AJ BRIMSON has been given the green light to switch his allegiance to England from Australia by an International Rugby League tribunal.
Brimson, who plays for NRL club Gold Coast Titans, was born in Australia but is eligible to represent his English heritage through his mother.
IRL eligibility rules state that players who have “elected”, by being named in the 19-player-squad for a Senior International Match or selected in a squad for an official international 9s competition for a Tier 1 nation (Australia, England and New Zealand) are unable to switch to another Tier 1 nation.
Brimson played for Australia in the 2019 IRL 9s World Cup in Sydney but has not been selected for a Senior International Match.
At the time, the 9s World Cup was part of IRL’s calendar planning and it was intended to be held every four years.
However, the tournament has effectively been discontinued and is not part of IRL’s medium term planning.
Therefore, the tribunal, comprising of IRL Chair Troy Grant, Deputy Chair Dean Andrew and Independent Director Emma Young, felt that players who had played in the 2019 IRL World Cup 9s were being unfairly restricted as they elected for their country based on a different set of circumstances to players who elect for a country through a 13-a-side SIM.
This is because SIMs are continuously played but international 9s competitions are not, so players seeking to establish a reputation through 9s performances have been denied the opportunity to do so, particularly debutants who had not played a SIM.
As part of the tribunal process, Brimson’s current elected country, Australia, was consulted and is supportive of his switch to England.
IRL Chair Troy Grant said: “This was a unique case in that a player who qualifies for two Tier 1 nations had elected to represent one of those nations in 9s and was therefore unable to represent the other nation in 13s.
“Yet the player has had no further opportunity to represent his elected nation in 9s, as he had anticipated, and has also not played a Senior International Match.
“The aim of the international eligibility rules is to ensure that the best players are able to represent a nation for whom he or she qualifies but in this case the player had been left sidelined.
“The tribunal therefore felt that player Brimson should be allowed to switch his international eligibility from Australia to England and approved his application to do so.”
