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Rugby World Cup hit by unavailability of poor countries
Sydney, Oct 08: The International Rugby Board has said it is disappointed by the absence of some players from poorer countries ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Sydney.
Sydney, Oct 08: The International Rugby Board has said it is disappointed by the absence of some players from poorer countries ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Sydney.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has admitted this year's World Cup has been undermined by the unavailability of players from poorer countries. But IRB chairman Syd Millar said the board was powerless to solve the problem before the tournament starts on Friday (October 10).
However, he said the IRB planned to set up a working party to establish new rules ensuring all the best players would be available for the 2007 World Cup.
"Many of you, I'm sure are well aware that a number of international players are missing from this tournament who may well have been here. It's an undesirable situation, it's an unacceptable situation and undermines the quality and integrity of international rugby and therefore the game at all levels. So we require unions to vigorously enforce the relevant regulation which is Regulation 9. But we the IRB cannot act until certain pre-conditions are fulfilled. And once those are fulfilled, we ask the Union in which the players contracted to deal with the matter and if necessary to impose sanctions for non compliance of the Regulation," Millar told a news conference on Wednesday (October 8).
The build-up to the fifth World Cup has been tarnished by the sudden withdrawal of players from countries including Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Those countries claim their players were pressured by rich clubs in Europe and New Zealand to skip the World Cup. The clubs deny the claims and the IRB says it can't sanction them unless they have proof.
"It's not difficult to understand why players from the poorer countries are electing each season to play for clubs in the richer countries and to send back home the fruits of their labour. Very important in some instances for the families back home. It's huge money. And if you look at the income per head, not the earnings but the income per head of say, United Kingdom, or France, or Australia is around 13 times that of those living in the Pacific Islands or Namibia and more than 25 times of income per head of those living in Georgia. So it's no wonder that those players elect to play in the richer countries," he added.
Millar said a proposal that the IRB pay the wages of the missing players was not feasible, saying the board could not afford it even though the tournament is forecast to generate record profits.
But he added he was confident the Sydney World Cup would be a great tournament despite the absence of such players.
"I think that we should have better rugby than any previous rugby world cups. To predict a winner now is difficult. Cup rugby is cup rugby and a team on the day can beat anybody and if you're a New Zealander, I don't like reminding you but think of France New Zealand last time and what happened and that's cup rugby and that's the sort of thing we would want to happen and this is why we talk about the smaller nations. It's so important that we have people who come in unheralded, not expected to do very well and causing an upset and that's what cup rugby is all about so hopefully we will have a great tournament."
Meanwhile, the Australian Post has launched a series of postal stamps to mark the event. The international series features the destinctive blue and green colour scheme of the Rugby World Cup 2003.
Bureau Report
Those countries claim their players were pressured by rich clubs in Europe and New Zealand to skip the World Cup. The clubs deny the claims and the IRB says it can't sanction them unless they have proof.
"It's not difficult to understand why players from the poorer countries are electing each season to play for clubs in the richer countries and to send back home the fruits of their labour. Very important in some instances for the families back home. It's huge money. And if you look at the income per head, not the earnings but the income per head of say, United Kingdom, or France, or Australia is around 13 times that of those living in the Pacific Islands or Namibia and more than 25 times of income per head of those living in Georgia. So it's no wonder that those players elect to play in the richer countries," he added.
Millar said a proposal that the IRB pay the wages of the missing players was not feasible, saying the board could not afford it even though the tournament is forecast to generate record profits.
But he added he was confident the Sydney World Cup would be a great tournament despite the absence of such players.
"I think that we should have better rugby than any previous rugby world cups. To predict a winner now is difficult. Cup rugby is cup rugby and a team on the day can beat anybody and if you're a New Zealander, I don't like reminding you but think of France New Zealand last time and what happened and that's cup rugby and that's the sort of thing we would want to happen and this is why we talk about the smaller nations. It's so important that we have people who come in unheralded, not expected to do very well and causing an upset and that's what cup rugby is all about so hopefully we will have a great tournament."
Meanwhile, the Australian Post has launched a series of postal stamps to mark the event. The international series features the destinctive blue and green colour scheme of the Rugby World Cup 2003.
Bureau Report