Players boss calls for eligibility rule change

Tier one nations need to release their grip on the game and eligibility rules need to be relaxed if rugby is to grow globally, says Pacific Rugby Players Welfare boss Dan Leo.

The former Samoa international says it’s a ‘‘no-brainer’’ for World Rugby to make a change to the rules around players representing more than one country and that it would be an economic way to boost the sport in the southern hemisphere.

Speaking to programme from the UK, Leo, the New Zealand-born 36-year-old who moved to Australia as a teen, then played in England, France and the United States during his career, says the current laws are unfair on the Pacific Island teams.

There are numerous examples of players moving abroad for the lure of big money club deals and being lost to a Pacific nation by fulfilling residency requirements and then representing their new nation, in perhaps only a handful of games.

Leo says it’s something which urgently needs addressing and wouldn’t cost the governing body anything to tweak.

‘‘It would be an easy way to help smaller nations and smaller populations on less resources, and it’s Dan Leo, right

something that wouldn’t break World Rugby’s bank too,’’ he told

‘‘This is a non-monetary way that we could invest into teams, not just the Pacific Islands, other tier two nations as well would hugely benefit from getting some of their players back who may have been capped for other countries.’’

The lure of the big financial offshore deals, and Pacific players’ desires to earn for their families is a major factor in the declining talent pool for those countries, Leo says.

‘‘The systems in place are actually conducive to keeping teams like the Pacific Islands poor,’’ he told

‘‘But if you go to a country like France, where I do a lot of work, we’re just propping up French professional rugby, especially when you go down to the second and third divisions, it’s Pacific Island sourced.

‘‘At the moment, if you want to be a professional player, you’ve got to leave. That’s the reality of the situation.

‘‘And if that was to change, if there was the investment coming in to create the pathway where players didn’t have to leave, didn’t have to go to France or Romania or now Russia, to make a living, what shape would those competitions be in? I imagine they’d be worse off.

‘‘So for me it makes sense that these laws aren’t changing, because you’re talking about not just changing a law that would affect the performance of tier two Pacific Island nations, there’d be a perceived reduction in the profitability of those competitions.

‘‘That’s only going to change if some of these richer nations release their grip on the financing of the game and get behind this policy change.’’

‘It would be an easy way to help smaller nations and smaller populations on less resources.’’