Spain U20 player handed hefty ban for racially abusing French player

Spain U20 player Mateo Aragón has been banned for seven matches after an independent disciplinary committee upheld a citing for racist verbal abuse directed at a French player during the World Rugby Junior World Championship.

The incident occurred during the Pool D fixture between Spain and France in Kutaisi on 2 July, with the France U20 team management subsequently referring the matter to the independent citing commissioner.

The comments were made in French and directed at France under-20s France fly-half Luka Keletaona as the Spanish players passed the French players following a try.

“I was there to get the lads together under the posts,” Keletaona told reporters in Georgia following the game. “The Spaniards passed us and that’s when the racist remarks were made.

“Racist comments have no place on a field. It must not go unnoticed.”

The panel examined match footage and audio and considered witness statements from members of both squads. It determined that Aragón had not proven on the balance of probabilities that the citing should be overturned.

Regarding the sanction, the committee applied a mid-range entry point of 12 matches. Citing the racial nature of the offending as an aggravating factor, the panel declined to award full mitigation, arriving at a final ban of seven matches.

Aragón’s fixture list is yet to be confirmed.

World Rugby, in its statement, said: “There is no place in rugby or society for discrimination, abuse or hate speech, and any complaint of discrimination is taken extremely seriously by World Rugby and its disciplinary personnel.”

“While noting that emotions understandably run high when such complaints are brought, World Rugby urges the rugby family to be respectful of all individuals involved, particularly via the forum of social media.”

Under World Rugby Regulation 17, Aragón has 48 hours from receipt of the written decision to lodge an appeal. A full written decision will be published in due course.