Age Cap on Overseas

[Wigan_forever1985]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 932382.stm

Best idea yet i think

[markill]

is this not just Iestyn crying because he is too slow in his old age to be good enough for SL yet menzies is still clearly fit enough and good enough to come in to the bradford team.

In terms of the strength of competition i think it'd be a good think within each season but as a ong term idea i totally disagree with it.

I would imagine players who are currently out of origin/test favour will come over for a year, look like a star and go back over there to a top team leaving teams over here searching for star players, which will have top be another foreigner because all the skill positions will have been occupied by overseas stars stopping our youngsters getting their chance. They go to union to get a chance whilst our national team continues to struggle in skill positions.

Further to that, i think it is often experienced overseas players who can have the greater positive impact on our game by passing on their experience to the younger players who will take their place. We don't want to be training aussie players who are before their prime or out of form - we want players of 28-30 who are still good enough to play for 2-3 years and have experience to pass on.

[cpwigan]

Silly idea. Surely young badly behaved players banned from the NRL are far worse? Anyhow ultimately there are no hard and fast rules. Would fans have wanted Gene Miles excluded? Pongia? Wiki as mentioned?

[OAMJSONA]

this is a tricky subject to comment on

but lets be realistic

too many johnny over the bloody hill foreigners and pi** heads have come over here for a holiday and a good pension

deport them all anyway

its the only way the younsters in this country will get a chance

[highland convert]

What would happen if the governing bodies got together and showed a united front against indiscipline and bringing the game into disrepute, A ban being international instead of national. Might just bring some into line if rehab uk was closed.Then young players would come for want instead of necessity, Jim

[DaveO]

Would it not be classed as a discrimination

Yes it would.

Depends what you mean. If you mean saying we won't employ players over 35 is discriminatory then technically yes it is but it isn't IMO illegal.

SL clubs are not obliged to offer NRL players of any age jobs just as they are not obliged to offer UK players jobs.

If Wigan advertised for a stand off then that would be different. They would have to consider all eligible applicants but if Brett Kenny applied do you think the fact Wigan turned him down because of his age would be illegal? No it wouldn't.

The thing is though clubs don't advertise for players and that is the important thing to consider.

There is a kind if in-built discrimination in all professional sport in that clubs "head hunt" the players they want. They don't advertise on the open market which would expose them to the laws on recruitment one of which is you can't ask for the age of the applicant or any information that may allow you to work it out!

Head hunting specific people is not illegal in normal employment and it isn't in sport. If IL decided not to recruit any players over 35 you might argue that was a discriminatory policy but it would not be illegal.

If Wigan asked some Aussie agent to find a stand off and they went for the younger of the three the agent suggested does anyone seriously think the club could be done for age discrimination? They would only offer one player the job and the other two would have no grounds for a complaint as the job was never on the open market.

Dave

[medlocke]

should set the limit to 28, then at least you will get a couple of decent season's out of them (hopefully)

[old hooker]

Stupid idea by one of the most overrated players ive seen for years.What has age got to do with it? How old were Brian Fletcher and Craig Smith? They certainly earned their money.By the same token Phelps and Smith have been less than useless.

[Wigan_forever1985]

no its not just about that, think about it yes ok we aren't saying that the players coming over at 28+ are crap thats not what this idea is about. Its about the fact it would stop clubs buying older aussies just for "experience" and put more faith in their youth and home grown talent. Yeah the aussie player may be good but dont forget for every brett dallas there is a shaun ainscough waiting for a shot

[Sutty]

Personally, I think the best option to achieve what Iestyn was trying to say would be to have an overseas quota of just 3 or 4. With no exceptions for Islanders, kolpackplayers or whoever. If a player isn't born in this country or doesn't have a British passport, they shouldn't be allowed to play in Superleague. I think that if we do this, then clubs will focus on quality instead of quality. A Trent Barrett and a Matt Gidley in one team is worth 10 overseas players who are just here for an easy payday.
If the RFL stop appearing to be so scared of the PC brigade and those saying "oh, you can't exclude so and so, it's a breach of their rights". And stick to their guns and gradually, over teh next 5 or 6 seasons reduce the amount of overseas players to 3 or 4, then we'll start to see, obviously, a lot more local talent coming through the ranks, but they'll be helped, guided and mentored by some of the top Aussies. Barrett, Pongia, Bailey (despite the criticism he receives) would all have had a massive influence on some of our younger players. Look at the impact that Trent had on young Sam Tomkins.
For those of you who didn't see the Superleague show when Iestyn Harris made the comment about an age cap, it was just something that he said when put on the spot by Harry "I'll have a dig at Wigan whenever I can" Gration, when asked how can we limit the influx of foreign players in the Superleague. Iestyn said "I don't know, maybe an age cap, maybe reduce the number of players allowed from overseas. There are many different options". Or words to that effect. It wasn't a hairbrained, pre-meditated idea, certainly not as bonkers as Nobby's "let's buy RU players".
Oh, and whilst I'm "on one", I didn't think Iestyn was overrated, I just thought he lacked pace. I think that if he'd had a lot of pace (come to think of it, any pace at all) then he'd have been a fantastic player, he had a brilliant rugby brain. Anyway, enough of all that. I'm off for my dinner, I'm starving