Bubi Optimistic on UEFA Bid

When the executive committee of UEFA met in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana early in October, the Rock's footballers thought the final barrier had been crossed in their prolonged attempt to join Europe's controlling soccer body. Instead, a final bid by Madrid to block the Gibraltar Football Association's ap plication succeeded... and it came as a shock.

Returning from the UK on crutches after a painful operation on both hips — the result of injuries sustained as a soccer and basketball player—it was the last thing Albert(Bubi) Buhagiar wished to hear after years of personal effort and protracted legal wrangling to achieve the goal of UEFA mem bership. But that is what the vicepresident of the Gibraltar Football Association faced — a last-minute ploy by Spain's Football Federation to postpone the Rock's provisional membership of UEFA and the final step that should have opened the door to full membership of the body early next year.

And "Bubi",as he is known to ev eryone in Gibraltar sport, is furious — not only about the deviousness of the Spanish body,but the fact that UEFA "has not yet had the courtesy to tell us why provisional member ship has been postponed...even though our entry has been ordered by the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS)."

"What we know are only the stories we have read in the Spanish press," Bubi tells me when we meet in the garrison-walls office of the cleaning company he started after leaving the MoD nearly 15 years ago. A gallery of team photographs,fam ily portraits,and a large pastel oftwo of his daughters dominate the walls and a clutter of sporting memorabilia share shelves with ledgers..

Bubi's blue eyes flare as he con templates what he sees as UEFA's du plicity and the fact that the powerful soccer body has caved in to Spanish pressure for an undisclosed reason.

"At first we understood that Spain's objection wason the grounds that our pitches and soccer facilities were not up to standard — which if it were the case(and here we differ) is something which funds from UEFA when we're admitted to membership would help rectify.

"Then the nexttale we hear — and again from the Spanish media — is that they are objecting because our sportsstadium is built on the isthmus and is thus on disputed territory that belongs to Spain. 1 ask you!" His eye brows raise in mock horror at what is clearly a ridiculous situation. "And from Lars Chrisfer Olsson [UEFA's chief executivel what do we hear... a deafening silence."

Nevertheless, the GFA vice-presi dent is optimistic about the eventual outcome of Gibraltar's application.

"I've always been optimistic because I believe we have a very strong case

and I am convinced we will win."

But first there will be UEFA's double-standards to overcome.

"The fact that we have to be grant ed provisional membership before at taining full membership is part of the procedure, so we are not concerned about that," he says. "Provisional first is how it's done,and that's then ratified and full membership granted by the full UEFA Congress.

"But what is so amazing — and upsetting — is that when there are disputes between players or clubs or even countries in European soccer, the UEFA executive insist that they use CAS to settle their differences. Yet, where Gibraltar is involved, they constantly have broken their own rules and in this instance have refused to abide by a CAS judgment in our favour."

Following a long legal battle by the GFA, CAS recently ordered UEFA's executive "to admit the Gibraltar Football Association to provisional membership at its next meeting."

And it sided with Gibraltar's argu ment that a rule granting member ship only to countries recognized by

Bubi's enthusiasm for sport began as a schoolboy after private schools education on the Rock which ended at St Jago's "which I loved". In the late 1970s and early '80s he played for St Joseph's before joining Man chester United the local team named for its UK counterpart, a club which he still enthusiastically supports — watching their games whenever he visits Britain.

Later as president of the local club and a keen manager trainer, "1 took a talented young Gibraltarian player across to the UK and Man U actually signed him on... but it didn't last. He didn't have the attitude. To be a success in professional football nowadays, a youngster has to live and breathe soccer... The clubs in Britain want nothing else; but in Gibraltar boys start thinking about girlfriends early on and by the time they're 15 or 16 football is no longer the love of their life,"

As a player, Bubi's preferred posifion was centre-half. "I was a lazy soccer player and didn't care much for the fairly arduous training sessions which we were expected to attend in those days. There was a lot of running through the streets — which I didn't like. And on the pitch, 1 would much rather stand back and watch what was going on ahead — and then respond to defend if necessary," he chuckles.

It was during one of those reluc tantly-attended training sessions that he first injured a knee — an injury that worsened and eventually forced him out of soccer as a player. But he still retained his close ties with, and membership of, Manchester United where his enthusiasm for the "beau tiful game" pitch-forked him onto the club's committee in 1982 and eventually into its presidency "Tor so many years that I can't actually remember."

Deprived of active soccer Bubi turned to basketball which he played until he was 34... in the process seri ously injuring his knee again and then damaging both his hips-hence the recent visit to the UK to have the hips "resurfaced" — which is a new technique that he expects will allow him to discard the present brace of crutches "in the next week or so."

It was as president of the local club that Bubi became involved in the CPA when the then existing execu tive walked out en masse following friction with the clubs.

"We as clubs were faced with the dilemma that someone had to run football in Gibraltar. Each of the clubs was represented but we had to find someone totally independent to become president. It was an uphill struggle to persuade Joe Nunez to take on the task, but he eventually did and has been a terrific president. Bubi became general secretary and then vice-president — in both roles playing a leading part in the drive to gain UEFA acceptance.

But he admits to taking these sorts of battles in his stride, having cut his teeth as a trade unionist and shop steward during the 15 years he worked for the MoD — which he joined after nine years as a dental technician, his chosen path after leaving school.

"Being a dental technician was poorly paid and in those days there were better wages to be earned in the Dockyard." He joined the MoD as a stores assistant and was eventually promoted to the job of stores officer where he was in charge of the arma ments depot for 15 years.

"But I was bit of a lefty and when I became a shop steward and later MoD union convenor,the authorities couldn't quite reconcile the fact that 1 would put my responsibilities to my members before my job," he recalls.

"They were never actual hostile to trade union membership, but the pressures became intense and I even tually left for medical reasons."

Here his trade union activities served him ill, for where other employees suffering from tensions and pressures were 'invalided out' with comfortable disability benefits he was not.

But though it took him two years to recover from his MoD experiences, Bubi is resilient and he bounced back to start his cleaning firm which now employs 16 staff"doing almost every type of cleaning including chimneysweeping."

He is, in fact, a fighter—just what Gibraltar needs to continue to take on UEFA.

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