Selection criteria for RLWC is pure and simple a joke!

[Swans4ever]

So let's get this straight to qualify to represent a RL country you can either:
Be born in the country
Live in the country (they don't say how long - ie I have a stop over in the USA on the way to England and I'm in)
Be a citizen of a country or;
Your grandparents were born in they country,

That's right your grandparents rule is a great one - great grandma and great grandad go on extended holiday and a grand parent is born there but may not have lived there and bingo bango whack on the Tomahawk jersey your playing for the U S of A! That's right - these rules are so open to interpretation that if I played in the NRL and I mention the fact that my flatmate's cousin's best mate once saw an American that may just about make me eligible! 120 NRL players in WC teams - now there is 24 per squad (may be wrong about that) thats 5, count em 5 teams from the NRL in the WC. Call me a cynic but is this REALLY a world comp? Or are the RL people just trying to convince them selfs that this game is some sort of world game..........nice try but No it ain't!

Tomahawk Cantoni to miss World Cup
Australian-born US second rower Mark Cantoni will miss the World Cup after breaking an arm in the Tomahawks' shock 22-18 friendly victory over France in Toulouse.

The forward, who qualifies for America through the grandparental rule, was in the US team that beat Jamaica to qualify for their first World Cup.

[adamj1300]

Live in the country (they don't say how long - ie I have a stop over in the USA on the way to England and I'm in)
lol set up a PO BOX or go take out a short term lease apartment, & next thing your the repressing the country at the world cup!

what a joke of a sport

[Swans4ever]

It seems I'm not the only person questioning the selection criteria

Selection Controversy threatens to turn World Cup into a Farce
POSTED BY DRUZIK ON OCT 5TH, 2013 IN INTERNATIONAL, RUGBY LEAGUE | 14 COMMENTS

By Daniel Andruczyk

It’s now seasons end with domestic Rugby League and usually the die-hard League fan licks their lips for the up coming international season. In the past its been the various tours and more recent;ly the 3 and 4 nations tournaments. We were always wanting to see if anyone would stop Australia’s 30 year stranglehold on the international sport, it was finally broken by the Kiwis and now we want to see if the Kiwis can continue this run of good tournament form… will the Brits come back and threaten, will we see the re-emergence of France as a Rugby League power again? Will we see the fleeting glimpses of brilliance from teams like PNG, Wales and Fiji finally come through and push and threated the big 4? These are always the questions we love to debate, no argue passionately about, however this year takes on an even greater significance since the international season is the Rugby League World Cup! 14 teams will battle it out for the sports top prize with two new comers to the table; the USA and Italy.

No, its no secret that Rugby League’s player selection policies are looser than the $2 slots in Las Vegas. Its always been a pain in the side of fans to see nations and players mix and match countries as they please and the RLIF step in and do nothing. But with the sport seeing an explosion of truly international teams around the world in the last 10 years you’d think that the RLIF would have stepped in and really tightened up the national selection criteria, unfortunately that seems not the case and if anything, things look like they are really turning a blind eye. This week the USA and Italy have named their World Cup squads and well to say the least they are the least American and Italian squads I have ever seen.

This is not an easy article to write, I have many friends in both administration and I am sure I will say things against many of them. I will not name names, but it will be obvious to them who I talk about. Hopefully they will see this as constructive criticism and remain friends, but for me the integrity of the sport is first and foremost the most important.

Lets Look at the Squads
Probably the biggest backlash of these selections that I have seen, and maybe because I live here, has been in the United States. Rugby League, here in the USA is in its own “Super League” war. There are two rival competitions, the original AMerican National Rugby League (AMNRL) and the break away USA Rugby League (USARL). Though the USA is not a member nations of the TLIF or the RLEF, the AMNRL is the “recognised” competition by the RLIF and as such it controls the national team, The USA Tomahawks. Since the split between the two at the beginning of 2011 there has been a policy by the AMNRL of not selecting the USARL and the Tomahawks were essentially used as leverage to try and keep players with the AMNRL. Fortunately in the last 3 months relations are getting better, and though there is no unification yet steps are being made and people from both sides are working closely together. Evidence being in the recent Colonial Cup games against the Canadians where USARL players have finally been selected for the Tomahawks again.

This worked for some players with even the carrot of the captaincy being offered for the Tomahawks for one. in 2011 there were the World Cup qualifiers where players were flown in from Australia to make up a team with only about 5 local players. This did not much for the promotion of the sport and in hind sight I am guilty of furthering this, though it wasn’t my intention. Two of the ring-in players are friends and their father is a good friend of mine and a mentor of sorts, they were born in the USA and qualified through having a passport… I did hope that they would continue to help and support the sport in the coming years by coming out and continuing to play for the Tomahawks each year. Alas I feel that playing in the Tomahawks and the World Cup may be seen as just a good party and junket, and there are some in the sports upper echelons that feel the same way… that the USA will come away having gained the least with this World Cup. So lets have a look at the squad

USA TOMAHAWKS SQUAD:

Mark Cantoni (Dalby)
Andrew Durutalo (USA Eagles)
Bureta Faraimo (Mackay Cutters)
Gabriel Farley (Southampton Dragons)
Kristian Freed (Connecticut Wildcats)
Michael Garvey (Ipswich Jets)
Roman Hifo (East Hawks, NZ)
Danny Howard (Wentworthville)
Stephen Howard (Tuggeranong Vikings)
Luke Hume (New York Knights)
Judah Lavulo (Cabramatta)
Joel Luani (Wests Tigers)
David Marando (Belrose)
Ryan McGoldrick (Salford City Reds)
Clint Newton (Penrith)
Mark Offerdahl (Connecticut Wildcats)
Joseph Paulo (Parramatta/Capt)
Junior Paulo (Parramatta)
Craig Priestly (Southampton Dragons)
Matt Petersen (Cudgen Hornets)
Tui Samoa (Redcliffe)
Matt Shipway (Newcastle)
Les Soloai (Featherstone Rovers)
Lelauloto Tagaloa (Hawaii Chiefs)

OK, so there we have it. There are 6 “local Players” several of whom are actually from other countries just playing in the USA. They are Aussies or Brits that have come over from playing in those countries to have a go here. Not to say that they are not committed to the sport, many are. Guys like Priestly set up the Southampton Dragons to play in the AMNRL, and maybe they deserve the sport for that alone, for doing the hard yards. The most interesting one is Andrew Durutalo who played Rugby Union and as far as I know has never played Rugby League in the USA. How he got selected is a real head scratcher.

The rest of the team is just imports in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, players who in reality I think are just looking for an in to be part of the World Cup without really caring about the development of the sport in the USA. The last 5 years there are genuine American players who really have become the household names of the sport, in both competitions, that have played and worked their guts out, made sacrifices for the development of sport and the Tomahawks in the USA. Everyone knows Apple Pope and Akarika Dawn there is Curtis Cunz and Kevin Wiggins just to name a few. These are house hold names in the Rugby League community here, just like in the NRL names like Paul Gallen, Jonathan Thurston, Billy Slayter and Benji Marshal or SBW have instant recognisability in the rugby league community there. Its what the sponsors look for when pushing their products. To take away these guys from the Tomahawks is a tragedy

On top of all this, the USA Tomahawks have now had two Professional coaches essentially walk out on them. Matthew Elliot, used to be their coach but since the stepping down of close friend and President of the AMNRL, David Niu, he seemed to also take a step away from the team, Brian Smith was then meant to come in but this week also pulled out due to family commitments. This leaves the only World Cup nation without a Professional Coach. Some may argue that they should stick local, but with a tournament like the World Cup you really do need to have a Big Time coach to help the players and the development of the game and local coaches in the USA.

Daryl “Spinner” Howland, co-owner and founder of the Jacksonville Axemen (USARL) put up an interesting video on this topic and his feeling on it. I urge you to have a listen and see if you agree with him. I agree with 99% of what he says, but there is one slight difference which I will address later in the article.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v ... =2&theater

The Italian squad I feel is the same. Again I have friends in the Italian Rugby League and I feel they have let themselves and the sport down big time by essentially selecting a team that sounds Italian but is not Italian but full of essentially “mercenaries”. For all the hooplah they have made about their domestic season and players, not one domestically based players has been selected.

No believe it or not the Italians in about thge same time as the American Split also had a schism of their own, and Italian “Super League war”. If anything the efforts there from both sides seem to be really like the Republicans and Democrats here in the USA, they cannot agree on anything. The original federation FIRL are recognised by the RLIF and RLIF and any other nation or team dealing with the rebel break-away’s FIRFL, have been told they will lose their recognition and funding. Both admins claim to be growing the sport, but it always seems to be hard to verify from independent sources. Any unification seems to be far away here.

My critisism here are basically the same as what I have written above with the USA. Here is the squad:

ITALY SQUAD:

Paul Vaughan, Terry Campese (Canberra Raiders)
Gavin Hiscox (Central Capras)
Mark Minichiello (Gold Coast Titans)
Christophe Calegari (Lezignan Corbieres)
Craig Gower, Joshua Mantellato (Newcastle Knights)
Joel Riethmuller (North Queensland Cowboys)
Chris Centrone (North Sydney Bears)
Gioele Celerino (North West Roosters)
Ryan Ghetti (Northern Pride)
Dean Parata (Parramatta Eels)
Cameron Ciraldo (Penrith Panthers)
Vic Mauro (Salford Reds)
Anthony Laffranchi (St Helens)
Sam Gardel , Ben Falcone (South’s Logan Magpies)
Aidan Guerra, Anthony Minichiello (Sydney Roosters)
Fabrizio Ciaurro (Tirreno Sharks)
Jason Staltonstall (Warrington Wolves)
Brendon Santi, James Tedesco (West Tigers)
Ryan Tramonte (Windsor Wolves)

ITALY BACK-UP SQUAD
Ray Nasso (Avignon XIII)
Dennis Tomarchio (Canberra Raiders)
Remi Fontana (Carpentras)
Dominic Nasso, Ben Mussolino (Manly Sea Eagles)
Luke Vescio (Parramatta Eels)
Jonathon Marcinczak (Racing Club Albi)
Tim McCann (Tweed Heads)
Cedric Prizzon (Villefrache En Rouergue)
Ben Stewart (Windsor Wolves)
Nathan Milone (West Tigers)

What is more blatant is that the Italians are not even trying to disguise the fact that they are stacking the team. How many of those players, regularly, each year come out to play for the Italians in European Shield games or European Cup games even? I think I can name one maybe two that have. Now, I do not know how set in tone these squads are but if changes can be made I would make them. I have heard reports already of players in both countries; that have put in their time, love, soul and hard sweat into the national squads, are so devastated that they did not get selected when clearly they should have. They are so upset that their places have been essentially taken by players that have done nothing to deserve them in the squad. You do not see anything like this in soccer or even Union, or any other international sport. Players need to make a commitment full time to a nation and if they do have dual citizenships it takes a long, rigorous and arduous process to switch.

Selection Criteria
OK, so having read all that rant, you may think the issue is that there are so many ex-pats and heritage players in the squads and that is my problem. NO. That is not the issue here actually. I do not have a problem with heritage and ex-pat players playing for their nations of heritage. However what I want from them is a 100% commitment to playing each year, weather its a World Cup year or Not for those nations. To make the sacrifice from club football and fly out to play, to do the promoting and hard work helping with coaching players, mentoring local players. Those are the heritage players that deserve to play, not one-off Johnny-come-lately that show up just once a year.

The argument that clubs pay the salary and thus won’t release them does not fly. There are enough internationals and enough time for players to make trips over and help out. Just look at Louis Robinson for the Canadians, he makes every effort to play in each of their international games flying over from the UK, getting releases from his club(s) to play. In 4 years time if Canada make the World Cup, he is the type of heritage player that I would want in the squad. He is marketable. The Germans have a similar situation with Jimmy Keinhorst who plays at Leeds. A heritage player but he has played in almost every single one of their internationals. If the Germans make the world Cup then Jimmy and his Brothers ARE the ones that should be able to make it.

I understand that that nations want to put on the best squad that they can on the field, but you have to do this with some sort of passion and pride and make sure the players you select have that pride for the jersey. I don’t have an issue with a national team having all heritage players IF those players have made the effort to play the whole period between world cup. There should be a criteria that for a player to be eligible in the World Cup or any international that is, then they have to have played in 75% of the matched leading up to the tournament, that is the whole 4 years between a world cup. Or if they are new, need to make sure they have not played for any other nation in the previous 4 years including juniors down to U16’s.

If this means sitting it out and missing a World Cup, so be it, that is the passion playing for a national jersey should have. This also means that the RLIF and its sub-federations need to also step up to the plate and actually enforce any selection relegations. Right now its so confusing what happens, a player can swap nations once in a world cup period which is like 2 years before, but in between that they can swap all they want? That is as Schizophrenic as you can get in sport. This needs to be cleaned up and the Games administrators need to get pride and some courage to do this. They need to get rid of any conflicts of interest by being involved with clubs and domestic competitions as well as they will always skew their views, whether they intend it or not.

“Harden the F&#k Up“
Spinners address says that this is no way a criticism of the players that were selected, that its the administration that has failed. I disagree up to a point. Yes the players do things within the rules and guidelines they have. Technically they are not doing anything wrong by making themselves available, however they should ask by being available and really making no effort to promote the sport in the country they choose, are they doing the right thing morally, by taking the place of a more deserving players who truly has put the time, effort and money into it. Where as these players may see it as a party and a chance to travel, the local hard working players see it as a just reward for their efforts.

Not getting selection, why would any of them stay in the sport now, knowing that essentially hard work does not pay off.

It will be interesting to see how the Pacific Island teams get selected, as they will essentially be doing the same thing as what the USA and Italy did. But they had no qualifiers to go through so none of the players get affected by the current selection policy, interesting move that by the RLIF, I always wondered if that was a premeditated move.

Anyway I know why all this happens. The Powers-that-be in the Rugby league administration universe are so painfully conscious about blow out scores. They are scared of having 100-0 score lines being racked up. I say to this “Harden the F&#k up”. Who cares. The World Cup, any international is a celebration of the sport. It there to allow players to represent their countries. Its mean to take the best of the best from those countries and test them against others, that is how you know where you stand and what needs to be improved. Stacking teams does not solve anything. If anything it makes the domestic players and comps weaker since there are no domestic players now getting the opportunity to learn from any more experienced players

The games administration needs to cop big score lines on the chin. They need to do what Soccer and Union do when they get big score lines and know how to put a good spin on it. You need to get the media on your side, you need to feed the great stories to them. Right now in Australia the media and very few of the NRL fans probably know that the World Cup is on, I have my RSS feed on the Aussie papers everyday and I see that there is barely any mention about the World Cup, and when there is its all negative. Do not let any negative commentators near your product, let them have their un-educated rants, get the knowledgeable and dedicated media on board and to promote.
Grow a pair and support and defend the game we so love!

Parting Note
I Feel for the players that did not get in. But I just say to those players that did get selected please do not waste this. Please make every effort to help promote the sport from here on. Don;t make this World Cup a one off, but do make the effort to come back once or twice a year to play in internationals, to help coach a team, help out with junior development, to help forge links between your clubs in the Rugby league Strong holds and your nations of heritage. These are valuable things that need to be done.

I wish you all the best and success in the up coming World Cup. Good Luck to everyone.



Daniel Andruczyk’s email: daniel@rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com
http://www.rugbyleagueinternationalscor ... cup-farce/

Look at the comments from RL fans in other countries - really makes this competition look like a complete farce!

[Swans4ever]

This is one for our resident Canberra know it all!

Papalii told The Sunday Canberra Times on Saturday he was weighing up whether to represent his parents' homeland at the tournament in England in November.
The Auckland-born back rower helped reignite the international eligibility debate when he chose to align himself with the Maroons late last year.
Papalii's parents, Patrick and Luama, are Samoan, and moved to New Zealand before the 20-year-old was born. Under Rugby League International Federation guidelines, Papalii would be eligible to play for Samoa in the World Cup, and pledge his allegiance back to Queensland and Australia immediately after the tournament.
He would then be ineligible to play again for Samoa for another two years, which means he could play for it in the 2017 World Cup should he miss Kangaroos selection.
http://m.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-lea ... 2dry4.html

[NRLCrap1]

With this in mind, let's have a look at the Australian squad shall we?

As it turns out, of the 24 players only two shouldn't be on the team. James Tamou and Josh Papalii - both of them were born in New Zealand and should be playing for them and not for Australia.

[pHyR3]

So what you're saying is that two teams out of FOURTEEN are unfairly selected. WHich i completely agree with. Or 120 NRL players are representing their countries, i.e. 5 teams. Well you're automatically gonna have FIFTY NRL players in the world cup form NZ and Australia. And another 10 or so from england, 4 Burgess bros, Widdop, Tomkins etc. And then you'll probably have another 10-20 representing the islands who are from there like, off the top of my head, Marika Koroibete who learnt english after coming here in 2010/11. Also ran a 10.51 100m as a schoolboy.

THe rest, primarily Italy and USA are poor selections. USA's selections are centred around poor management, as many players who should have been selected would have been just as good as the ones who were selected but many play in the USARL which is not recognised by the RLIF and so players can't come from there and Italy is growing the sport. Lebanon did this in 2000, a team COMPLETELY of aussies with lebanese heritage and it really helped the game take off there. Going from an unheard of sport, to have 1 or 2 thousand registered players in 10 years is really great. League is now broadcast in the Middle East and Lebanon as a result of this. Here's an article on it: http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/10/22/le ... s-to-grow/

So basically your point is two teams have been unfairly selected. And I agree with it, but if done correctly it will help grow the sport. Unfortunately that's not happening in USA due to the schism in management. But it IS happening well in Italy. Hopefully next time around we will see a quarter of the team actually from italy, and eventually the majority as with most island teams.

[pHyR3]

http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/10/23/it ... s-critics/

This is also a nice article on the RLWC. It's growing nicely, extremely well managed by the poms. absolutely amazing, never seen league so well done. stark contrast to some decisions by the NRL.

Only thing I would have changed is 3-4 more people from USA in the team instead of aussies.

[NRLCrap1]

If the game is in such good shape in multiple countries, why do they have this stupid rule? No excuses, Phy! The game is stagnating and you know it. They should have home grown talent, and if they aren't up to scratch take Australia out of it like they do with AFL and THEN get it done PROPERLY!!

A joke is a joke.

[Rabbit]

AFL betray Australia's sporting heritage

Martin Breheny – 23 October 2013

Australian sport has always prided itself on dogged determination and unrelenting durability, however superior the opposition might be.

It will come as a surprise then to the Australian public that the International Rules team despatched to Ireland by the AFL last week betrayed the country's sporting heritage.

The squad, drawn exclusively from indigenous players, wasn't even competitive for long stretches – surely the ultimate sin for any sportsperson.

"Some guys would be very embarrassed about their efforts," said coach Michael O'Loughlin before adding that if they return home as a team "that didn't have a crack", their reputation would be shot.

O'Loughlin will do his best to fire up the squad for the second Test in Croke Park on Saturday (Australia trail by 22 points) but the real blame rests with the AFL, who restricted the squad to indigenous players and who then sent only 21 players when 23 are allowed in each game. Even then, top name 'Buddy' Franklin returned home last Sunday to attend a friend's wedding, so they may be down to 20 for Saturday.

Quite simply, the AFL have let their country down on the international stage. They didn't have a particularly good name in Australia after a season of scandals and now their image is tarnished overseas.

The players have a chance to redeem themselves on Saturday – the AFL don't.

[Raiderdave]

:_<> :_<> :_<> :_<>

oh the raging jealousy of fumblers
they are green with envy

their silly little sport has nothing ... zip .... nada
to offer then a domestic competition that every other sport on the planet has as well

but those sports also offer other levels of their game including .... international competition
& the fumbles & bumbles .... does not !!

congrats to the young men competing in the RLWC for choosing the right sport
I mean imagine if they'd chosen that Victorian abortion .... fumbles n bumbles

not only would they not be able to represent multiple nations in meaningful competition


they wouldn't be able to represent................. any nations
:_<> :_<> :_<>

Vicky kicky .. is it the tiniest sport on the planet folks ?

tis


tis

[adamj1300]

If the game is in such good shape in multiple countries, why do they have this stupid rule? No excuses, Phy! The game is stagnating and you know it. They should have home grown talent, and if they aren't up to scratch take Australia out of it like they do with AFL and THEN get it done PROPERLY!!

A joke is a joke.

120 Australian based players playing in the world cup the Australian team took 18 >
thats right another 102 Australian based players will be playing for other countries in the world cup & the Australian will still thump every other team playing!
if it wasnt such a pathetic joke oand actually ran it like a proper world cup, like every other sport, there wouldn't be a world cup
take out the 102 Australian players and it would even more of embarrassment than it already is

& the bum sniffers call try and convince us its a world class game >

[Raiderdave]

If the game is in such good shape in multiple countries, why do they have this stupid rule? No excuses, Phy! The game is stagnating and you know it. They should have home grown talent, and if they aren't up to scratch take Australia out of it like they do with AFL and THEN get it done PROPERLY!!

A joke is a joke.

120 Australian based players playing in the world cup the Australian team took 18 >
thats right another 102 Australian based players will be playing for other countries in the world cup & the Australian will still thump every other team playing!
if it wasnt such a pathetic joke oand actually ran it like a proper world cup, like every other sport, there wouldn't be a world cup
take out the 102 Australian players and it would even more of embarrassment than it already is

& the bum sniffers call try and convince us its a world class game >

Australia took 24 you dribbling fuckstick

&
Australian ..... based ... players eh

tell me
who would you like Sam Burgess to play for..... hes not Australian
Issac Luke ?
Keiren Foran

& about 60 other of those foreign ... Australian based ... players
I'd of thought the nation they come from ? >
:_<> :_<> :_<>

I know its a concept beyond fumblers
but
RL is played professionally in other nations & sometimes these players come to play in the NRL & live in Australia
it doesn't mean once their passports are stamped they suddenly become aussie


seriously
jesus wept ............

[adamj1300]

If the game is in such good shape in multiple countries, why do they have this stupid rule? No excuses, Phy! The game is stagnating and you know it. They should have home grown talent, and if they aren't up to scratch take Australia out of it like they do with AFL and THEN get it done PROPERLY!!

A joke is a joke.

120 Australian based players playing in the world cup the Australian team took 18 >
thats right another 102 Australian based players will be playing for other countries in the world cup & the Australian will still thump every other team playing!
if it wasnt such a pathetic joke oand actually ran it like a proper world cup, like every other sport, there wouldn't be a world cup
take out the 102 Australian players and it would even more of embarrassment than it already is

& the bum sniffers call try and convince us its a world class game >

Australia took 24 you dribbling fuckstick

&
Australian ..... based ... players eh

tell me
who would you like Sam Burgess to play for..... hes not Australian
Issac Luke ?
Keiren Foran

& about 60 other of those foreign ... Australian based ... players
I'd of thought the nation they come from ? >
:_<> :_<> :_<>

I know its a concept beyond fumblers
but
RL is played professionally in other nations & sometimes these players come to play in the NRL & live in Australia
it doesn't mean once their passports are stamped they suddenly become aussie


seriously
jesus wept ............

THE upcoming World Cup features 14 teams and will take place in Great Britain and France.

Australia go into the tournament as overwhelming favourites.

There will be a distinctively Australian flavour at the Cup, with over 120 Australian-based players to take part. Australian-based players feature in all of the 14 teams.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/p ... 6743762731

say what fuck stuck.
ill repeat it again for the ****** that you are.
the League world cup is a joke, you can take a short holiday in any 1 of the participating countries and get picked in their squad
Australia will still thump every other team playing. it will be the like a A grade senior side playing against the under 16 junior side.
League so badly wants to be seen as an international sport! its nothing but a fucken joke at best
and an idiot like your self who keeps trying to convince every one that it is, is even funnier!

[pHyR3]

Are you serious???? just cause they play in the NRL doesn't make em aussie you drop kick. Guess SBW, benji marshall and Burgess brothers are aussie now.... And andrew bogut, pau gasol and ibaka are american cause they play in the NBA....

50 of the 'australian players' play for AUS and NZ making their representation LEGITIMATE then add on the english players and islanders and consider that 350 players are in the tournament, looks a lot better than international AFL.

[Rabbit]

Well the 400,000 people that have already bought tickets Clearly don't think its a joke.