International RL Eligibility - Update

[Rupert Prince]

On 27/02/2021 at 20:21, Mr Frisky said:

But its not just RL - Look at football and say a country like Southern Ireland, they have pillaged anyone who can kick a ball to try and compete at international level. Cricket has always been the same and UK athletes has very few true Brits but as they are successful no one cares.

Make the rules the same for every sport but we can't just have a go at RL as there are far more sports doing the same.

I agree.  We should abide by the same rules.    But we find virtually no home grown RL players who directly qualify and are good enough for Scotland Ireland and Wales.  It may be legal but it is absurd to have a RL Irish team which has zero connection to an Irish RL competition. (And please no one go quoting me there possibly is one...   it will be one man and his dog).

The world wide sporting eligibility rules are a disgrace.  But we have them.  And yes we must try to get some benefit from it.   But I suggest most outside observers will laugh at it to our faces.

[Big Picture]

2 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

Been lurking in this tópic and as someone who isn't too old yet, I actually do think we need to be tighter on international teams. 

Mainly because I feel that if teams loaded with Australians but without a serious domestic league roll up and can beat france, it does nothing to help us grow the sport commercially or in participation.

At the very least switching nations needs to be banned. You cant be italian or a Cook islander one tournament then someone else the next. 

I also think it shows why we need to get serious about a regular tournament in Europe where we say you have to have been born in selected nation or playing in Europe, to stop the stunting of the international game.

Teams loaded with Australians but without a serious domestic league rolling up and beating France does even less than nothing, it's a detriment to efforts to lift the game's profile and stature in France.  Why should a Frenchman take the sport seriously in that situation?

Edited March 1, 2021 by Big Picture

[ShropshireBull]

29 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Teams loaded with Australians but without a serious domestic league rolling up and beating France does even less than nothing, it's a detriment to efforts to lift the game's profile and stature in France.  Why should a Frenchman take the sport seriously in that situation?

That was exactly my point. 

[Damien]

Well according to this 73% of players in the NRL have parents or grandparents born overseas covering 53 nations. Thats going to be an awful lot of possible players for a lot of nations:

The NRL celebrates multiculturalism, with 73 percent of Telstra Premiership players, or their parent/s or grandparent/s, born overseas. There are 53 nations of origin among current NRL players.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/03/21/harmony-heroes-refugees-introduced-to-footy-with-league-stars-red-cross/

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

8 hours ago, Damien said:

Well according to this 73% of players in the NRL have parents or grandparents born overseas covering 53 nations. Thats going to be an awful lot of possible players for a lot of nations:

The NRL celebrates multiculturalism, with 73 percent of Telstra Premiership players, or their parent/s or grandparent/s, born overseas. There are 53 nations of origin among current NRL players.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/03/21/harmony-heroes-refugees-introduced-to-footy-with-league-stars-red-cross/

50% of people in Australia have a parent who was born in another country. I guess extending this to grandparents would give a similar figure for the general population as the 73% in the NRL. It’s great so many players in the best league in the World have heritage from and are eligible for so many different countries. We should embrace this as and use it to get International Rugby League to the level it deserves to be, too many people see this as a negative when it should be viewed as a positive.

[langpark]

12 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

We should embrace this as and use it to get International Rugby League to the level it deserves to be, too many people see this as a negative when it should be viewed as a positive.

It is positive when there is work going on simultaneously in those countries on the domestic front. 

[welshmagpie]

So May 1st marked the start of the publishing of our 2021 lists...

https://hecanplayfor.weebly.com

@hecanplayfor on Twitter and Instagram

[Scubby]

Tyson Frizell is really struggling for form this year. He may well miss out on the Kangaroos squad. Wonder if he would turn out for Wales again?