I don’t know how many others were aware of the rules, but I recently read an excellent article by Bret Harris in The Australian on the eligibility rules for foreign players in Australian Super 14 sides.
I won’t rehash the whole article but to summarise:
* Each team is allowed to have a “marquee player” and an “emerging player” from overseas.
* The marquee player has to have played Test rugby and be ineligible to play for the Wallabies.
* The emerging player has to be eligible to play for the Wallabies once he has completed three years of residency.
– Super 14 sides must pay for marquee players out of their own pocket.
– Emerging players are funded by the ARU.
Daniel Braid and Ben Castle are the only ‘foreign’ players that are currently playing in Australian Super 14 sides. And they are both marquee players, even though Castle has never played for the All Blacks (only the Junior All Blacks).
Confused? You’re not the only one.
We’re the only country in the world that classifies foreign imports into separate categories.
The article talks about the Waratahs wanting Anton van Zyl but having to settle for Luke Doherty because Anton fitted in neither the marquee nor emerging player categories.
So my questions are: has the ARU stuffed up with its complicated and strict foreign player policy? How should it be simplified? Do we actually want more (or any!) foreign players? If not, should the policy be even stricter? And who should be paying for foreign players?
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