Roy Chipolina
The captain of Gibraltar eyes another qualifying campaign
“We don’t go into a match anticipating getting thrashed. Of course we are realistic, but we try very hard to work on our concentration and not to make mistakes”
At the age of
37, and after a qualifying campaign that saw Gibraltar finish bottom of their Euro 2020 group, you might expect captain Roy Chipolina to be calling it quits.
“No way,” says the customs officer who was born in England but has spent most of his life on the Rock.
“I want to keep going as long as I can; as long as they will have me in the team. I still get an immense amount of joy and pleasure out of it.”
Chipolina is one of a trio of players from Gibraltar’s first competitive game – against Poland at the start of Euro 2016 qualifying – who is still in the team. Fast approaching 50 caps, he adds: “I went from being a Sunday league footballer to international overnight, exposed to some amazing experiences and opportunities.”
It is not a ride he wants to get off in a hurry, particularly as Gibraltar are looking increasingly to punch above their weight.
“There are some interesting youngsters coming through the ranks and one or two players now getting a chance to play professionally,” explains Chipolina.
Teenagers Louie Annesley at Blackburn Rovers and Tjay De Barr, who this season joined Real Oviedo in neighbouring Spain, represent the team’s future aspirations.
But the biggest progress, according to the skipper, has been the appointment of Uruguayan coach Julio Cesar Ribas and the sense of professionalism that he has brought to a difficult, if not thankless, task.
“We’ve always had a family atmosphere around the team,” says Chipolina, which is not surprising in a territory where most are related in some way or the other. “But we’ve more purpose now and a lot more discipline to the way we approach the game.”
Ribas made quick progress after his arrival with two wins in the Nations
League in 2018, although Chipolina admits: “It was perhaps disappointing we didn’t kick on in the Euro 2020 qualifying, but we were in a really tough group and the quality of opposition was massively tough.”
Gibraltar still have to deal with those who question the point of their participation in European Championship or World Cup qualifiers as their entire population of 35,000 would not even fill a major European club ground.
“We still get that a lot, but you can also ask what’s the point of clubs participating in the Premier League or La Liga when it is the same old clubs who effectively compete for the title every year,” argues Chipolina. “People might also ask what is the value of a match where you lose by seven or eight goals, but then Manchester City beat Watford by a similar score this season and so did Leicester against Southampton and they are not questioned.
“We don’t go into a match anticipating getting thrashed.
“Of course we are realistic, but we try very hard to work on our concentration and not to make mistakes. That’s one thing I’ve learnt at this level: every little
error you make is punished.”
But then come those moments that make it all worthwhile...
Chipolina was in the line-up for Lincoln Red Imps when they beat Celtic at home in the preliminary round of the Champions League in 2016 and for the national team two years later in Armenia, where a 1-0 win ensured their first – and to date only – away victory in a competitive international.
Chipolina says of that game: “By far the best day for our football, against a team that included Henrikh Mkhitaryan.”