What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

RLIF Eligibility Laws

Matua

First Grade
Messages
5,109
5 years continuous residency immediately before playing for that country...used to be 3 years but it got upped to 5 a few years ago

That means you can't spend 5 years in a country as a child then 5 years in another country as a teen,for example, and claim residency in both..

Like I said about journos getting the eligibility laws wrong...someone told vunivalu that he was eligible for NZ cos he spent 3 years at school in auckland...the story got published,it was wrong...in fact I think that's why this thread was started lol
One issue I note with this is lets say you're born in Chile and move to NZ when you're 3. At 17 you get offered a scholarship at Keebra Park. Does that mean you can't play for NZ despite essentially being a Kiwi as he wont have been in NZ for 5 years immediately before being selected?

Or have I misinterpreted that as well?
 

roughyedspud

Coach
Messages
12,181
Under the rules yeah technically he'd be ineligible...

But it's cases like that where some common sense needs to be applied ,especially if they kid has a desire to represent NZ after his scholarship then maybe concession could be made..maybe say that if he changes his mind while on the gold coast and wants to play for Australia he has to wait 7 years? Instead of 5.

There's common sense and taking the piss.....and taking the piss happens far too often in RL
 
Last edited:

Matua

First Grade
Messages
5,109
Under the rules yeah technically he'd be ineligible...

But it's cases like that where some common sense needs to be applied ,especially if they kid has a desire to represent NZ after his scholarship then maybe concession could be made..maybe say that if he changes his mind while on the gold coast and wants to play for Australia he has to wait 7 years? Instead of 5.

There's common sense and taking the piss.....and taking the piss happens far too often in RL
You'd think they'd have thought this through and added something that covers this 'technicality'. I don't think common sense should be relied on for a situation that likely could happen - when writing laws, regulations, policies etc one of the main tasks is to look at all consequences of a decision, hard to believe they didn't think of this one.
 
Messages
14,726
The rule should be once you have represented a country at senior level you shouldn't be allowed to play for another country.
Its a simple rule. Its easy to understand and administer and there are no grey areas.
 

Springs09

Juniors
Messages
1,903
The rule should be once you have represented a country at senior level you shouldn't be allowed to play for another country.
Its a simple rule. Its easy to understand and administer and there are no grey areas.

No it shouldn't. We'd lose a lot from our international game if that was the rule.
 

hutch

First Grade
Messages
6,810
I strongly disagree
I used to, but he reality is that our sport has to do it differently to other sports. I would be happy if there was a minimum domestically produced player rule, but some people have more than one nationality and in rugby league they get the chance to represent both. They shouldn’t be allowed to in the same year though! There needs to be some rules, not a free for all!
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
I used to, but he reality is that our sport has to do it differently to other sports. I would be happy if there was a minimum domestically produced player rule, but some people have more than one nationality and in rugby league they get the chance to represent both. They shouldn’t be allowed to in the same year though! There needs to be some rules, not a free for all!

Yeh, until RL is strong across the world, we need to accept the reality that heritage players are needed for some nations...

And to convince a young Heritage players to participate for a tier 3 nation, they need to know the door isnt closed on them to play for the tier one nations.

Its not perfect, but it is what needs to happen.

(That, for convince the ARLC to fund player payments for every nation evenly)
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,971
The world is more multicultural by the day.

Mark my words other sports will copy this concept one day soon, starting with Rugby Union.

(Never mind that you can already hop countries as much as you want in that tinpot comp the Olympic Games)


Stop whining about the eligibility rules, they don't matter, they aren't the problem.
You have each RLWC nation playing 4-6 games a year, every year, with meaningful trophies and running stories, no one except fake-fans like Peter Fitzsimmons will give the slightest shit about multicultural eligiblity rules.
 

Springs09

Juniors
Messages
1,903
A lot of people have more than one nationality. To ignore that reality for the sake of looking like other sports is silly.

Get rid of the residency rule as all that does is benefit the bigger nations. The rest is fine.
 

Matua

First Grade
Messages
5,109
I used to, but he reality is that our sport has to do it differently to other sports. I would be happy if there was a minimum domestically produced player rule, but some people have more than one nationality and in rugby league they get the chance to represent both. They shouldn’t be allowed to in the same year though! There needs to be some rules, not a free for all!
Do you support it for tier one players? Lets say Kayln Ponga has a change of heart in 3 years time and really wants to play for NZ for heritage reasons. Cool with that?
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
A lot of people have more than one nationality. To ignore that reality for the sake of looking like other sports is silly.

Get rid of the residency rule as all that does is benefit the bigger nations. The rest is fine.

A lot of people have more than one nationality in football, not being able to change nation hasn’t hampered FIFA.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
The world is more multicultural by the day.

Mark my words other sports will copy this concept one day soon, starting with Rugby Union.

(Never mind that you can already hop countries as much as you want in that tinpot comp the Olympic Games)


Stop whining about the eligibility rules, they don't matter, they aren't the problem.
You have each RLWC nation playing 4-6 games a year, every year, with meaningful trophies and running stories, no one except fake-fans like Peter Fitzsimmons will give the slightest shit about multicultural eligiblity rules.

Sorry this just reads as ‘my opinion is the only one that matters so stop complaining’
 

Matua

First Grade
Messages
5,109
Then the question would be why not? Why is Ponga's heritage considered less than Taumalolo's? Why should the PIs benefit from weakening NZ on heritage grounds yet NZ can't pick up players from other countries on heritage grounds?
 

roughyedspud

Coach
Messages
12,181
Then the question would be why not? Why is Ponga's heritage considered less than Taumalolo's? Why should the PIs benefit from weakening NZ on heritage grounds yet NZ can't pick up players from other countries on heritage grounds?

Cos tier 1 players already have the privilege of playing for one of the top three nations...moving down to tier two is beneficial to the tier two nation..

Moving sideways is just effing greedy..

And for the record...NZ can pick heritage players..dunno where you've got that from?
 

Matua

First Grade
Messages
5,109
Cos tier 1 players already have the privilege of playing for one of the top three nations...moving down to tier two is beneficial to the tier two nation..

Moving sideways is just effing greedy..

And for the record...NZ can pick heritage players..dunno where you've got that from?
I never said NZ couldn't, the scenario in question is about heritage players moving after playing for another team. If you read my post I say that Ponga has a change of heart 3 years down the line (similar to Taumalolo).

But back to the original discussion, NZ lost to Tonga and Fiji just over a year ago - why should we automatically consider top three, especially when many fans on here are advocating that more players should defect to other teams. Our depth isn't that great, especially when we lose players to Oz and PI nations.

Arguably Ponga moving down to NZ is beneficial to a team not really on the same tier as Oz.
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,971
Sorry this just reads as ‘my opinion is the only one that matters so stop complaining’

If that's all you want to take out of it, sure. I did stay "stop whining", it's a hill i'm willing to die on.

The Tonga rise is a small but significant proof that it works. The crowds are responding positively, the voices complaining about dual-eligibility lost in the hype.

All I'm saying is International Rugby League has much deeper issues than this. It's a surface issue, an obvious easy target. And "fixing" it with the typical 1-nation-for-life solutions given here wouldn't make the sport any better or more popular, because we'd still have
Australia refusing to play games
An NZRL run on the smell of an oily rag
An England team that can't beat Aus and can't decide which shirt it wants to wear
NRL clubs refusing players rep opportunities and the RLPA pushing for less football and more money
Tournaments chopped and changed year on year, if played at all
Rising nations not given enough serious games each year
Other nations ignored entirely

^Fix the above and you'll gain a hell of a lot more than fiddling with rules.
 

Springs09

Juniors
Messages
1,903
A lot of people have more than one nationality in football, not being able to change nation hasn’t hampered FIFA.

Yes because we are the same as FIFA.
We don’t have to do something just because soccer does it.
 

Latest posts

Top