Thursday, December 18, 2025, 12:17
Juantxo Rodríguez Laburu, rugby alma mater in Hernani, died this Wednesday night at the age of 73 after suffering respiratory failure. Player and president of the Hernaniarra club for more than 30 years, he was a key figure in the development of this sport in Gipuzkoa.
Juantxo Rodríguez was born in 1952 in Brest, in French Brittany, and lived in Paris until he was 12 years old. His family was from Hernani, where he spent the summer at his grandmother’s house, until 1965 when he settled permanently in the Gipuzkoa town. He had started playing soccer, but he was always curious about rugby, a sport that he followed in France on television. So when he arrived in Hernani, and coinciding with the creation of the first rugby club in the town, he became a player.
They were difficult years, with a lack of facilities and matches in the mud that they were toughing. Fully integrated into Hernani Rugby Elkartea, in 1984 he was named president after the club was forced to change the statutes, since until then decisions were made by the Board of Directors in a collegial manner.
Always affable and willing to lend a hand, as president he experienced the growth of the entity, both sportingly and socially, being, together with the now deceased Iñaki Quesada, a fundamental figure.
A worker for years in the El Diario Vasco newspaper, in 2018 he was recognized for his career at the Hernani Sports Awards.
