UAERF take action over 'illegal' League

Sport360 staff 13:50 10/05/2015
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  • UAERF chief Qais Al Dhalai.

    UAE Rugby Federation (UAERF), the sole recognised National Governing Body (NGB) of the sport of Rugby in the UAE, has taken action against Sol Mokdad for what they claim is an unauthorised representation of the UAE sovereignty by illegally claiming the title of President. 

    Mokdad was arrested on Wednesday (May 6) and the league was suspended.

    The formation of the ‘UAE Rugby League’ is believed to be have wrongly claimed the oversight and management of a sporting body which is not registered or recognised by the relevant government authority – the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW), in the UAE.

    Only Emiratis can hold a governmental position at any NGB and the UAE Rugby Federation is the sole official governing body for any code of the game within UAE’s jurisdiction. 

    This includes Rugby Union, League, Touch and any other form of the game and the representation of the UAE at any regional or international meet.

    “Mohammed Falaknaz is the only recognised and endorsed Chairman of UAE Rugby, and the UAE Rugby Federation is the sole body recognised by the governing authority to represent all forms of the game in the UAE,” said Qais Al Dhalai, UAE Rugby Federation’s Secretary General. “Rugby League is an important code in the game of Rugby and we fully support League being played in the UAE.”

    An official UAE RF statement claims that Mokdad has was issued with warnings by the federation “to cease falsely representing the UAE Government and Rugby in the UAE”, but “continued to falsely claim the title of President to represent and to manage an unrecognised sporting body.”

    “I’m rather shocked that regional/international bodies, like the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) and the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF), have accepted an illegitimate individual membership who doesn’t even have citizenship of the UAE, nor hold a government license/decree that allows this individual to carry on any rugby activity within the UAE jurisdiction,” added Al Dhalai. 

    “From a governance perspective, the RLIF and RLEF, being official regional and international bodies, should have in the first instance requested from any country’s sports authority an attested copy of the domestic decree of formation, or in the least the relevant license prior to accepting any membership either as an observer, affiliate or full member.

    “I even wonder on what basis did these bodies process and approve the UAE as an observer or affiliate member without even validating the integrity of the individual/s who claim Presidency of UAE Rugby League or any other form of rugby.”

    The GAYSW were advised of these actions by the UAERF and, in raising the matter, expressed “deep concern on what is considered, under UAE Law, an illegal activity being conducted without consent and without following the necessary procedures and protocols.”

    The statement goes on to assert that during the Dubai police investigations it was discovered that Mokdad had been living in the country without citizenship in breach of the country’s residency and immigration laws. The UAE immigration department is filing a separate case as a result. 

    “Instead of the RLEF/RLIF enquiring as to why Mokdad was detained by the local authority it should have ensured prior to accepting the UAE as an observer member that this individual is the official UAE Rugby League representative, not desperately accepting any membership without fulfilling the appropriate governmental protocols and, even worse, ranking the UAE 29th on the RLEF official website,” said Al Dhalai. 

    “All of these actions are not within the sports charter and it only shows lack of procedures on accepting countries memberships.”

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