Pacific international thread

[Son of Minto]

Does that mean he has chosen not to play for QLD??

Lol no

 

[East Coast Tiger]

In favor of playing in a (relatively unimportant) non-international match, which is fundamentally a problem. If they were playing for Australia it would be a different story.

What does it say about their interest in these international teams if its such an unimportant match.

 

[Evil Homer]

What does it say about their interest in these international teams if its such an unimportant match.

It says that they'd prefer to play for Australia, which is fine, but if they aren't selected for Australia then they are being taken out of the international player pool for no reason.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

They're taking themselves out of the player pool because they don't really want to be in it.

 

[Evil Homer]

They're taking themselves out of the player pool because they don't really want to be in it.

No, if they didn't really want to be in it then they would've just declined selection like John Sutton did. I'm pretty sure they would happily be playing for the other nations if they hadn't been selected for CvC. The fact that it's viewed as more prestigious than international matches is a problem whichever way you look at it, and won't be rectified as long as many of the better players aren't playing in the tests.

 

[ek999]

No, if they didn't really want to be in it then they would've just declined selection like John Sutton did. I'm pretty sure they would happily be playing for the other nations if they hadn't been selected for CvC. The fact that it's viewed as more prestigious than international matches is a problem whichever way you look at it, and won't be rectified as long as many of the better players aren't playing in the tests.

Did you ever think that maybe players would rather represent where they are actually from, rather than represent a country that one of their grand parents were born in?

I know if I was in that position I would choose to play for Country v City than play for a different country

 

[expansionist]

OK.... you mean like Sisa Waqa? Aku Uate?

Did you ever think that maybe players would rather represent where they are actually from, rather than represent a country that one of their grand parents were born in?

I know if I was in that position I would choose to play for Country v City than play for a different country

 

[ek999]

OK.... you mean like Sisa Waqa? Aku Uate?

I don't understand what you mean. Waqa has always played for Fiji because he didn't even arrive in Australia until he was in his 20's to play Shute Shield. Uate moved to Australia when he was a couple of years old and has played all his football in Australia, it's understandable for him to value Country, NSW and Australia over Fiji

 

[hutch]

I don't understand what you mean. Waqa has always played for Fiji because he didn't even arrive in Australia until he was in his 20's to play Shute Shield. Uate moved to Australia when he was a couple of years old and has played all his football in Australia, it's understandable for him to value Country, NSW and Australia over Fiji

Uate moved to Australia aged 15 but yes, he then took up rugby league here. He played for Fiji, then Australia, then back to Fiji and now he must have switched back to Australia because he is brushing fiji. Do you not see a problem here?

 

[franklin2323]

Uate moved to Australia aged 15 but yes, he then took up rugby league here. He played for Fiji, then Australia, then back to Fiji and now he must have switched back to Australia because he is brushing fiji. Do you not see a problem here?

That's the farce we have in the game

 

[ek999]

Uate moved to Australia aged 15 but yes, he then took up rugby league here. He played for Fiji, then Australia, then back to Fiji and now he must have switched back to Australia because he is brushing fiji. Do you not see a problem here?

I thought Aku moved here a lot younger, but without knowing him he may want to represent the country he has lived in for the last 12 years. Or he could simply want the money - only he will ever know that.

The problem we have is we want international football to be as strong as possible with stronger minnow nations, but we don't want players to miss out on representing their country. The only way you will be able to stop it from happening would be for a player to choose at the start of their career who they want to represent. But that will man that hardly anyone will want to play for any of the minnow nations and international football will be weaker because of it

 

[The Partisan]

I'd be interested to know if player managers have the players ear when rep fixtures are raised.

Is your value / marketability seen as more preferable if the CV says City / Country; Origin rather than Fiji; Lebanon; PNG ?

Wonder if playing for City / Country earns you more than a Pacific Nation call up ?

Is it a cold hard cash thing ?

 

[shinobi]

Is it a cold hard cash thing ?

100%. I guarantee you if the Samoa/Tonga team paid as much as you get to play for Australia and New Zealand and got the same sort of recognition/prestige you would get a lot more players declaring for Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. But thats not to be and we will continue to get players flip flopping their allegiances.

 

[roughyedspud]

Of course it is...

James tamou has gone on record as saying it was a purely "commercial" choice when deciding australia & nsw over nz..

 

[expansionist]

sorry that was sarcasm - didnt translate well obviously.

I used them as examples as to my mind they are the most stupid examples.

Uate moved to Australia aged 15 but yes, he then took up rugby league here. He played for Fiji, then Australia, then back to Fiji and now he must have switched back to Australia because he is brushing fiji. Do you not see a problem here?

 

[Joker's Wild]

Until the money situation is sorted it will keep happening

Its laughable that fans bag players for doing it when every single one of us would follow the money in our own jobs

 

[Evil Homer]

Until the money situation is sorted it will keep happening

Its laughable that fans bag players for doing it when every single one of us would follow the money in our own jobs

I don't think anyone is bagging the players too much, more the system that allows things to happen the way they do.

 

[roughyedspud]

yep

 

[deluded pom?]

Until the money situation is sorted it will keep happening

Its laughable that fans bag players for doing it when every single one of us would follow the money in our own jobs

Most jobs don't entail representing a nation. What really pisses me off is the players who only want the glory of playing international football and don't care who it's for. At least someone like John Sutton has never played for Fiji just because he can. He's decided to forego playing for Fiji for his own reasons be it playing SoO or not feeling in any way Fijian. You can bet your bottom dollar some of the PI squad players will be dumping their current choice in the near future. If one nation for life weakens teams in the short term then we have to live with it and get on with developing the game in these nations. At least nations will have players who want to play for them not use them as a shop window.

 

[hutch]

Most jobs don't entail representing a nation. What really pisses me off is the players who only want the glory of playing international football and don't care who it's for. At least someone like John Sutton has never played for Fiji just because he can. He's decided to forego playing for Fiji for his own reasons be it playing SoO or not feeling in any way Fijian. You can bet your bottom dollar some of the PI squad players will be dumping their current choice in the near future. If one nation for life weakens teams in the short term then we have to live with it and get on with developing the game in these nations. At least nations will have players who want to play for them not use them as a shop window.

Spot on. Short term pain for long term gain. If we had of enforced stronger rules after the 2000 World Cup, even the 2008 World Cup, we would be reaping the rewards by now.