Shaggy
First XV
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2010
- Messages
- 3,095
- Country Flag
- Club or Nation
I was married to a Samoan, just about all of the people I interacted with outside of work were Samoans or Tongans ... the Island culture was very prominent in the families, but just about all of them considered themselves both Samoan or Tongan, and New Zealanders ... we supported all of these teams when they played.
I think it's great that players with Samoan (or any other heritage), that are born in New Zealand (or another country), get to choose for themselves, which country they play for, but I think it's unreasonable thinking to try to force a player to play for their country of birth or country of heritage ... I think the IRB has almost got it right (maybe some tweaking of the eligibility rules), by allowing the player to choose, but only allowing players to play for one nation.
... As for the players not getting paid much to play for the likes of Samoa etc, hopefully the easier access to Europe and its clubs, the access to New Zealand professional teams without having to be eligible to play for the All Blacks, and the access to the money that the Japanese clubs, goes some way to releaving the financial burden on the players
I think it's great that players with Samoan (or any other heritage), that are born in New Zealand (or another country), get to choose for themselves, which country they play for, but I think it's unreasonable thinking to try to force a player to play for their country of birth or country of heritage ... I think the IRB has almost got it right (maybe some tweaking of the eligibility rules), by allowing the player to choose, but only allowing players to play for one nation.
... As for the players not getting paid much to play for the likes of Samoa etc, hopefully the easier access to Europe and its clubs, the access to New Zealand professional teams without having to be eligible to play for the All Blacks, and the access to the money that the Japanese clubs, goes some way to releaving the financial burden on the players