine to play in, and cold beer, which is great for everything we want; a place that ticks all the boxes in a big way.

“What has been special is the way the wider current RAF administration are also embracing Gib and there’s a commitment to bring full teams across the spectrum here, women, men and vets alike. They see it as a safe space where the little things such as building team moral, and friendships takes place – the marginal stuff that can make a massive difference when serving in the reality of battle or support.”

The women’s competition at the sevens featured sixteen teams from five countries, and among the players is Zoe Dare, a former Exeter Chiefs junior as a flanker/back row. Zoe’s side, Savvy Sevens, is made up of specialist sevens exponents from the UK women’s game and they lost to Sefton in the Bowl final, but Dare is undaunted by the result, loving her time in Gibraltar. “It’s been a brilliant experience – one of the best of my rugby career. We’ve been quite taken aback by the standard of sevens here and in the female competition it’s been outstanding and pushed us to the limit as players. Importantly it’s delivered on the social aspect which is important to any touring side.”

Few are as well placed to judge the quality of Gibraltar’s rugby offering as Rugby World Cup referee Karl Dickson, who admits he’s taken leave of absence from his daytime role with the RFU in order to hone his skills ahead of France 2023. “I’ve taken annual leave to come over, as basically I haven’t refereed for two months since the end of EPCR and PRL tournaments,” explains Karl.  “As a referee you need to feel you’re in form, just like a player.”

The former Harlequins and England A halfback is a well-respected referee and a man known for his professionalism and honesty.  “Rugby watchers probably don’t realise how important match practice is for a referee,” he says. “As any F1 driver, cricketer, football player or NFL quarterback will tell you, you need to be able to practise your craft in action and place yourself in tough situations to perform at your best. If you don’t do that and fail to embrace varied rugby challenges, I think you’re selling yourself short. 

“I’m now in full swing of my S&C training and another attraction is the gym downstairs which is absolutely unbelievable – up there at the levels of Twickenham and any other professional rugby facility I’ve used during my 24-year career. The modern referee community understands the need to be as fit as the elite Test player and our S&C programme is extensive.

“It’s great that Gibraltar are putting on these kinds of tournaments and I’d encourage everybody to come out and play in them. That also includes the professional teams looking for pre-season training venues. I think for a team looking to do a four- or five-day camp it has everything you ever need; the pitches are outstanding, and it has the social outlook for bonding.”

In a country that fuses the nomadic nature of the Armed Forces personnel, tourism and local, home-grown rugby fanatics, the influences that every one of those people bring with them form what we now see as the distinctive Gibraltarian Rugby culture, the one that needs to be seen on the international stage and celebrated as something always unique but of the highest quality. “We have spent a lot of money and of course energy in lots of sporting facilities and Gibraltar is open for business for all sports, including rugby,” sums up Linares. “Sport is in our DNA.” 

Story by James While

Pictures by  Richard Johnson

This extract was taken from issue 23 of Rugby.
To order the print journal, click here.