www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/irfu-may-...y-uturn-2995108.html

THE IRFU could be forced into a climb down on its controversial Player Succession Strategy with a leading barrister claiming that the union's new policy is illegal on the grounds of discrimination.

The directives, to be introduced for the 2013/14 season, require only one non-Irish eligible (NIE) player in each of the 15 positions across Munster, Leinster and Ulster; all NIE contracts to be position specific; only Irish eligible injury replacement players and, from 2013/14, no contract renewals for NIE players or new NIE players contracted for that same position.

Tim O'Connor, a barrister specialising in rugby cases, says stipulations within the policy cannot be upheld under European law.

"It's a royal mess," said O'Connor, "and certainly unlawful. For people like Lifeimi Mafi, Doug Howlett and Isa Nacewa, who are no longer classed as non-EU players because they have Irish (and therefore EU) citizen children, they get the benefit of EU Treaty rights and therefore cannot be discriminated against on contracts.

"The reason for this goes back to two European cases, one called Kolpak, the other called Zambrano. Kolpak was a Slovak handball player. At the time, Slovakia wasn't a member of the EU, but had an accession agreement, so he was treated as being on the same footing as members.

"The German Handball Federation wanted to limit the number of non-German players in their league to develop more players for their national set-up, so they limited how many non-German players could sign. Kolpak got caught in the cross-fire, took the case and won.

"Were Nacewa or Howlett to be denied a new contract not on the basis of their play, but because of this IRFU stance, you could see how they could go straight in, saying: 'This is exactly the same as Kolpak, we have EU Treaty rights, we're being messed around, and they can't do this'.

"That's even more the case when you consider Irish rugby's particular situation, where it covers two EU states, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Cross-border freedom of movement is pretty much sacred in EU law, so if, for example, Mafi was offered a contract in Ulster when Munster signed a non-Irish 12, the IRFU would be preventing cross-border movement of a worker with EU Treaty rights and a citizen dependent -- which got shot down in Zambrano."

O'Connor also cited the Jean-Marc Bosman ruling on freedom of movement as a reason why the IRFU directives were not permissible under EU law.

"The Bosman ruling established that it was unlawful under EU law to restrict players from another EU country from playing in the competitions -- including in Ireland, the provinces playing under the IRFU -- on the grounds of nationality," said O'Connor.

"And then Kolpak extended it; and Zambrano extended it further. So, if, for example, Munster get refused a new contract for BJ Botha and want to sign Welsh tight-head Adam Jones instead, there is no way IRFU regulations would be able prevent it, because they are unlawful.

"What this policy does is set up the potential for a huge legal fight in Irish rugby," O'Connor concluded.

The motivation behind the IRFU's policy is to provide the national side with two suitably experienced, Irish-qualified players in all 15 positions.

This week's Ireland squad announcements underlined the need for such a move, with the lack of experienced props the primary concern. While senior props Mike Ross, Cian Healy (both Leinster) and Tom Court (Ulster) have been starting regularly for their provinces, Ireland coach Declan Kidney had to turn to two props, Stephen Archer and Ronan Loughney, for his Wolfhounds squad who have not been guaranteed starters with Munster and Connacht.

However, there is ambiguity surrounding the policy, such as deciding who gets first choice on an NIE player in a given position. This opens up the union to accusations of favouritism if one province were to be permitted to sign a player in a particular position over the other two.

The fairest solution to this could be the American draft system, where first choice is based on where the team finished the previous season.

Another issue is the decree where NIE players have to be position specific. With players such as Nacewa and Ulster's Ruan Pienaar carrying the ability to play in a number of positions, there should be leeway granted here if, for example, squad resources were reduced due to injury.

Since the policy was announced just before Christmas, Munster, Leinster and Ulster, the three affected provinces, have all voiced their objections to the moves and are scheduling a collective response to the union after a planned discussion next week.

The legal ramifications regarding discrimination on the basis of player movement will undoubtedly strengthen the calls for a rethink by the IRFU. Irish rugby will undoubtedly benefit from controlling its use of overseas players in a manner that will promote the national side, but the IRFU's recruitment policy may have to be readdressed to find the best, workable way to achieve this. The IRFU said they would not comment on any details of the Player Succession Strategy as discussions are ongoing.

Anybody heard any new news on this? There's a lot of talk on other boards about the difference between NIE's (Non-Irish Elligible i.e BJ Botha who has been capped for South Africa) and NIQ's. Have they changed the wording or clarified anything?

Not always a fan of Hook, but after the Leinster v. Ulster match he made the point that if the IRFU are serious about Irish rugby than players like Carr, Cronin and Keatley should be playing at Connacht rather than making the occasional cameos at Leinster and Munster. That's obvious to all of us, but good to hear it come up again on a national broadcast.

OldSchool wrote: www.herald.ie/sport/rugby/provinces-prim...tricted-2971941.html

Connacht are exempt from the rules because they have been granted ‘private franchise’

This is the most interesting part of all this, are we being lined up by the IRFU for a "go see how ye manage on yer own lads" or is it that some unknown millionare from the west is taking over? Suppose we are already half way there with the PGB

rossie wrote:
Finally any directive the irfu issues that refers to the development of irish qualified players and doesnt include connacht in it has to be bad for connachts future longterm.

This. So much this!

it was posted by someone on one of other provinces formums.all have this thread and majority on each are very against it. think posting was on munster one.

Excellent. Gotta link?

it appears that all 4 provinces and most senior clubs have already rejected this policy statement of irfu outright so we look to be entering a period of negotiation and compromise.

should be interesting.

rogue they have covered themselves there. they werent stupid.

by not going down the welsh route and salary capping the provinces they have left the gate open for leinster and munster to pillage the other provinces.

They recognise that these two superpowers put huge money in the coffers each year and also the fact that fans dont pay to see them develop irish players but to win games and tournaments. The gate has been left open for munster in particular to raid connacht for players that are irish qualified that their acadamy has failed to produce|

They have the status, the stadium, the money and even the geography in their favour and it will be actively encouraged by irfu who wont want the cashcow that is munster deminished in any way. leinster will also look north and west as as someone said the quality niqs wont want to know.

Finally any directive the irfu issues that refers to the development of irish qualified players and doesnt include connacht in it has to be bad for connachts future longterm.

Whats in it for the irfu to allow connacht to continue to use niq players and not the other provinces if its declared policy is to develop irish qualified players for the national team?

If they truely want a genuine 4 province set up into the future why didnt they introduce a salary cap to give each province a level playing field to compete for irish qualified players?

This cant be good for connacht or irish rugby.

I can see this policy actually sending some Irish players overseas since IMO it threatens the provinces' position in European club rugby. For one they need the NIQ players to get them to the upper echelon and then the problem is compounded because those players will then go to France and England clubs. And won't this cause the provincial coaches to overuse their frontline players since the replacements are not up to the proper stantard? Surely this will tempt a certain type of Irish player to seek out clubs that actually have a chance to win in Europe rather than toil away at a second rate Irish province. International rugby may be the bread and butter to the IRFU, but at club and provincial level is where the passion for the sport is developed in the fan base.

www.herald.ie/sport/rugby/provinces-prim...tricted-2971941.html

Connacht are exempt from the rules because they have been granted ‘private franchise’ status

The IRFU had a Q&A session on twitter.

Utter whitewash. Glossed over all issues, ignored the hard questions, just repeated what was in the original article. Total marketing exercise. Got nothing out of it.

Gave them a piece of my mind, though, so I'm feeling very zen right now

looks to me like we are going to be the big losers in this one, you can be guaranteed that the IRFU approved "real" provinces will pick and choose from our best Irish talent leaving us back in in the doldrums, I would much prefer if we were actually used as a real development province with the cream of younger talent not quite up to speed and/or experienced players (stringer et al) coming our way systematically, this could be the beginning of slowly running us out of existence.....

According to the IT, if you sign an NIE as a winger, he can't play anywhere else. The IRFU are now deciding not only squad makeup, but where they play.

That makes no sense whatsoever!?! I don't what dr*gs they were on coming up with that particular chestnut but they should lay off. What if they sign a player like Stan Wright who can play both sides of the scrum? Will they go "gee you can only be a TH and never play LH?" Cuckoo! :silly:

Oh, and that bit I said earlier about "unless they're playing a winger out of position". That can't happen.

According to the IT, if you sign an NIE as a winger, he can't play anywhere else. The IRFU are now deciding not only squad makeup, but where they play. Coaches are going to go spare.

Where's the bottom spanking emoticon?