IRB says withdrawals undermine World Cup

SYDNEY - The International Rugby Board (IRB) has conceded that this year's World Cup has been undermined by the unavailability of players from poorer countries.

IRB chairman Syd Millar said yesterday the board was powerless to solve the problem but added they planned to set up a working party to establish new rules ensuring all the best players would be available for the 2007 tournament.

"Not only is this situation highly undesirable, it is also unacceptable and undermines the quality and integrity of international rugby and therefore the game at all levels," Millar told a news conference.

The build-up to the fifth World Cup, which opens tomorrow, has been tarnished by the sudden withdrawal of players from countries such as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

Those countries claim their players were pressured by rich clubs in Europe and New Zealand to skip the World Cup. The clubs deny the claims and the IRB say they can not sanction them unless they have proof.

"This is a complex issue and we're not putting our heads in the sand," Millar said.

"It's not difficult to understand why players from the poorer countries are electing each season to play for clubs in the richer countries and to send back home the fruits of their labour.

"Nations like Samoa, Namibia and Georgia are not wealthy nations. They cannot afford to pay the sort of wages which clubs in the developed nations pay.

"But the IRB cannot act until certain pre-conditions are fulfilled. Once these conditions are fulfilled we ask the Union in which the player is contracted to deal with the matter and, if necessary, to impose sanctions for non-compliance of the regulation."

Millar said a proposal that the IRB pay the wages of the missing players was not feasible, saying the board could not afford it even though the tournament is forecast to generate record profits.

"Even if we wanted to pay these players to turn up we couldn't afford to," Millar said.

"Every union in the world would consider in such a situation, that it, too, should be the recipient of further handouts.

"We would quickly discover that there was no money to distribute to the Unions and no development budget."

Millar said he hoped the problem was solved in time for the next World Cup.

"I will be proposing the formation of a heavyweight working party comprising not just a few familiar rugby faces but also including external economic advisers," he said.

"The intention is to ensure that, long before Rugby World Cup 2007, we have arrangements in place which will guarantee the attendance in France of every international player selected by their nations.

"It will be their job to examine this issue even more carefully and to make recommendations within a year."

- REUTERS

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