SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS


Foreign talent has its good points, but recruiting locally is the future for clubs



By IAN MORRISON
AT THE tail end of last season the clubs' two-player limit on overseas (non-European) players had to be scrapped for two different reasons: firstly it proved almost impossible to police; and secondly because it was probably illegal, a restraint of trade if any club had the money and inclination to take a case to court.

The restrictions effectively applied to New Zealanders and Australians but their lifting has not resulted in the Scottish game being swamped with incomers, at least no more so than before. The SRU's own figures on players entering and leaving the country includes Scots but the majority in the statistics will be foreign players.

In season 2002-3 304 players arrived while 203 left. The following season saw 269 players enter while 296 departed. In season 2005-6, 186 came to our club game, with 155 leaving, and last season 167 arrived as 154 quit.

There is a net gain in almost every year but the incoming figures have fallen sharply from a high in 2002-3. That suggests that clubs are more choosey in their foreign selections now than they were five years ago, which can only be a good thing.

Everyone has a story of the one-paced Kiwi or the giant South African with feet for hands who takes one look at the miserable Scottish winter and promptly decides that their hamstring is not quite right. Over the past decade or so, the money clubs have wasted on second-rate foreign players has run into millions once all expenses are taken into account; flights, flat, car and cash. This money could have been better spent on infrastructure, youth development, even an extra round of drinks for the committee men would be preferable.

That Scottish clubs have wasted a fortune on foreigners is not in dispute but there is a flip side to the argument and numerous overseas players have hugely enriched our domestic game. For every dozen or so who have, like tumbleweeds, come and gone there are at least one or two overseas players who have stayed in Scotland and made a considerable mark; if the foreign legion quit tomorrow our domestic game would be incomparably poorer for it. Sean Lineen, Cammy Mather, Ben Fisher, Joe Edwards, Angus Martyn and hundreds like them have made a huge net contribution to Scottish rugby.

Ayr can field three Frenchmen, two South Africans, two New Zealanders and an Aussie. So far, so multicultural, but scratch the surface and what constitutes a "foreign" player becomes increasingly less obvious. One of the "South Africans" is AJ McFarlane who has played age-group rugby for Scotland while the "Australian" is Damien Kelly, the lock who appeared for the Scotland club international team that beat Ireland last season.

Kenny Hamilton of the Premier One Forum admits the foreign legion causes some anxiety and he does not rule out a non-binding gentlemen's agreement to replace the two-foreigner protocol that was so recently abandoned.

"When the AGM repealed that protocol we agreed to review the decision at the end of the season and I hope that that will happen," said Hamilton. "It may be that some sort of (voluntary] participation agreement will take its place but it also needs to address the pool of professional players that are available to clubs and the protocols surrounding that too."

Hamilton is referring to the agreement with the pro-teams whereby unused professionals would filter back to the club game but the system needs radical adjustment to make it work. Heriot's have access to six professionals while Hawick have just one. Clubs are allowed to field just one more professional player than the opposition, so any club playing against Hawick can only ever field two pros at best. As a result large numbers of young professional players are wasting their weekend when they could be improving standards in the club game.

The point Hamilton was making is that, if the system of filtering young pros back into club rugby can be improved then clubs might be tempted to dip into the pro-pool rather than looking abroad to strengthen their team. It's an alternative worth pursuing.

As the case studies show, there is always a good reason to look abroad for rugby talent but it is beginning to dawn on at least some Scottish clubs that there is often an even better reason for scouting talent closer to home.

This article was posted on 17-Dec-2007, 11:30 by Hugh Barrow.