Hayne cleared by World Rugby to compete at Rio

Maybe he doesn't want to stay in the NFL, because he has finally realised that it is crap?

Yep, locked into Fiji forever if he plays in London ... Rugby currently only allows you to represent one country for life ... and if you play in the national team, national B team, or national 7s team of a country you can never represent another country. World Rugby did allow people who had played 7s or 15s for one country to qualify for another country for this Olympics (as in the case of the Samoan fullback at the last RWC who had previously played for NZ 7s), however this dispensation is only for this Olympics. The reasoning behind the dispensation for this Olympics is that rugby hadnt been an Olympic sport in recent times, Olympic qualification rules do allow people to change countries between Olympics. and Olympic rugby representation criteria were not defined until around 2013 ... The international representation criteria for rugby are being born in a country, 3 years residency in a country, or a parent or grandparent from a country. Qualification rules for the Olympics are having a passport of a country you wish to compete for and a 3 year standown period from competing for any other country (the Olympics does allow people to compete for as many different countries as they wish, as long as they have a 3 year standown period before the Olympics from competing for their former country. So World rugby decided to allow 7s players to qualify for a new country, as long as they had not played for their former country for 3 years. In the interests of not having a player play for one country in 7s and another in XVs, they decided that changing allegiance via 7s would also change XVs allegiance. After this Olympics rugby players will not be able to change interantional allegiance via 7s .. i.e. it is again one country for life

I think you are a bit confused CUW. The IOC is essentially an umbrella body that brings together various world sporting federations, WADA is a "child" of the IOC, and it is up to individual sporting federations to decide which athletes are eligible or not eligible to compete in their sport, although the Olympics has some extra rules, for example that competitors must have a passport from the country they wish to compete for. The establishment of WADA, the World Anti Doping Agency, was led by the IOC and half its funding still comes from the IOC. The IOC, IAAF, World Rugby and other bodies make decisions regarding doping based on reccomendations and testing from WADA.Countries and sporting federations also have their own testing based on WADA rules. World Rugby strictly follows WADA rules, and has done for over a decade precisely so that rugby is compliant with Olympic drug testing rules, so rugby could be an Olympic sport again. The country controversey about Kenya and Russia isnt about the IOC .. its about WADA. WADA declared that the testing facillities were non compliant, in other words they had been covering up positive tests. This resulted in the current IAAF ban on Russia, and a possible ban on Kenya, are based on reccomendations from WADA. In the coming months WADA will be making new reccomnedations and based on these the IAAF will decide if those national federations can compete in their sport. What does this mean in the Hayne case? If World Rugby is strictly applying WADA rules there is no issue for the IOC. For the IOC to take any action against Hayne, it would require a reccomendation from WADA to World Rugby, and World Rugby communicating to the IOC that Hayne should not be allowed to complete. Considering the text of the World Rugby press release that isnt going to happen, because as far as World Rugby is concerned WADA rules are being followed.

The problem is that he will be 32 and starting out new.

“World Rugby notes the announcement that Jarryd Hayne wishes to pursue new sporting challenges with the Fiji Rugby Sevens team and has moved to address speculation regarding the player’s availability under Regulation 21 to play Sevens,” a statement read on Monday." "World Rugby is committed to the highest-possible anti-doping standards. The WADA-compliant World Rugby Regulation 21 mirrors the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Code and the WADA International Standard for Testing and Investigations. “It does not require a player to be included in a testing pool for a defined period of time prior to selection if they are being selected for international competition for the first time. This position is entirely consistent with World Rugby’s approach to other cross-over athletes, including other ex-NFL athletes coming into rugby. “Therefore, Hayne would be eligible for the London round of the World Rugby Sevens Series subject to all other regulatory and registration matters being met. “He would also be immediately included in World Rugby’s pre-Rio 2016 risk-based testing programme, which since January 2016 has included a comprehensive programme of targeted in and out of competition blood and urine testing on players likely to compete in Rio." “The pre-Games programme also includes regular additional screening for substances such as ESAs and human growth hormone, and both steroidal and haematological athlete biological profiling.” So he can play in London, and as far as World Rugby are concerned, and the implication when it talks about testing of athletes likely to compete in Rio is that if he plays 7s in London, for World Rugby that makes him eligible for Rio. Regarding drug testing, World Rugby says it follows WADA rules (which are also the Olympic rules) so it like there is no issue there. The only additional requirement to normal World Rugby7s or XVs international qualification rules is that for a player to play in Rio is that they must have a passport of the country they are representing, and apparently Hayne has a Fijian passport.

Boz in my opinion Hayne would do best to go to the NFL having put som much time into it, for the next three NFL seasons, then join a Super rugby team to learn rugby in order to play for Fiji in the next RWC, then play the next Olympic 7s but play the whole 7s season, and then go to France for some paydays.

Good for him and for Fiji. He went to the NFL with no guarantee of a pay cheque, so perhaps he is just throwing his lot in with his Fijian heritage because he wants to and can afford the pay cut? Australia gets so many great players out of the Islands nowdays, that it is nice that the traffic reverses now and then to send the likes of Hayne and Nadalo into Island sides. It will only make competitions like the World Cup more interesting for them to have players of that calibre in those teams. Perhaps Hayne could do a Nadalo and play for a Super Rugby team, then Fiji for the test season? There is a need for his skill set at the Reds ...

endorsement by a local body / game/sport body does not mean acceptance by IOC. IOC will look at every single entry and their eligibility and make the final call. for example both IAAF and Kenya have said they will not ban their athletes who are under a doping cloud. however IOC is most likely to stop them coming to RIO. Hayne of course is not under the same scenario , but the illustration is to show that local body is not IOC , though a signatory to IOC CHARTER.

Damn hope so Paulie... it won't be any fun if doesn't eh?

Stay tuned we will see...the saga will take a twist i am sure

World Rugby is a signatory to both the IOC and WADA. The national governing bodies of each Rugby country who have entered the qualification process for the games are a member of the Olympic Committee in their country (AOC etc). Endorsement by World Rugby implies compliance to both these bodies. As such it is case closed.

he will be locked into fiji , period !!!

Yep. But he'll only be in rugby for the few months of the Olympics before he seeks out his lifelong dream of winning an NRL premiership.

so if he plays in london is he locked into fiji for 15's?

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/hayne-cleared-to-play-by-world-rugby/ this statement is from world rugby. how IOC sees this and what they will say is entirely a different matter. IOC rules and requirements superseeds the individual game/sport governing body.

that's right, what's the IOC's position?

But is the World Rugby statement the same as saying he's eligible to play at the Olympics (should he be selected, and isn't tempted away by another lifelong dream in the meantime)? I have no idea whether they are 2 different things or not, but whether he could play in Rio seems to me to be the real question, not whether he can play in London.

Camera angles are notoriously deceptive...

Possibly Brett... but a bigger story could now be the 'press conference' being cut short by coach Ryan due to continual offside offences caused by rude journos! Geez... it was 'only' two metres gentlemen!!

Well that's that sorted...