UAR announce findings of investigation into Matera social media posts

The UAR have completed an investigation into a series of controversial social media posts made by Argentina internationals Pablo Matera, Guido Petti and Santiago Socino. The three players had been temporarily stood down from international duty and Matera was stripped of the Argentina captaincy after xenophobic tweets published nearly a decade ago resurfaced in November.

All three players were suspended by the UAR, only for the Union to reverse their decision two days later, a move which led to heavy criticism.

And the UAR have now announced the findings of what they state was “an exhaustive investigation process” by a disciplinary commission, which took four weeks to complete.

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A statement on the UAR’s website outlined the results of the investigation, with all three players ordered to complete a series of educational courses before they can represent the Pumas again. The board of directors have also withdrawn their endorsement of Matera’s captaincy until the player completes the required steps laid out by the UAR.

The statement details that the players must:

“Participate in a 6-hour course that will take place in three days of 2 hours each, with two objectives: 1) to become aware of where prejudices arise and the consequences they have in relationships between people and 2) to prepare them to participate in the Rugby 2030 “Discriminatory Stereotypes and Prejudices” program, towards A New Culture.

“Record a video with educational content on “Discriminatory stereotypes and prejudices”, which will be used as a reference pedagogical resource for the players.

“Spend 2 days, each player, in the space for exchanging experiences with the players who do the course, on the days that they coordinate with the players.

“Additionally, this Board of Directors will favourably evaluate any other restorative action that players voluntarily decide to carry out in a complementary manner to the actions considered here.

“In due course and prior to a new call, the Board of Directors, through the relevant areas of the UAR, will control the effective fulfilment of these restorative activities, in order to resolve the questions of eligibility for future participation in representative teams nationals and / or eligibility to occupy the captaincy of the team, questions that this Council will resolve in due course.

“Consequently, the eligibility of the three players is subject to compliance with the restorative measures imposed and this Board of Directors withdraws the endorsement of Pablo Matera’s captaincy until the restorative measures are satisfactorily completed.”