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RLIF Eligibility Laws

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,283
You realise the population of Samoa is 200k ? The suburb of Manly has a bigger population and you think they should field a team of locals V Australia?

The current Samoan World Cup Rugby Union team squad of 33 only has 8 players born in Samoa.

Yep but those guys can't get good and be placed in Aust or NZ like in RL.

We all know the age of the top halves in the comp, Katoa could be a star for next world Cup. He should have to stay in Tonga now for life
 

taste2taste

Juniors
Messages
2,467
Yep but those guys can't get good and be placed in Aust or NZ like in RL.

We all know the age of the top halves in the comp, Katoa could be a star for next world Cup. He should have to stay in Tonga now for life
Actually they can, Union have followed leagues rules and now allows players to change between tier 1 and 2

Samoa's current Union squad has former All Blacks and Wallabies.
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,283
Tell Mal not to select him. Problem solved.

He is Australian though, RLPA won't stand for it. If it went to court as well he would win. He certainly wouldn't be playing for Tonga while it played out

What do you have against 1 nation for life?
 

Clarkent

Juniors
Messages
828
If you want to change the eligibility rule than well just go back to the kangaroos putting 30+ points on everyone all over again and watch everyone cry "RL international is a joke because no one comes close to the kangaroos"
 

Clarkent

Juniors
Messages
828
Any young player that comes through the system now will put down the kangaroos as there first choice and won't commit to the their heritage because they don't want to lose their chance at Origin if they hit their peak form. If this rule came in before Bizza, Critta and Luai committed to Samoa I don't think we'll ever see those guys putting on the Samoan jersey until the end of there career knowing they won't play Origin again.
Look at RU they had the 1 nation for life rule. The island teams tried to get the island players from the nz system but none of them committed in case they make the Abs. It destroyed the island nations development. They recently changed their eligibility rule because the island teams were basically left with local talent, and every local talent that showed potential were poached at a young age to Europe or Nz and Australia, and they end up playing for those nations because of the money. Origin is the biggest block to the international game. Kiwis suffer from it because they can't get Ponga and if they change the one nation rule none of those heritage players will commit to the island nations. JT and Fifita wouldn't able to resurrect the Tongan team because they would've been stuck with the Kiwis and Kangaroos if that 1 nation rule was applied at the time
 

taste2taste

Juniors
Messages
2,467
Any young player that comes through the system now will put down the kangaroos as there first choice and won't commit to the their heritage because they don't want to lose their chance at Origin if they hit their peak form. If this rule came in before Bizza, Critta and Luai committed to Samoa I don't think we'll ever see those guys putting on the Samoan jersey until the end of there career knowing they won't play Origin again.
Look at RU they had the 1 nation for life rule. The island teams tried to get the island players from the nz system but none of them committed in case they make the Abs. It destroyed the island nations development. They recently changed their eligibility rule because the island teams were basically left with local talent, and every local talent that showed potential were poached at a young age to Europe or Nz and Australia, and they end up playing for those nations because of the money. Origin is the biggest block to the international game. Kiwis suffer from it because they can't get Ponga and if they change the one nation rule none of those heritage players will commit to the island nations. JT and Fifita wouldn't able to resurrect the Tongan team because they would've been stuck with the Kiwis and Kangaroos if that 1 nation rule was applied at the time
Rugby had the farcial scenarios where a player would play 1 game for a country and then could never play for thier heritage.

Take Eto Nabuli for example, Fijian born and raised, played 1 game for the Wallabies and then was never allowed to be picked for Fiji.
 

Clarkent

Juniors
Messages
828
Rugby had the farcial scenarios where a player would play 1 game for a country and then could never play for thier heritage.

Take Eto Nabuli for example, Fijian born and raised, played 1 game for the Wallabies and then was never allowed to be picked for Fiji.
Or Isa Nacewa, played 2 mins for the all blacks and never played international rugby again
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,283
Any young player that comes through the system now will put down the kangaroos as there first choice and won't commit to the their heritage because they don't want to lose their chance at Origin if they hit their peak form. If this rule came in before Bizza, Critta and Luai committed to Samoa I don't think we'll ever see those guys putting on the Samoan jersey until the end of there career knowing they won't play Origin again.
Look at RU they had the 1 nation for life rule. The island teams tried to get the island players from the nz system but none of them committed in case they make the Abs. It destroyed the island nations development. They recently changed their eligibility rule because the island teams were basically left with local talent, and every local talent that showed potential were poached at a young age to Europe or Nz and Australia, and they end up playing for those nations because of the money. Origin is the biggest block to the international game. Kiwis suffer from it because they can't get Ponga and if they change the one nation rule none of those heritage players will commit to the island nations. JT and Fifita wouldn't able to resurrect the Tongan team because they would've been stuck with the Kiwis and Kangaroos if that 1 nation rule was applied at the time

Even if 25% of eligible players for Tonga commit to them, It allows the side to build for the future.


Take Tonga. They will have a teenage halves pairing, If the rule was in place you'd expect them to be good for up to 10 years. That allows TV deals sponsorships, future tours

As it sits now, No way are you planning anything even for next year because you don't know the make up of the side.

The flow on is tests become an after thought, fans can't book travel like they can for Rugby, Soccer etc
 

siv

First Grade
Messages
6,748
Here are the key points from the current rules

  • A player eligible for any nations other than Australia, England, New Zealand can only make one switch between those nations in a four-year period.
  • Players qualified for Australia, England and New Zealand plus any other nation can make multiple switches however they can only elect to represent one nation in any calendar year
Seem pretty fair to me for players who have multiple heritages

Just play regular internationals
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,283
Here are the key points from the current rules

  • A player eligible for any nations other than Australia, England, New Zealand can only make one switch between those nations in a four-year period.
  • Players qualified for Australia, England and New Zealand plus any other nation can make multiple switches however they can only elect to represent one nation in any calendar year
Seem pretty fair to me for players who have multiple heritages

Just play regular internationals

The multiple switches is the issue I have
 

Clarkent

Juniors
Messages
828
Nope, he played for Fiji - thinking at the time it wouldn't rule him out of playing for his home country of NZ.
My bad I got it the other way around. I just remember fiji kept trying to pick him but he wouldn't accept it. I think he took his frustration out on the Fijian management 😂
 

Matua

First Grade
Messages
5,112
My bad I got it the other way around. I just remember fiji kept trying to pick him but he wouldn't accept it. I think he took his frustration out on the Fijian management 😂
I heard him speak on a podcast about it and he said once he knew that he couldn't play for the ABs he would have been happy to play for Fiji but he found the management really unprofessional.
 

Iamback

Referee
Messages
20,283
I heard him speak on a podcast about it and he said once he knew that he couldn't play for the ABs he would have been happy to play for Fiji but he found the management really unprofessional.

Which could be done here with a period of time.

If you have a stack of NZ/Australian nominated players who haven't made it to that level in say 3 years. No reason they couldn't switch

There needs to be a period of time at the very least before they can switch
 

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