KEY POINTS:
VALENCIA - Team New Zealand can reintroduce a nationality rule in the America's Cup if they want, Alighi boss Ernesto Bertarelli says.
They just have to win the trophy first.
Alinghi abolished citizen and residency requirements after taking the Auld Mug off Team NZ in 2003 and the crew they are fielding in the rematch off Valencia is again a cosmopolitan one.
The 17 sailors come from eight countries, the largest group being the six New Zealanders, led by skipper Brad Butterworth.
However, while Alinghi is flying the flag of Switzerland, Bertarelli is the only Swiss on board SUI100.
The issue of nationality flared this month when Team NZ managing director Grant Dalton suggested a possible return to some restrictions if the cup went back to New Zealand.
Bertarelli voiced his disagreement at the time and yesterday when he was quizzed about the matter at a news called to announce Alinghi's crew.
"Grant Dalton and Team New Zealand can do whatever they want, if they win the cup," he said.
"As far as I'm concerned, my understanding is that the nationality rule does not go back in history very far. There have been numerous changes in the past to the Deed of Gift and never the nationality reference was made to the sailors."
Bertarelli, who built Alinghi from scratch, said the residency requirement was dropped to reduce costs.
It described it as one of the biggest cost items of his syndicate's debut campaign, with sailors and designers having to support two homes, one in Switzerland and one in their country of origin.
"It didn't make any sense to force teams to do that," he said.
"Now again, if the nationality rule was imposed, it would put out of business three-quarters of the sailors around who are sailing and that would be probably half of the teams.
"But again, I guess, you have win the cup and then decide what you do with it. That's the beauty of this game."
Bertarelli also said he had put the spotlight on the behaviour of New Zealand fans during the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' series because he wanted sportsmanship to prevail in Valencia.
"One of the things I wanted was to make this a very welcoming cup -- a lot of sportsmanship, a lot of openess, joy and people from different nations meeting and enjoying the sport," he said.
"I just want to make sure we are not going backwards but moving forwards."
In an interview with the New York Times newspaper last week, Bertarelli alleged that the mood was turning ugly in Valencia, because of the attitude of New Zealand supporters.
He suggested that they had still not got over the move made by Russell Coutts, Butterworth and others to Alinghi shortly after Team NZ's successful defence in 2000.
"The aggression toward our Kiwis, I mean, it's seven years now," he told the Times.
"Let it be. Let it go."
- NZPA
