IRB blocks Blacks raid
The International Rugby Board has rejected New Zealand’s appeal to ease eligibility laws to allow players from the Pacific Islands to switch national allegiance.
Essentially New Zealand were hoping that players who have represented Fiji, Samoa and Tonga – all tier 2 nations – would be eligible for All Blacks selection after a 12 month wait.
However, the IRB, at a meeting in Dublin, opposed the move, reinforcing their stance that a player will only represent one country for life.
The interchange between the four nations concerned would primarily have benefited New Zealand, but the likes of Fijian-born Joe Rokocoko and Samoan-born Jerry Collins, both out of favour with the All Blacks selectors, could have pursued an international career with their country of birth.
New Zealand Rugby Union CEO Steve Tew said the IRB had expressed concerns about the legality of the move, which appeared to favour players of some ethnicities over others.
‘The optimists thought we might get it through. The reality is there is a group of northern unions that is very nervous about strengthening the island nations,’ Tew said.
‘There are also people who are rightly nervous about a regulation that could be discriminatory, even if it is a positive discrimination.’
Tew, however, stressed that they would continue to pursue the request through the IRB’s regulations committee.
‘It has been sent back to the regulations committee. There are a number of legal rows around whether or not it is discriminatory to select someone based on their heritage and it needs more work, but I stress we have not lost it,’ he said. ‘It is unlikely to happen before the next World Cup, although you never quite know.’
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:03 pm
@charo: yep, especially the 3 and 4 year olds , cause they are so easy to see which ones will be rugby stars … are all Saffas that stupid?
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
@WakaNathan:
good.
got one.
let’s see how many others will take a bite at the smelly sardine
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
@poppa69:
ahaa another
bites are coming in thick and fast.
slaughtering these chads
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
@charo: fark you you fat overgrown Jannie from the hills, go crawl back into your farkin cave !!!
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:08 pm
@poppa69:
Wow.
Unlike you.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Now I feel like fishing.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
@poppa69:
bloody good fishing spot this.
think i’ll come tomorrow
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:12 pm
@poppa69:
@54 poppa – pulling your leg mate. time for a beer i think, helps get the day’s stress relieved.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:22 pm
@charo:
Had a chuckle at my mate currently in Nigeria – he landed in Lagos at 5am but his luggage decided to take a more scenic route (good old SAA). He handed his baggage check ticket to a disinterested flunky there, was given a receipt and a contact number to call. A day later he decided to try the number, but no one answered – they’d promised to call him when they found his luggage – but still no call. He then phoned his protocol officer and with a tame police escort descended on Lagos airport – apparently, two hours and numerous corrupt encounters later he finally managed to repossess his luggage.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:23 pm
@charo:
Had a chuckle at my mate currently in Nig3ria (why does this get moderated?) – he landed in Lagos at 5am but his luggage decided to take a more scenic route (good old SAA). He handed his baggage check ticket to a disinterested flunky there, was given a receipt and a contact number to call. A day later he decided to try the number, but no one answered – they’d promised to call him when they found his luggage – but still no call. He then phoned his protocol officer and with a tame police escort descended on Lagos airport – apparently, two hours and numerous corrupt encounters later he finally managed to repossess his luggage.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:31 pm
@WP Till I Die:
aaah…the joys of working in darkest africa.
patience is a virtue.
and never, ever lose your temper…it’ll get you nowhere.
don’t think poppa or waka would last too long by the looks of things
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:45 pm
ABs = South Seas Barbarians already! It would be nice to play the true All Blacks again to what NZ really can produce.
Poppa
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:09 pm
hope i haven’t embarrassed poppa and waka
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:33 pm
@ZA1: NZ are sending you their All Whites. Not a single PI among them. And Bafana are going be be whipped on home turf.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:37 pm
I dont think this is right wait 12 months and you can play for another team, the rule should be you are only allowed to play for the team of the country you are born or indigenously belong to.
example if you are born in Tonga,Fiji or Samoa and your parents are from there you play for them NOT New Zealand. I remember a few years back when the Scotland team was full of international rejects from other countries half of them didnt even know the anthem.
It is delusional to say NZ havent taken players from pacific islands which has in turn made them stronger and the other countries weaker.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
@dquinn25: If my mother is from England, my father from Namibia and I was born in ZIm. My parents moved here when I was 4. I grew up here.I am a citizen. I speak afrikaans. Now tell me should I play for ENG,NAM or ZIM???
December 4th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Probably Zim cause they’re the weakest.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:46 am
This Wouldn’t matter if New Zealand wasn’t #1 most of the time. It’s not where the players come from that matters, its where they are playing. I always wonder how Fiji and Samoa with all their physical prowess and athletic ability that is evident in 7s, lose games to **** sides like Scotland or England. And read the names of the English back line from recent years…..
Also along the same lines of Keeping Natives as the true representatives of teams, let’s see more black players in the Spring Boks. Like a Black #10 for Boks.
December 4th, 2009 at 1:13 am
@jamisz:
i would say either England or Namibia or whatever your nationality is on your passport. And no it should not say zimbabwean as you are of english or Namibian stock take your pick.
I would say try to play for Namibia the weather better there
December 4th, 2009 at 5:21 am
Kiwi rugby blog at www. gayblogs .com. Come on you girls where the real men, Moaris, from New Zealnd and not a bunch of scrawny whining whities. I can see why you could not colonise the Maori. Spend too much time whinging.
I think its a shame that Fiji, Samoa and Tonga get robbed by some lame excuse that NZ is the home of the Polonesian. If these guys had the same money as us they would smash us all apart. Great athletes.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:27 am
ha ha ha
i see our New Zealand friends have felt the wrath of 2009 SAB Journalism Awards “Newcomer of the Year Award” winner Ryan Vrede’s poisonous pen!
This is what we have to live with fellas, now you know why i got banned for a week @ the request of this sorry excuse for a journalist!
Apologies to all our kiwi bloggers
December 4th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Well well the poppa, tackler brigade dont enjoy being ragged … surprised they are still coming onto this site arent we chaps ? Well done IRB, we have seen what good the NZRU have done for the PI teams havnt we ????
I loved the comment “we will give you a run, if you play well we keep you. If you dont you can always go back and play for your country” … ha ha ha ..
December 4th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Tome for NZ to stop plundering the Pacific riches.
We all know that the Islanders only get S14 contracts by being forced to turn their backs on their own countries. Let’s jst call it leveling the playing fields.
December 4th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Unless there is something we all don’t know, this article is actually libellous and accuses the NZRU of motives and intents that are the complete opposite of the truth. I have read Keo for quite a while now, and whilst many articles are poorly researched or written, and some appear to be written to create cheap hits on the site, this article is one of the worst for seeming to deliberatly promote fabrications that are the complete opposite of the facts.
Maybe the author thinks the SA bloggers have gone to soft on their Kiwi counterparts recently and need winding up to generate more hate posts???
December 4th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Hmmm, methinks you NZder’s doth protest too much, wot. As to why the PI’s don’t beat Wales etc – well its ’cause all their good players have been poached by NZ. Never worry lads – soon there will be a generation of SA migrants to bolster up the AB’s.
Nah, just joking. Like someone sed, SA needs to also look for talented potential rugby players anywhere. Its a global game; well sort of.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
@aliboy: @74
The reason why libellous journalists like this even have the chance to draw breath and exist is because there is a willing and complicit audience of DHs that are only too happy to lap it all up.
Ryan is no less than Keos own Pied Piper. He starts playing a tune and look at all the rats who emerge from the sewers hoping to follow him to the promised land
@charo:
@ZA1:
@dquinn25:
@KevinRack:
@Transformation:
@bananas:
@Shakes:
@husky:
December 4th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
@aliboy: @73
sorry Aliboy, I meant yr entry at #73.
When are the techno-wizards at Keo going to sort out these numbered-replys ? surely its not intentional.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
@bananas: hahahahah Exactly! Good thing this was nipped in the bud!
December 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
@WakaNathan: you know what **** YOU WAKANATHAN!!!! bloody @sswipe!
Didn’t i just apologise to all the kiwi bloggers on the site for the drivel written by ryan? You’re such an arrogant ****., **** off this blog if you’re not happy we won’t miss you!
Can you believe the nerve of this c*m stain!
December 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
@WakaNathan:
and look at those over tense kiwis who snap at the smallest, stinkiest piece of bait.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
i dont think the kiwis poach the islanders.
it is the other way around is it not?
December 4th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
poached pakeha for breakfast anyone?
December 4th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
oh ja, they are all kiwis they will tell me.
just as long as fiji and samoa dont vote their parliment in i suppose….
December 4th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
What I find most humourous about this whole subject of eligibility is this; if any non-Safa here gives even the slightest hint of a generalisation about Sth African society, or culture, or politics or health or education or whatever then they are usually told to FK OFF
“you know nothing about our society…quotas….blah blah…we’re never as good as we could be because we have to deal with issues noone else does…..blah blah…pity poor us, noone understands and yet we’re all tainted by the same brush in the eyes of the World……sob sob sob-story”
and lets not forget that all-encompassing beauty of a sweeping generalisation that manages to perch itself on their shoulder every time someone so much as suggests any personal character flaws…
‘r@cism’
Yep, if in doubt, someone will call you a ‘r@cist’, that usually fixes them, real good. Because, lets face it, noone else can accuse others of r@cism because, well, they dont REALLY understand
and yet
Look at all the DHs here who seem happy to preach to anyone who will listen that they know everything about NZ history, culture, politics, health and education merely on the makeup of what coloured faces make up a rugby team lineup.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
let it all out, theres a good man.
we dont feel your pain or even give a toss what you are talking about, but clearly you need a release valve.
if keo is it, then so be it.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
@rangerman: don’t even respond to this cat…if it’s validation he is seeking, he’s at the wrong place…
December 5th, 2009 at 4:33 am
I hope the pied piper leads you to a cave full of **** and they bugger you for all eternity.
December 5th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Keo I am prepared to give you some licence for ignorance but this article is based on a lie. If I want to read lies there are plenty I can read at closer quarters.
Most of the Samoan team are NZ citizens and live in NZ.
More than half of all Polynesians live in NZ.
NZ has no need for Melanesians, does not need to recruit them and does not recruit them.
More Kiwis have played for other nations than for NZ at every RWC.
Perhaps a story about Beast and other recruits might be a more tale of greater veracity.
The All Blacks played a South African once and he cost them the RWC!
December 5th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
@dquinn25: Wheres the proof? and the Island teams have taken many kiwi breed players, just like the Boks have taken Zimbawean players, or poms taking Kiwis or South African or Nigerian, please who is really deluded with how the World really works.