Answer to Irish call is to wait around for seven years...
THE bus turned right on to Grand Parade and was cruising past the queues for Forrest Gump outside the Capitol when a distinctly D4 voice piped up: ‘ Look guys, they have a cinema down here!’
He was only half-messing, as the subsequent team- talk before Lansdowne’s showdown with Constitution proved later that afternoon confirmed when we were urged to ‘take it to these f****** mucksavages’.
Such a description would not have sat well with the worthies of Cork Con (one of the most wellheeled city clubs in the country) had they heard it but it spoke to a prevailing attitude among Dublin’s rugby fraternity where everyone beyond the Pale was a ‘culchie’ no matter how urban their existence.
Such attitudes precluded any risk of going native during that one season in Dublin in the mid-1990s and, even after returning to spend the last decade in the capital, it is impossible to be defined by this Jackeen existence however much one appreciates it.
If 10 years cannot magic a Corkman into a Dub, despite a shared national culture and heritage, how can we expect three years to turn a South African or Kiwi into an Irishman?
We can’t but the existing, farcical eligibility rules in rugby have prompted concerted attempts at identity subterfuge, where Afrikaaners are lauded for learning the words to Amhrán na bhFiann and Taranaki boys are handed hurleys off the plane in a pathetic swing at moulding public perception.
The reality, however, is the persistent undermining of the worth and honour of playing for ‘your’ country and, having beaten this drum to the point of exhaustion over many years, it is hugely gratifying to finally note some heavyweight support for correcting this preposterous and demeaning situation.
Up until recently, World Rugby chief Brett Gosper came across as a bit of an eejit — an Aussie whose marketing background led to an over-indulgence in sincerely insincere corporate waffle containing precious little substance.
This was compounded by his fondness for Twitter, the social networking forum where substance is in short supply. Gosper holds the most significant position in the game, one that demands a high degree of gravitas, and tweets about his joy at his old club Racing Metro emerging from their European Cup pool or how it is essen- tial that England qualify from their World Cup group later this year were crass in the extreme and caused understandable anger.
HOWEVER, Gosper recaptured some credibility l ast week when he spoke about the urgent need to look at national eligibility rules. He has clearly seen the train coming down the track bearing a host of ‘ flag of convenience’ players destined to be the focus of unwelcome attention at this autumn’s World Cup.
The issues have not changed — a three-year qualification period is far too short and the ‘granny rule’ far too convenient for players looking to maximise career opportuni- ties having been unable to progress with their native countries — and are easily corrected.
Extending the qualification period — ideally to seven years but at the very least to five — would not transform a player’s national identity but would demand proper commitment beyond the space of one playing contract.
Similarly, tightening the family connection route from grandparent to parent would ensure closer representative links while still catering for the increased rate of emigration.
Such measures would not be surrendering to jingoism or xenophobia, they would reflect the importance of national passions beyond the benefits of exposure and financial reward.
There would then no longer be the wearying need to stress how coaches and players are operating ‘within the rules’ or how foreign opportunists are ‘good lads’ and ‘totally committed to the cause’.
All true in the case of recent Ireland inductees like Jared Payne, Richardt Strauss and Robbie Diack but playing international rugby should be deeper than the culmination of a clinically devised ‘project’.
If a player is willing to commit seven years of a relatively short career to fulfilling his international dream or has a deep-rooted urge to play for the country of their parents they would be warmly welcomed.
And Brett, if you can oversee that happening, y ou can t weet whatever the hell you want, boy. Up Cork.