Features Featured Therapist of the Week!!!

I know it's been a bit average lately but here's hoping Celia Wade-Brown and Co. at the council will let boys be boys and get us on the fields this week so we can try on our new jerseys for size!! Regardless this week we have one of the true champions of the Therapist cause, a founding father no less, a man who always gives 100% when he steps out onto the field in the OBU Therapist jersey, it's my pleasure to give to you Hamish Thomson!!!

1) Name: Hamish Bruce Thomson


2) Birthday: 11/03/1990 in Dannevirke, NZ


3) Hometown: and Provincea: Dannevirke, Hawkes Bay


4) Physical stats: 80kg, 1.81m


5) Education: St Joesph's Primary School, Dannevirke High School and Victoria Uni Degree in Commerce (Int. Business, Com Law, Accounting)


6) Best rugby moment:  Few contenders but the best moment would probably be a Dvk 1st XV game against Gisborne Boys 1st XV in my 6th form. We were beating them at halftime and ended up only losing by a small margin. I pulled out a man of match performance with the standout moment for me was nailing their big, black winger (possibly one of the Gear brothers) in a try saving tackle in front of a bumper crowd.


7) Best OBU Therapists moment: Best Therapist moment was beating the Dead Ants and watching them whinge and sulk afterwards (hopefully we never lose to them again). Oh and making the final in our debut year was pretty special as well.

8)Who is your all time Rugby hero: Since I was not lucky enough to witness the legend Dave 'Trapper' Loveridge in action, my hero would have to be Israel Dagg. I watched this guy play in a primary school tournament and he completely dominated. Nothing has changed and I am expecting him to be an All Black great.


9) If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite: David Bain: Either hooked up to a lie detector or have his drink laced with truth potion whipped up by Snape (I really want to find out what happened). Hamish & Andy: Couple of the funniest guys out, as I can only pick one I will probably lean towards Andy (to avoid confusion over Hamish having the same name as me). Scarlett Johansson: Something to look at and I might seat her next to Bain just to see how things develop. Jack Reacher: One of the toughest guys out, knows his shit and would have some interesting yarns. Suzy the Waitress: Purely for revenge purposes, lets see who gets poisoned this time bitch.


10) Who was your 1st kiss: Was at one of the first Dvk parties I ever went to in the 4th-5th Form holidays i think. First time a lot of girls had drunk and it was pretty easy pickings from what I remember, not sure too many people missed out on a kiss (the high school version of spin the bottle was in full swing). Good night for me as I managed to get of the mark with a double.


11) Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Ummm, well I quite like Wellington so hopefully located there. As for a job, my hopes lie with the Therapist brand expanding to becoming a force in the sporting and commercial world, thus leading to several high paying jobs to be filled by me and any other capable Therapists.


12) Who is your favourite fellow OBU Therapist: I know he isnt playing this year, but my favourite Therapist would have to be Peter "RAAAANNDRUP" Randrup. Exciting, elusive and electric, Randrup entertained the crowds in a way not seen since a young Jonah Lomu burst onto the scene. Everytime the ranging lock touched the ball there was a collective intake of breath as teamates and opposition alike wondered what magic would be weaved. Top guy and there will definately be attempts to lure Randrup back to Therapists rugby in the near future.


13) Nickname: Dvk nicknames; Tomo, Tomps, Hami, Dannevegas, Vegas.


14) What’s your favourite ‘I was hanging with the boys this one time and...’ story:  Cant go past the time I was hanging with a few of the boys and we won over 6 thousand dollars on the amazing horse that is Storman Norman. Was an impossibly close race that left 5 grown men screaming and jumping around the room. Admittedly I only won 700 that day but was still one of the greatest thrills of my life and I have no doubt that I will spend a lot of money trying to repeat it!


15) What was the cause behind your worst ever hangover:  Crate day in first year, can't remember much from it. Spent all sunday spewing up black shit from my stomach. Truly horrible taste in my mouth for days.


16) Worst job you ever had:  Worst job was definitely scraping paint of the bottom of a massive empty swimming pool. It was hot, the paint was stubborn, and kneeling on the knees all day made for tough toil.


17) What’s your ultimate hangover cure: Havent really found a cure yet. Bacon and eggs always goes down well and I tend to change up what drink I get, though a milkshake is pretty hard to beat.


18) What’s your cooking specialty:  Nachos. Pretty obvious answer here as I have cooked the same thing for about 60 weeks straight. I once threatened to cook something else but my flatmate Russell gave me the saddest look I have ever seen, couldnt let the man down.


19) What is your strategy when it comes to picking up the ladies in town: Been out of the game a little while now but my general strategy involved drinking as much as I could and hoping for the best on the d floor. This method skipped any ground work and due to this a low strike rate is inevitable. However, I hear the new strategy is to pretend you find some money on the ground and use that story as an ice breaker with a chosen target and then subsequently offer to buy them a drink with the "discovered" cash. From what I hear it works a treat.


20) What’s the one song you want to hear before you run out onto the field for the OBU Therapists: Il be Ready- Baywatch theme song. Is there a more motivating and inspiring song out there?


21) Dannevirke: Manawatu or Hawkes Bay?  Have ties to both but it will always be Hawkes Bay in my mind and the minds of most of the general Dannevirke population. Wairarapa is pretty close also...


Cheers Vegas, hope to see you all this weekend, if not on the field then definitely at the 'bridge!!

Features Featured Therapist of the Week!!!

Hello again fellow Therapists, gutted our game got cancelled last week but hopefully the Council will let our bunch of scallywags and vagabonds on their hallowed fields for a game this week. With regards to next weeks featured Therapist I think my parents are coming to watch this weekend so if anyone draws the fullback this weekend to put me under the posts consider yourself a shoo in!! This week Features Featured Therapist is reputedly 2010's Nicest Guy in Wellington, a veritable force at hooker or on the flank, the one and only Nick Mitchell!!!

1) Name: Nicholas Samuel Mitchell

2) Birthday: 15/08/1989 in New Plymouth, New Zealand

3) Hometown and Province: NP in the nakbok

4) Physical stats: 104 kg, 1.79m

5) Education: NPBHS and have just completed a bachelor in science at VUW, shit its scary saying that!

6) Best rugby moment: A few goodies but it would probably have to Highlands Intermediate 2nd XV vs Wanganui Intermediate in my form 1 year. Managed to weave through a few would be defenders to score the winning try in the last few minutes. few years back now but it still sticks.

7) Best OBU Therapists moment: On the field would probably have to be my debut vs Poneke and my one and only appearance in 2010, obviously that first time is always pretty special. Off the field any of the times at the bridge when things have got messy

8) Who is your all time Rugby hero: Definitely the great Derek Maisey, one of the under-rated playmakers to play provincial/super rugby in NZ. Had the crispest wide ball in the country when in his prime. Wonderful star for the mooloos.

9) If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite: Dave Grohl of the foo fighters because he is a legend and i reckon he would spin a good yarn. Guido Hatzis to provide a bit of humour by verbally tearing everyone at the table to shreads. Ke$ha to ask her what its like to brush your teeth with a bottle of jack. Nicole off Home and Away to try and lure her away from Angelo and into my arms and Harry Rednapp to give him a bit of advice on how to get spurs back in the top 4 next season.

10) Who was your 1st kiss: Haha it was at my birthday party and we were playing this game where you sat in a circle and had someone blindfolded in the middle had to go sit on someones lap and guess who it was. this young girl came and sat on my lap and instead of guessing who it was started kissing me! was the best 20th birthday party i could ask for!

11) Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Hmmm struggling to see just ten days down the track at the moment but in 10 years hopefully might have found a nice lady and have an enjoyable job.

12) Who is your favourite fellow OBU Therapist: Zac Heale. Great bloke and is coming on in leaps and bounds in his therapists career, great stuff!

13) Nicknames: Chunky, Mitchelli, Olas (an alternative to Nick from Nicholas), Badjelly the Mitch, Mr Mischief, Nicky Butt.

14) What’s your favourite ‘I was hanging with the boys this one time and...’ story: Mind is pretty blank but funny moment happened the other day when was playing pool with my good mate down at bowlarama in NP when from left field these semi-mentally ill people just bursted randomly into a naki naki naki chant, really spurred me on in the game of pool i reckon.

15) What was the cause behind your worst ever hangover: Probably have to say rhythm and vines 08/09 where the cause was probably that i didnt sleep then couldnt sleep during the day due to being stuck at the camp ground in the heat. felt like i was gonna die. good times though.

16) Worst job you ever had: Working at the local fish and chip shop. the asian owners were constantly on my case to make sure i did things right and only paid me $6 an hour! the pits...

17) What’s your ultimate hangover cure: Another few beverages, hands down... ah nah to avoid becoming an alcoholic it is probably a good old fry up. bita bacon, eggs, mushrooms, onions, chips. away laughing

18) What’s your cooking specialty: Back myself to cook a pretty decent roast. but im fairly versatile to be fair

19) What is your strategy when it comes to picking up the ladies in town: I like to use an old Stevie Wonder song/lyric as motivation. Sign it by making eye contact with the target. Seal it by approaching the target and showing her your moves. and Deliver it enriching her with your charm.. if it only it was that easy

20) What’s the one song you want to hear before you run out onto the field for the OBU Therapists: Dei Hamo - We gone ride

21) Does Nick Mitchell have a dark side: Haha apparently not but if you play golf with me or catch me on a bad day at the tab you may see something resembling a dark side

Cheers Nick mate and I'll be seeing you boys on gameday!! If not enjoy your holidays and most importantly, be safe, cheers!!

Features Featured Therapist of the Week!!

This weeks Featured Therapist has been an integral part of the OBU Therapists since its inception in 2010, a rock amongst the loose forwards, hailing from the town of Feilding in the mighty Manawatu, the one.. the only.. Richie Small!!1) Name: Richard Carl Small

2) Birthday: 25th April 1990, Palmerston North Hospital

3) Hometown and Province: Grew up in Feilding before moving to Palmerston North in 2004, Manawatu

4) Physical Stats: 95kgs, 1.89m

5) Education: Colyton Primary School, Feilding Intermediate, Palmerston North Boys High School. VUW; LLB and a BA

6) Best Rugby moment: When the 3rd XV coach picked up the wrong jerseys from the drycleaners and we got to wear the hallowed PNBHS 1st XV strip for the day

7) Best OBU Therapists moment: Couple of contenders, getting my one (and only) try against a Tawa Spartans team fielding 13 players last year and getting 1 point in the 3, 2, 1's against the P-lim Punters a couple of weeks ago and Shaun Raumati awarding me a golden durex. It's still in the sock drawer waiting for a lady special enough to justify using it.

8) Who is your all time favorite rugby hero: Richie McCaw, A workhorse on the paddock with the full skill set and mental toughness. A good guy too, everything an All Black should be

9) If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would you invite: Anton Oliver, for intelligent rugby discussion. Freddie Mercury, beacause he is the greatest musician of all time. Maria Tutaia, to get the ball rolling before our future wedding. Hayley Holt, because Ridley's answer last week made me realise I needed a backup in case things didn't go to plan and Wilson Dixon for some light relief. Fuck that would be a weird dinner.

10) Who was your first kiss: Some random chick from the PNGHS dance. I think from memory she was drunk or on something but in Palmy you take what you can get

11) Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Deputy Mayor of Palmerston North, working under the wise leadership of Mayor Seal, or Senior Crown Prosecutor but realistically it will be the former

12) Who is your favorite fellow OBU Therapist: Lawrence Harris. Embodies everything a Therapist should be- hungry, determined, reliable, humble, full skill set and a nice guy to top it all off

13) Nicknames: Richie, Big Dog, Dick Small, Small Balls.. anything to do with undersized genitalia

14) What's your best 'this one time I was hanging with the boys and...' story: I was hanging out with the boys this one time at my mates flat on a Saturday night and one of the boys pulled out this 10 year old malaysian weed. Next thing I remember is waking up at 3.30am in the lounge of my own flat, naked with a half eaten domino's pizza on my lap and the BBC turned up full bore

15) What was the cause behind your worst ever hangover: Crate day first weekend in the new flat, finished crate then did a couple of boat races. Went to town and did a few handles at the DTL and for some reason went to Library where I had a few champagnes. Sunday morning found me hating everything about myself

16) Worst job you ever had: Summer holiday's just gone, worked out the back of the Kelburn Butchery scrubbing the meat of all the machines each night. Enough said.

17) What is your ultimate hangover cure: Flat roast on sunday nights. Cooked to perfection by the farm boys in the flat

18) What is your cooking speciality: Frozen sausages straight in the pan, combined with rice and mixed veges. 6 nights a week. I operate on the 'if it aint broke don't fix it' basis

19) What is your strategy for picking up the ladies in town: Preload on the beers to build inner confidence followed up by some grinding in Hope Bros or Red Square. It's essential to have boys with you to help whittle down the pack; in my experience the guy who goes in hunting by himself rarely finds a lady worthy of the $20 taxi fare home. On that note, make sure you have enough coin left at the end of the night for transport, in 2nd year I made a girl walk an hour to my flat and then all she wanted to do was sleep. Rookie mistake.

20) What's the one song you want to hear before you run out onto the field for the OBU Therapists: Queen; 'Headlong', it's a great song

21) Mark Lundy; Innocent or Guilty: 100% Guilty (Just like David Bain but I won't go there). Had means, motive and opportunity.

A big thank you to this weeks Featured Therapist Biggie Smalls, heed his advice boys and keep a spare $20 in your back pocket, we all need girls if there is to be a second generation of Therapists.

Features Featured Therapist of the Week!!!

Hello friends, I hope you are all endeavouring to enjoy this rugby- free Saturday and welcome to the 2nd week of Features Featured Therapist of the Week. This weeks Therapist may have gone to Wanganui Collegiate but we don't hold that against him, introducing OBU Therapists utility back/ openside flanker/ (mainly) wing William Ridley!!!
1)Name: William Andrew John Ridley

2)Birthday: 5th July 1988. Born in Taupo.

3)Hometown and Province: Grew up in Taupo before going to High School in Wanganui. Mighty King Country region.

4)Physical Stats: 1.85cm/ 6'1, 80kg's +/- of sleek lean muscle

5)Education: Hilltop Primary and Intermediate. Wanganui Collegiate School. Victoria University of Wellington (Commerce and Administration (Accounting and Commercial Law)) and Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting. Hate it.

6)Best rugby moment: Once we had a 5 metre scrum on the try line we were defending and I told the 1st 5 to pass it to me instead of kicking it out... I took the ball, legged it past the wing, got to the half where I placed a kick over the fullbacks head for one of our guys to pick the ball up and score. Full field try. Loved it.

7)Best OBU Therapists moment: Selfishly, the time I played centre, got a sweet ball, stepped inside, hit the gap, stepped outside and dotted underneath the posts

8)Who is your all- time favorite rugby hero: Jonah Lomu. Devastating on attack and is all about the black jersey and less about the coin. Big Heart

9) If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would they be: Hayden Panettiere because I love her. Blake Lively (in case it didn't work out with Hayden). Selena Gomez, incase it didnt work out with either Hayden or Blake. Peyton Manning because he is the greatest living Quarterback and could teach me some shit. Rob Drydek because he is living the dream and could teach me some shit

10) Who was your 1st kiss: First kiss, Emma Mayer, 'in the dell' behind some flax bushes. First kiss kiss... Jamie Maddox, behind the Headmasters back fence, night time moonlight penetrating the trees, ran away and told all my friends instantly

11) Where do you see yourself in 10 years: Ideally as QB 1 for the New York Giants with a shiny blue number 5 on my jersey. But probably in Auckland or Sydney in a bank or a key financial role in a company

12) Who is your favourite fellow OBU Therapist: Like it is going to be anyone other than Shaquille O'Seal. So much heart, inspirational leader by performance, funny and all round good guy.

13) Nicknames: Terminator, Riddles, Cock eyed Ridley, Skinny white boy who I'm going to smash

14) What's your favourite 'I was hanging with the boys this one time and...' story?: It was about 11PM on Guy Fawkes day at school in 4th form and we decided to go out and try and buy some fireworks before they stopped been sold. Walked around town and car full of dudes pulled over and tried to start a fight. We ignored them and walked on. The next week they were on the news for stabbing a guy

15) What was the cause behind your worst ever hangover: Smirnoff Ice at the afterball in 6th form. Hated life for the next couple of days. Havent touched them since.

16) Worst job you ever had: Groundsman at Owen Delaney Park. Work was OK but the boss was simply awful, a real dick.

17) What is your ultimate hangover cure: Sleep in as long as possible, go for a run and then drink some sugary drink. Usually coke.

18) What's your cooking specialty: Chicken, pesto, pasta. Great night-before-gameday-meal. Carbs, protein, deliciousness and easy.

19) What is your strategy for picking up the ladies in town: Get real drunk and sloppy and stare at them with my creepy smile. Needless to say I have been single for four years and my pillow has been over-spooned

20) What's the one song you want to hear before you run out onto the field for OBU Therapists: Eric Prydz: Pjaano (Club Mix) as found on the Ministry of Sound the Annual 2009. That song does indescribable things to me

21) Tom Brady or Peyton Manning: Manning. There is no play called until they are at the line of scrimmage. He reads the defence like a bastard and controls the game. Plus Brady is a douchebag and plays for New England. No one likes New England.

The one and only William Ridley everyone!!! Cheers mate and stay tuned for next weeks Features Featured Therapist of the Week!!!

Features Featured Therapist of the Week!!!

Welcome to a new weekly segment on this blog. Each week I will conduct a Q&A with a chosen OBU Therapist to give the fans a chance to know the men behind the jersey. To kick it off this week we have foundation OBU Therapist member, utility prop and all round top bloke Jeremy Seal...

1)Name: Jeremy Philip Seal

2)Birthday: 16/02/1990

3)Hometown and Province: Ashhurst, Manawatu

4)Physical Stats: 113kg, 6'2 (ish)

5)Education: Palmerston North Boys High School, VUW; BA majoring in Criminology and Politics

6)Best Rugby moment: Playing for the Therapists

7)Best OBU Therapists moment: Everytime I put on the jersey

8)Who is your all time favourite rugby hero: Christian Cullen. Made things look like the simplest of tasks and made time stand still

9)If you could invite 5 people to dinner who would they be: Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Gunn, Nelson Mandela, Casey Williams & John Key

10)Who was your 1st kiss: Unsure, was at my cousins 21st when I was 14- I was pretty drunk

11)Where do you see yourself in 5 years: Police Commissioner

12)Who is your favourite OBU Therapist: Marty Basher, Front Row Club and Captain

13)Nicknames: Seal, Dogshit, Jem, Shaquille O'Seal

14What's your favourite 'this one time I was hanging with the boys and...' story: Not answered

15)What's the cause behind your worst ever hangover: Bottle of vodka

16)Worst job you've ever had: Not answered

17)What's your ultimate hangover cure: Chocolate milk

18)What's your cooking specialty: Devilled Sausages

19)What's your strategy when it comes to picking up the ladies in town: Dancing- lots of dancing

20)What's the one song you want to hear before you run out onto the field for OBU Therapists: Katy Perry: Baby you're a Therapist

21)OBU Therapists: Rugby team or lifestyle: Lifestyle

Cheers Seal, check in next week to see who Features Featured Therapist of the Week is!!!

Football's own economic crisis

I admit to only been a (very) casual fan of association football but it pains even me to see the parlous financial state that many of the top football clubs have put themselves in. I 'support' West Ham United, or the "Hammers" as we in the know call them. I support them not due to any family connection to the area the team hails from but because when I owned a copy of TIF 2005, I gave myself the challenge of getting a team through promotion from the English 1st Division to the Premier League with the eventual task of winning it all. Having no knowledge of the English football landscape outside the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool I simply closed my eyes, pressed the across right button on my controller and counted to 30. When I opened my eyes, the team fate chose to bestow upon me were the Hammers. Like I said, casual fan.

That said, I love all sports and it sickens me when I see finances overshadowing the spectacle that is the sport itself. And nowhere is this more seen than in football. As a financial model, the way many professional football clubs operate themselves should be outlawed. In his brilliant article for ESPN.com, "Is European Football eating itself" Leander Schaerlaeckens highlights the blatant financial mismanagement that is threatning to sink European football. He lists an extremely overinflated transfer market, with many clubs in the top leagues taking out heavy loans in order to obtain elite talent as one of the major causes of clubs across Europe sinking further into the red. A new phenomenon, is the recent spate of American owners, most notably of Manchester United and Liverpool fame who in their takeovers of the respective clubs, used the clubs as collateral in order to obtain the loans to buy the club. The result being we now see a Manchester United 'owned' by the Glazer family, who also own the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Glazer's stewardship of the club has seen the 5 years ago debt free Red Devils now owe over 500 million pounds, all of which is money owed to the bank to cover the loan the Glazers took out to buy the club in the first place. It is also worth noting that Manchester United, according to Schaerlaeckens pays the Glazer family around 20 million pounds annually to compensate them for running the club.. into the ground.

The problems are apparent, the way forward in order to solve them are not. I read calls for a salary cap of sorts in professional football on a daily basis. The argument put forward is that it works in the NFL (American Gridiron), a professional sports league whose financial clout is on par with that found in football. The NFL has a cap that rises yearly in relation to revenue increase. This salary cap is a success, with 5 weeks to go in the 2010/11 NFL regular season 18 of the 32 franchises had a mathematical chance of making the playoffs. That even spread of talent is not found in any of the major European football leagues. Let me tell you why a salary cap will not work nor be found in European football: There is too much vested interest for a bipartisan effort between the likes of the English Premiership (EP), the Serie A and the La Liga for an agreed upon salary cap to work. Those three leagues are the biggest in Europe/ the world, if the EP were to put in place a salary cap tomorrow and the Serie A and La Liga carried on the same, then the EP clubs would be financially handicapped when it came to retaining and bidding for the top talent. This would cause the value of the end product to decrease, (the actual football itself) thus companies would pay less to be associated with and the downward spiral would begin. That is why unless the three major leagues came on board and agreed to a cap this option will very likely never happen. By vested interest I mean why would the club of the Galacticos, Real Madrid agree to bound by the same financial constraints as a AC Milan, a Chelsea or god forbid a Barcelona.

The other area that needs cleaning up is the transfer market, the invisible hand (Maradona's?) has pushed transfer fees up at an exponential rate for too long. We now see a player such as Christiano Ronaldo been bought of Manchester United by Real Madrid for US$123 million. Thats not Ronaldo's salary by the way, thats Real Madrid paying Manchester United to compensate for Man U losing Ronaldo's services. To put that figure into perspective, the Spanish Government pledged US$48 million in aid to Haiti after the earthquake that killed over 100,000 people and caused widespread damage and chaos earlier this year. Here is where I do advocate professional football replicating the NFL system. In the NFL there are basically four ways of acquiring a player; the draft, a player trade, restricted free agency and free agency of which all but the draft (think about it) could possibly have a place in professional football. Imagine how many players Real Madrid would have have to have given Man U in order to obtain Ronaldo. Of course in free agency we would see mass bidding wars but it would be cleaner that a club paying a kings ransom to obtain a player then paying another kings ransom paying the player. Restricted Free Agency is a whole other deal, see here for the basics. FIFA could make it so that every player under the age of 25 was a RFA, with set price limits on salaries and compensation.

Professional football does have things in its favor though, for starters it is played throughout the world, it is a truly international sport/ pastime. Also the passion of fans when it comes to their clubs is a true cultural phenomenon. People across Europe become feudal when it comes to supporting their clubs, it must be in the makeup of the european psyche. As a result these fans will do anything for the clubs, meaning that whilst the main fan base is still not alienated, the game has a chance to learn from its largesse and move into the future practicing austerity instead. Ultimately, we need to remember that football above all is a game, and not just any game at that but the beautiful game.

BJH

What is the IRB thinking?

The International Rugby Board (IRB) turned down a great chance to improve the standard of test match rugby when it voted against changing the current eligibility laws the other day. As it stands, once a player has played for a nations top representative team, the next best team and/ or the sevens team he cannot at a later date play for a team representing another nation. See here for the statute in full.

Northern commentators have applauded the move to retain the existing eligibility laws, telling readers that it keeps the game of rugby in line with other major codes such as football (Which also only allows a player to play for one nation) and distances the sport from the debacle that is the international eligibility laws of rugby league. For the record I am not in any way advocating for Rugby to adopt the eligibility laws of Rugby League but the FIFA comparison rankles with me. FIFA has more member nations than the UN, there are over 240 million people worldwide playing association football at some level. The IRB on the other hand lays claim to 95 member states, of which around 15 national teams (at a stretch) play at a professional level. There are thought to be around 10 million people worldwide playing rugby at some level.

The point is, FIFA with its 240 million competitors can afford to be hardline on its international eligibility rules whereas the IRB cannot. Football's prevalence in communities all over the world means that players with elite talent, the Pele's, the Maradona's, the Ronaldinho's are constantly being churned out. Football is also an easier game to pick up and to participate. You see UNICEF advertisements of kids kicking a rag ball on a dirt patch in the middle of a slum almost daily. You will never see 12 year old impoverished Johnny learning the finer points of tighthead prop play by a scrum machine in the background. Rugby is alot more specialist and technical than football, more coaching is needed for a player to rise through the ranks. This limits rugby's appeal severely in that there is alot of potential out there that will forever be left untapped.

The World Cup, the IRB version (less petrodollars), is a 20 team tournament. I feel that the IRB should be looking to showcase its best product, by that I mean having the best rugby players in the world leaving it all on the field. Especially at a time of cost cutting and the all important TV networks re-evaluating the worth of sporting events the IRB should be looking to put its best product on the field. This is not achieved when you deny players such as Jerry Collins, Chris Masoe, Ben Atiga, Sosene Anesi (All eligible for Samoa) or even Doug Howlett (Tonga) a chance to play at the World Cup.

Federation of Oceania Rugby (FORU) boss Harry Schuster has accused his Celtic counterparts of acting in their own interest by not voting for the measure. And its a valid fear that a full strength Western Samoan team would be on par with a Scotland or a Wales but that is good for the game, no one wants to see blowouts. Another point to consider is that it wouldn't just be the Pacific Island nations that benefit, a fledging rugby outpost such as Georgia could do with the services of Dimitri Yachvili and Dimitri Szarzeski once their French days are over. Ireland's Ronan O'Gara is US born. More than a few South African players have come from Namibia or Zimbabwe, Percy Montgomery the example there. The knowledge these veterans of the game could pass on to the homegrown semi professional players that by and large constitute the second tier of international rugby is invaluable and I feel the IRB will rue the day they decided not to change this abomination of a law.

BJH