My thoughts on eligability, be it for SOO or your country.
1. You play for the country or state you were born in.
2. If you move to a new county or state before the age of 17, you can nominate to play for that country or state instead of your country or state of birth.
Thats it. Simple. No confusion.
To have mature aged players swapping between county and state takes away from the tribalism and passion of our game.
I've spoken with mates from my local footy club and at work about this for years and all agree with this.
To have a Fijian able to play for Australia, a Tongan able to play for NZ etc weakens those smaller countries and takes away from integrity of test matches. The same goes for SOO. Its about NSW players V Qld players.
For those who argue they want to see the best players, thats ok, build that into a better All Stars concept. As for that game I'd be more interested in an Aboriginal V Maori game.
1. You play for the country or state you were born in.
2. If you move to a new county or state before the age of 17, you can nominate to play for that country or state instead of your country or state of birth.
Thats it. Simple. No confusion.
To have mature aged players swapping between county and state takes away from the tribalism and passion of our game.
I've spoken with mates from my local footy club and at work about this for years and all agree with this.
To have a Fijian able to play for Australia, a Tongan able to play for NZ etc weakens those smaller countries and takes away from integrity of test matches. The same goes for SOO. Its about NSW players V Qld players.
For those who argue they want to see the best players, thats ok, build that into a better All Stars concept. As for that game I'd be more interested in an Aboriginal V Maori game.
