If that is true im even more confused as to why they have just binned it like they seem to have done.

Would be amazing if it was a case of "Rovers have messed of, Mason won't be registered!"

there is always a way round quotas/visas.gateshead have just signed an aussie


Gateshead have boosted their squad for the 2011 season with the capture of Australian full-back Mitchell Stevens.

[uThe 21-year-old qualifies to play in Britain through his ancestry [/uand Thunder director of rugby Chris Hood expects big things from Stevens.

"This is a huge signing for the club to attract a player of Mitchell's calibre. There are not many players of his ability in this league," he told the club's website.

"Mitchell has played at an extremely high standard and has shown a lot of commitment in signing for us, which he must be commended for.

"It has taken a while to agree terms but I must say that it has been a pleasure dealing with Mitchell, his father Brett and agent Paul Sutton, all who have work as hard as myself to make sure that the deal has gone through."

Stevens spent last season with North Sydney Bears but was sacked by the club after being found guilty of biting the ear of an opponent. He was suspended for ten weeks following the incident.

I have just been informed they are in the process of attempting to remove Jake Webster from the Quota.

Presumably Billy Slater is coming in to replace Briscoe

Sounds like a lovely chap!

Can we have Briscoe back then??

No ta!!!

Never been the same since he left us, prefer Tansey now by far.

Has it occurred to anyone else that the only ones complaining about Mason are FL fans? No other clubs have mentioned a thing, at least as far as I can find. I wonder if this is because the clubs have all been consulted in the background and that this really is a stop-gap solution for Rovers until the Maltese passport comes through. Once that's in place then Rovers will be back in line with the original agreement - then we can continue as planned for the future.

So it's a stop gap thing so Rovers can fiddle their way around one passport (which is slightly delayed). The RFL then give an Australian 30yr old a 'special status' to not count, then Rovers get Galea sorted and both he and Mason are both off the quota.... And we all carry on as normal??

Yes - crazy - but it might account for the silence from the other clubs if they have all agreed to turn a blind eye just so long as Rovers stick to the spirit of the RFL rules here on in.

Or maybe clubs are complaining to the RFL in private like they ought to rather than having a strop in public? That would tie in with the email from the club regarding an impending RFL statement of clarification.

Ah - I missed that post - did they respond to your email?

Someone else had an email reply from the club. I emailed the RFL directly and - no surprises here - have yet to receive a response.

The rules are like the Schleswig-Holstein Question - only three people ever understood them (whether they have died, gone mad or forgotten, I'm not sure. If Nigel Wood was one of them he seems to have been one of the latter two).

With a handful of exceptions FC fans are complaining for the wrong reason (IMO) - essentially that it is Hull KR and we are smelly cheats. Or something like that. (Some) Rovers fans are fighting back on that same ground - and we soon get back to your merger and our CVA. Fans of other clubs aren't interested in that.

Until we get clarification we don't have a full idea of what is happening - but it seems there has been a change and it could be a big deal for the future shape of SL.

But it is true that Rovers are smelly cheats isn't it? Isn't that woven deep into the laws that govern the time-space-continuum?

I do not need clarification that you lot smell, I have always known it

Yeah we do. You get used to it and forget it is there after a while, but I know that if you are unfamiliar with it, it can seem strange.



Right - I appear to be down to obscure references to German-Danish history and cheap trolling. Until Nigel Wood's next utterance on the matter, I bid you ta-ra.

My main question has been for an understanding as to why hull f.c's "TONGAN" PASSPORT HOLDING players are ON the quota, yet hull k.r openly encouraged a [iaustralian passport holding [/i? player (seeing as he has represented Australia on many occasions) to go and obtain a TONGAN passport and have a beer with the prem whilst hes there!(bet he used the toilet that day) And the rfl let him become seen as a federation trained, off quota player by which ever means,
this seems that on the surface something totally UNDERHAND as transpired, be it by the RFL, OR HULL K.R. Which ever way this matter has been spawned from it does'nt help THE SPORT it just holds it up for more ridicule!
(LETS NOT FORGET THE AMOUNT OF RIDICULE HULL K.R BESTOWED UPON F.C FOR THE "THACKERY" INSIDENT....)

I notice the "well" informed scott_hkr takes all his leads from wigan fans!

Thank god we've got Mrs Barista who knows her onions!

I hope she knows her coffee!

I sent this off to the rfl the other day - no reply yet. I'm not sure my statements are all correct but I do think the situation demands a statement of explanation to the fans. Don't suppose we'll get one though.

Dear Sirs

I am puzzled by the recent seeming departure from at least the principle of the RFL regulations regarding home grown/fed/non fed/quota players. Willie Mason is in most rational peoples minds , an Australian having represented that country and become something of an icon of Australian RL. I understand that he has a mother who is from Tonga and that he is therefore entitled to be Tongan once he has "bought" his passport. Previously though Tongan players and others were still considered to be non fed although treated as off quota because they were not trained in this country's federation and had not been playing within the federation for the proscribed 3 years. Is it now the case that any player from Tonga or similar countries that fall under the Cotonou Agreement will simply be treated as if they were British and have the same status as any own Fed trained player? Effectively therefore allowing any club to have 8 homegrown , 5 Aussie/NZ and 12 Tongan/Cotonou? Will this mean that players like Sam Moa who is currently a Non Fed player for Hull FC is now treated as a Fed player? If so why has this changed and if it hasn't why has the RFL allowed clubs to interpret the rules incorectly for the last two years or so? The latter question as you will recognise implies that you put the rule in place knowing it to be unenforcible and either reached an understanding with the SL Chairmen or simply hoped that no one would challenge what you knew to be an empty regulation.

I think that this change , if that is what it is , demands a statement from the RFL to let the fans know exactly how we have reached this ridiculous state of affairs where clubs planning for a period when the availability of Non Fed players would be more restricted are now effectively penalised for doing so by other clubs simply importing players from the antipodean game by "buying"/obtaining Cotonou country passports. I seem to recall that the whole point of the rules were to help develop young british players to help us compete with Australia and NZ , something we/you have failed to do for many years. How does Willie Mason being treated as a Fed player in the ESL help us to do that??



Many thanks

My view on this for what its worth is that Mason has been given a temporary dispensation until Galea gets his Maltese passport and when it comes through Mason will be reclassified as Quota/Non fed

whatever has/is/does go on, it's a crock of sh*t of the highest order, and I'd say that no matter which club was involved

I'm as well informed as the next guy, I only stumbled across that wigan forum quota thread. The rules written by the RFL say that Mason shouldn't be federation trained. It's baffled me as much as it has the next person.