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From Stuff : http://stuff.co.nz/4317827a1823.html
Former New Zealand Rugby League NZRL boss Selwyn Pearson has spilled the beans on the well-documented residency rule.
Anyone who coaches the Kiwis must live in New Zealand after the board introduced the rule following Gary Freeman's tenure as coach of the national side at the end of 2002.
It's long been believed the rule was created to prevent the Sydney-based Freeman from reapplying for his job and Pearson finally revealed the truth to Sunday News last night.
"After Gary had been in the job for two years, the board of the day of which I was chairman decided not to roll his contract over," Pearson said.
"At the end of the day, to keep his mana intact, I wanted to steer right away from that word `sacked' so I hatched a plan to use the residency rule to stop him from reapplying.
"There was a lot in that and at the time it made a bit of sense.
"I came up with the idea because I was very close to Gary and I didn't want it to be the end of his career.
"If people regard me as a coward for doing it that way, I don't have an issue with that."
The residency rule surfaced again in July this year after popular Kiwis coach Brian
McClennan was offered the coaching role with Leeds in the Super League.
Using the residency rule to the same effect that Pearson did when Freeman was in the job, the NZRL forced McClennan to make a choice Leeds or the Kiwis.
But Pearson said last night the rule could be abolished with the "snap of a finger".
"I guess what I'm saying now is that if the NZRL wanted to keep Brian on, they could have easily revoked the residency rule," he said.
Pearson last night also revealed a number of reasons behind the picking of Warriors coach Daniel Anderson as Freeman's successor.
"There were obviously some games being played by the Warriors at the time in terms of releasing their players," said Pearson.
"One day they summoned us in and seven players rolled out one after the other and said `hi my name's so and so, I am going to require major surgery and I will not be available for blah, blah, blah'.
"They all came in and said exactly the same thing and it was just ridiculous.
"I thought if Daniel is the coach of New Zealand, it's his resume that will get tarnished and to be fair, once we appointed him, there was a massive turnaround in availability.
"I'm not saying the players didn't have or need major surgery but what I'm saying is there was a huge change in attitude.
"He was the golden-haired boy and the Warriors weren't going to stand in his way."
The NZRL's review of the European tour is still underway and chairman Ray Haffenden said no decision on Kemble's future had been made yet.
"We haven't got a report back from the football manager so until we get that we won't be talking about anything," said Haffenden.
"We can't make any decision because we don't know what's going on."
Sunday News understands some dignitaries close to the NZRL believe the appointment of an Australian-based coach like Wayne Bennett should be considered as long as New Zealand coaches are involved in the setup.
However, Haffenden said nothing had been discussed on the matter.
"We haven't discussed scrapping the residency rule at all," he said.
"I'm sure it'll come up later on."
Former New Zealand Rugby League NZRL boss Selwyn Pearson has spilled the beans on the well-documented residency rule.
Anyone who coaches the Kiwis must live in New Zealand after the board introduced the rule following Gary Freeman's tenure as coach of the national side at the end of 2002.
It's long been believed the rule was created to prevent the Sydney-based Freeman from reapplying for his job and Pearson finally revealed the truth to Sunday News last night.
"After Gary had been in the job for two years, the board of the day of which I was chairman decided not to roll his contract over," Pearson said.
"At the end of the day, to keep his mana intact, I wanted to steer right away from that word `sacked' so I hatched a plan to use the residency rule to stop him from reapplying.
"There was a lot in that and at the time it made a bit of sense.
"I came up with the idea because I was very close to Gary and I didn't want it to be the end of his career.
"If people regard me as a coward for doing it that way, I don't have an issue with that."
The residency rule surfaced again in July this year after popular Kiwis coach Brian
McClennan was offered the coaching role with Leeds in the Super League.
Using the residency rule to the same effect that Pearson did when Freeman was in the job, the NZRL forced McClennan to make a choice Leeds or the Kiwis.
But Pearson said last night the rule could be abolished with the "snap of a finger".
"I guess what I'm saying now is that if the NZRL wanted to keep Brian on, they could have easily revoked the residency rule," he said.
Pearson last night also revealed a number of reasons behind the picking of Warriors coach Daniel Anderson as Freeman's successor.
"There were obviously some games being played by the Warriors at the time in terms of releasing their players," said Pearson.
"One day they summoned us in and seven players rolled out one after the other and said `hi my name's so and so, I am going to require major surgery and I will not be available for blah, blah, blah'.
"They all came in and said exactly the same thing and it was just ridiculous.
"I thought if Daniel is the coach of New Zealand, it's his resume that will get tarnished and to be fair, once we appointed him, there was a massive turnaround in availability.
"I'm not saying the players didn't have or need major surgery but what I'm saying is there was a huge change in attitude.
"He was the golden-haired boy and the Warriors weren't going to stand in his way."
The NZRL's review of the European tour is still underway and chairman Ray Haffenden said no decision on Kemble's future had been made yet.
"We haven't got a report back from the football manager so until we get that we won't be talking about anything," said Haffenden.
"We can't make any decision because we don't know what's going on."
Sunday News understands some dignitaries close to the NZRL believe the appointment of an Australian-based coach like Wayne Bennett should be considered as long as New Zealand coaches are involved in the setup.
However, Haffenden said nothing had been discussed on the matter.
"We haven't discussed scrapping the residency rule at all," he said.
"I'm sure it'll come up later on."
