New Zealand Rugby boss accuses Northern Hemisphere of 'colonialism' against Pacific nations
The way in which Pacific Island players are treated by Northern Hemisphere nations borders on colonialism, according to New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey.
Speaking to Radio New Zealand on Tuesday about the failure of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga to qualify for the World Cup knockout stages, Impey said the Pacific nations were being denied access to some of their best players.
“There should be eligibility rules which allow players who’ve played for tier one countries, such as the All Blacks, to go back after say a year and play for their countries of origin,” he said.
“Think how much stronger Tonga would have been had Charles Piutau been in this side, Samoa also with the likes of Steven Luatua… it would have made a huge, huge difference.”
Impey said that the pressure applied by European clubs on their Pacific players to stay with their club rather than represent their nations didn’t help resolve the issue.
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The NZR chairman, who has been in charge of the union since 2012, both New Zealand and Australia have pushed for change, but they have been met with resistance from unions in the north.
“You can point the finger straight at the likes of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England,” he said.
“You look at them, you look at their teams and what they have done in terms of rules that suit themselves.
“I’m very tempted — I probably won’t go quite this far — but I’m very tempted to say it’s virtually colonialism.”
John Mitchell's last visit to the @rugbyworldcup knockout phase ended with a @wallabies ambush that cut short his @AllBlacks coaching career. #RWC2019 #ENGvAUS https://t.co/ieILJeHRwJ
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Impey’s comments echo that of outgoing NZR chief executive Steve Tew, who criticised the Northern Hemisphere last month for rejecting World Rugby’s proposed Nations Championship.
The planned competition would have included a promotion-relegation league format between multiple divisions which would have provided the Pacific nations and other tier two countries a pathway to more competitive fixtures against tier one outfits.
The Pacific Rugby Players Welfare estimates around 20 percent of all professional rugby players are of Pasifika heritage.
Geographic isolation, lack of financial resources and poor governance within national unions all contribute to Pacific Island players to head offshore in pursuit of a professional rugby career.
Consequently, players frequently move north as the riches provided by British, French and Japanese clubs often proves too difficult to turn down.
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However, plenty of players do move across the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, and Impey’s comments will be sure to raise a few eyebrows the criticism New Zealand has received about its treatment of the Pacific Islands.
Many of the All Blacks’ star players have moved to New Zealand from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, with an array of those players being lured to the country as a result of their rugby-playing talents.
That includes rookie sensation Sevu Reece, who is one of four players in the current All Blacks World Cup squad who was born in the Pacific Islands.
Kick in the teeth for Fiji's Sam Matavesi as he falls victim to a car park robbery in Londonhttps://t.co/4A9bbj3AF0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 15, 2019
New Zealand has also failed to back a Pacific-based Super Rugby franchise, while the All Blacks have played just one test in the Pacific – against Samoa in Apia four years ago – in their 116-year history.
The match came to fruition only after NZR came under pressure to play in the Islands from a campaign by high-profile fans.
After missing out on a quarter-final berth this year, Fiji have failed to reach the World Cup play-offs since their maiden appearance in the knockout stages in France 12 years ago.
Samoa haven’t reached the play-offs since their upset of Wales in 1999, which replicated their quarter-final feats of 1991, while Tonga are still yet to make it out of the pool stage at a World Cup.
In other news:
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Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments