Adam SutcliffeCountry and Origin Eligibility Rules
November 30th 2006 11:48
Rule Interpretations - Country and Origin Eligibility Rules
The 'Grannygate' saga involving Nathan Fien over the past week, has once again ignited the debate as to national and state rules of eligibilty.
For those who missed the Fien story, the NZRL allowed Mt Isa born Fien to play for the Kiwis in the Tri-Nations series, on the basis that Fien's granmother was born in New Zealand, thus permitting Fien to play for the Kiwis under the current rules. As is the case with most visa stipulations, Fien was eleigible to play for the Kiwis thanks to his grandmothers ancestory, even though Fien played his entire footballing career in Queensland.
The NZRL knew from the outset that it was actually Fien's great gandmother that was born in New Zealand, thus voiding the NZRL claim that Fien could be considered a Kiwi. After a specially convened hearing, Fien was thrown out of the Tri-Nations tournament and the NZRL were fined for knowingly playing a player who was not eleigible under current rules.
The eligibilty rules are fairly straight forward for State of Origin rugby league - a player shall be eligible for the State where he played his first game of rugby league after the age of sixteen. The international rules are basically the same, but there is another stipulation which was exposed throughout the 2000 World Cup, which allowed players to play for another country depending on where their grandparents were born. Hence last weeks 'Grannygate' scandal.
In recent seasons, there have been numerous questions as to national eligibilty for up and coming players, with players like Karmichael Hunt, Willie Mason, Tonie Carroll and Benji Marshall being forced to choose which country they want to play for. With an increasing amount of islander players moving to Sydney and Brisbane each year to train with NRL clubs, it is time that the governing bodies decided once and for all on uniform eligibility rules.
In the interests of a fairer, universal playing field, eligibilty rules should stay at the age of 16, with the grandparents rule scrapped in favour of the parents rule. Players are usually signed by NRL clubs whilst they are in the final year of high school anyway (usually at the age of 16 / 17), but a more relevant rule would be to introduce the players parents origin as a deciding factor in eligbility concerns.
What do you think??
* Photos of Nathan Fien and Karmichael Hunt courtesy of sportal.com.au and abc.net.au
Cheers,
StephenP
For those who missed the Fien story, the NZRL allowed Mt Isa born Fien to play for the Kiwis in the Tri-Nations series, on the basis that Fien's granmother was born in New Zealand, thus permitting Fien to play for the Kiwis under the current rules. As is the case with most visa stipulations, Fien was eleigible to play for the Kiwis thanks to his grandmothers ancestory, even though Fien played his entire footballing career in Queensland.
The NZRL knew from the outset that it was actually Fien's great gandmother that was born in New Zealand, thus voiding the NZRL claim that Fien could be considered a Kiwi. After a specially convened hearing, Fien was thrown out of the Tri-Nations tournament and the NZRL were fined for knowingly playing a player who was not eleigible under current rules.
The eligibilty rules are fairly straight forward for State of Origin rugby league - a player shall be eligible for the State where he played his first game of rugby league after the age of sixteen. The international rules are basically the same, but there is another stipulation which was exposed throughout the 2000 World Cup, which allowed players to play for another country depending on where their grandparents were born. Hence last weeks 'Grannygate' scandal.
In the interests of a fairer, universal playing field, eligibilty rules should stay at the age of 16, with the grandparents rule scrapped in favour of the parents rule. Players are usually signed by NRL clubs whilst they are in the final year of high school anyway (usually at the age of 16 / 17), but a more relevant rule would be to introduce the players parents origin as a deciding factor in eligbility concerns.
What do you think??
* Photos of Nathan Fien and Karmichael Hunt courtesy of sportal.com.au and abc.net.au
Cheers,
StephenP
| 56 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
