The World Cup, and the Foreign Legion. It seems that the IRBs 3 year residency rule is starting to cause a huge amount of concern both within countries that are set to benefit from the system with an influx of foreign born players strengthening their ranks, as well as those that are losing players to overseas markets initially due to huge salaries and adverse exchange rates back home. The French are well known for using foreign military types to fight their wars and foreign skirmishes, the much vaunted Foreign Legion. However, it seems that they have now taken the decision that what is good in war is equally good in sport. They recently announced a provisional national training squad with no less than 10 foreign born players in the mix. 2 from New Zealand, 2 from South Africa, 3 from Australia, and 1 each from England, Fiji, and Samoa. The French Foreign Legion Uini Atonio (New Zealand) François van der Merwe (South Africa) Steffon Armitage (England) Alex Tulou (New Zealand) Rory Kockott (South Africa) Brock James (Australia) Blair Connor (Australia) Noa Nakaitaci (Fiji) David Smith (Samoa) Scott Spedding (Australia) This surely means that there are French born players, real French citizens, who are losing out on the possibility of representing their country of birth to a bunch of foreign mercenaries. Mercenaries in the worst sense of the word as their loyalty can be bought for mere money. The future of French rugby as a whole must be questioned. What motivation is there for a youngster to join and participate in a sport when the possibility of achieving the highest honours is denied by a system that is focussed on buying talent from foreign shores to represent the country. Their club rugby is already dominated by foreigners, now it seems that their national team is going the same way. They are not alone. The English have a longstanding tradition of sending their minions to fight wars for them. The Scots have provided a constant flow of cannon fodder to the British army, as have the Welsh. The Indians provided numerous regiments through until the end of WW2 and then managed to stop the flow by becoming independent. They might need less of a military footprint across the world as their empire crumbled and vanished, but they still make plenty of use of foreign born blood on the sports fields. Until very recently the English cricket team was dubbed the South African B team when the locker room was filled with accents from the far south. Kevin Pietersen was the leading Soldier Of Fortune in their ranks. Rugby is not far behind. With the World Cup looming they have a number of mercenaries in their ranks: English Foreign Legion Manu Tuilagi (Samoa) Billy Vunipola (Tonga/Australia) Mako Vunipola (Tonga/New Zealand) Brad Barritt (South Africa) Michael Paterson (New Zealand) Mauritz Botha (South Africa) The Irish wax clever, they see that New Zealand produces mercenaries of the highest quality, so their regiment of foreign legionnaires is exclusively sourced from the Land of the Long White Cloud. Perhaps their weather patterns are similar too. Irish Foreign Legion Jared Payne (New Zealand) Bundee Aki (New Zealand) Tom McCartney (New Zealand) Rodney Ah-Yoy (New Zealand) Miah Nikora (New Zealand) The Scots, usually willing providers of cannon fodder at places like Magersfontein and the Khyber Pass have also not sidestepped recruiting as many foreigners as are willing to brave their constantly wet and miserable weather. They managed to convince the likes of Andy Leslies kids to abscond from New Zealand to play for, and captain, Scotland. Alan Solomons plies his trade as a coach up there in the Great Wet. At this time a bearded warrior from South Africa is about to qualify for selection to the Scottish Team: Scottish Foreign Legion Josh Strauss (South Africa) Whilst much of what I say here might be a provocative, the reality is that the influx of foreign mercenaries cannot be good for the future of your own national team and national fervour. I am not sure I will ever see a Brock James, Steffon Armitage or Rory Kockott cry genuine tears of pride when the Marseillaise sounds out over a line-up of rugby teams before the start of a test match. In my less than humble view the time has come for the IRB to change the 3 year residency rule before a mercenary qualifies to wear the jersey of his adoptive country. (Oddly, he does not have to be a citizen of the country he represents, but that is another story altogether.) Five years and full citizenship should be the minimum requirement!
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 10:18:35 +0000
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