Harrison Hansen was raised in this country and trained in this country, he played youth RL here, he played scholarship and academy RL here. He is, by any measure, trained in this country,

He isnt in anyway comparable to the special dispensation that was given to Hull KR to allow Lovegrove to count as homegrown for you.

Yes they are. Quite legally.


You're mistaken.

Stop being paranoid. Wigan are operating withing the rules of the game, as they were a few days ago at least, so the comparison is not relevant - although I'm fairly sure that if Wigan had signed, for example, Jarryd Hayne last week, and the RFL had said that he was classed as Home Federation trained, then people would have been in uproar about it.

People (well, most) are going on about the issue because it's [uan issue[/u and not because Hull KR are involved. People would be going on about it if Hull KR only had a total of 6 non English players because it seemingly is a massive U-turn on moves to increase the number of British players in Superleague. We all know that as it stand clubs seem to have up to 10 overseas players, but this is (well, was) only because of the dispensation for Kolpak/EU heritage players who've been over here since pre 2008; the fact that the crop of pre-2008 players cannot carry on playing forever meant that eventually all clubs would be limited to 5 non-federation players. This ruling (if it is so) now puts us back where we were when the problem was acknowledged.

Very well put.

you are either;

a) Not clever enough to understand the issue people have with the transfer.
b) see a

how many overseas players did the SL champions have last year? I am presuming it was below the magical 5 and Englnd will beat Australia number?

Restriction of trade

Is it correct that in your squad of 25 you could have 8 homegrown players, 5 Australians and 12 Tongans, so with no injuries don't need to field any British players?

Yep, we're back to pre-2008 rules if the rule is applied consistently.

See Wakefield sending Cas down with 15 overseas players in their 17. Rovers must have had some high numbers during the 2007 fight against relegation too - I shall check...

Don't know whether to laugh or cry. Just keep smiling, eh?

Seem to remember a certain side fielding a team full of Aussies after merging......kettle ,pot ,black ???

When you put it like that it's scary.

Indeed.
Not that I mind too much - but for people who believed in this (in the same way I believe in the flat salary cap, while accepting a few dodges as a fact of life), this must be a major shock. It's just gone, overnight. And the RFL seem cool with it.

Most overseas players HKR put out in a 17 in 2007 was 12, in consecutive games against Hull and Wigan, at the back end of the season.

As someone who's spent fortunes following GB/England around the world, this makes me exceedingly angry.

If you believed that the non-fed quota was going to contribute significantly to a more competitive England team, you're right to angry. I always doubted it - looks like we'll never know now. Can't believe that such high profile policy, whatever its merits, has been binned so casually.

What restriction?

The right to seek work does not imply the right to be employed.

But if every club is up to quota on "overseas players" then another "overseas player" would not be allowed to be employed whereas a "non-overseas player" could still be employed.



I agree with Bullseye on this, the clubs (all of them) have to take more responsibility and stick to the spirit of the rules with overseas players. The RFL are never going to be able to put together a rule that comprehensively restricts overseas players without it being potentially subject to legal action, so the clubs have to be a lot more responsible than they currently are being.

Do you remember our play-off game in 2007 v Wigan? 16 out of 17 British, and 11 homegrown. Will you be in a position to do the same in a couple of years?

Could we somehow link Sky payments to non-GB eligible players - every time a non-GB eligible player is fielded, a small amount is deducted from the "maximum" payment?

Would soon add up for some teams.

Absolutely. I was hoping he'd bring Hansen into it. He even represented England at academy level in the past, was born and raised here, and has spent his entire rugby career with Wigan.

So there's only 6 players who Wigan have got who are really quota, still 1 too many but not as bad some. I think it also helps that the standard of those 6 is pretty good, the only one i'm not sure of is Finch but that's because i haven't seen a huge amount of him.

Just before Hudgell signed up to this in summer 2007, reported in The Independent:
"Super League clubs have agreed to wean themselves off their dependence on overseas signings. Several sides regularly field up to 12 overseas players, taking advantage of the Kolpak ruling, grandparentage and European passports but now the Rugby Football League are to act to close the loopholes.

From next year, at least five members of a first-team squad of 25 must contain players who have either graduated from a club's academy system or are aged under 21. This will increase by one player each year until 2011, when a squad must have at least eight homegrown players. During the same period, the number of overseas players must be reduced from 10 to five.

Nigel Wood, the RFL's chief operating officer, said: "This new rule fulfils a long-standing objective to encourage clubs to develop young talented players. By giving them greater opportunity at the top level, it is likely to improve standards not only on a national level but also internationally. Over time, the number of home-born players in a squad will increase whilst the number of players who are not academy, Super League or National League club-trained will be reduced."

The 12 club chief executives passed the proposal at their two-day summit in Perpignan."

What a load of bollox.

I wouldn't expect an answer to that one, Mrs B.

Me then. How many of the 17 against us in south wales in feb will be home grown .........................after answer I will say does this mean you have gone backwards

At least 7. You only need to name 8. Last season you had Spaven, I'Anson, Mariano, one of the Latus brothers and Ratu (as an under 21 I think) in yours. That went well.