: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:20 am  

The Trip wrote:

Bird is also due to return to Australia for the court case, which starts on April 27.

However the Catalans expected Bird to be available to face Bradford at the Gilbert Brutus Stadium on March 21 - and to get past United Kingdom immigration officers for the game against Leeds at Headingley on March 27.


Love the above statement from the Sky report. It looks like they maybe trying to disguise the bloke. Maybe as their mascot ? Or just hide him in the kit basket.

Why am I not surprised that he won't be coming this weekend

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:58 am  

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 66,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 66,00.html

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:32 am  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

Not sure where i have but i'm sure you'll point it out.

here, the first part seems to contradict the second

And no, I’m not expecting the French clubs to run signings pass the UK border agency at all, not sure where you’ve pulled that one from. All I’m saying, putting the legalities aside for one moment, the RFL could resolve this issue of one club having an advantage over everyone else by refusing to register any player who is not eligible to play for all member clubs. I would feel the same if Wakefield were able to sign a player that Catalans were unable to due to visa issues.

how are we supposed to know if a player is eligable to join all 14 member clubs unless they pass both the french and uk border agencies decisions?

had bird not signed for bradford, and not been refused entry, he still wouldnt have been eligable to sign for bradford, and still would have been able to sign for les catalans

eventually, if it carries on like it is, clubs will get a good idea which players would and wouldnt get in, and we will still have a situation where les catalans can get some players in that others dont even bother with, a ruling like you are asking for isnt only illegal and discriminatory, but unworkable,

we are in a multi-national competition, in that, because of the laws which superseed our games, there will be differences, sometimes they will go in the british clubs favour, sometimes the other countries, its just a fact of life

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:58 am  

SmokeyTA wrote:

here, the first part seems to contradict the second



how are we supposed to know if a player is eligable to join all 14 member clubs unless they pass both the french and uk border agencies decisions?

had bird not signed for bradford, and not been refused entry, he still wouldnt have been eligable to sign for bradford, and still would have been able to sign for les catalans

eventually, if it carries on like it is, clubs will get a good idea which players would and wouldnt get in, and we will still have a situation where les catalans can get some players in that others dont even bother with, a ruling like you are asking for isnt only illegal and discriminatory, but unworkable,

we are in a multi-national competition, in that, because of the laws which superseed our games, there will be differences, sometimes they will go in the british clubs favour, sometimes the other countries, its just a fact of life

Its a tricky one and i understand why some people are up in arms about it but regardless of the visa status, once the RFL approved his signing for Bradford and agreed to register him, then they would have been inviting trouble if they refused to register him with Les Cats.

Its a good point you make regarding the signing of players in the future that may only be realistic targets for Les Cats in the future and something i think the RFL should look into, perhaps not registering a player until a visa is granted would aid them in being able to turn them down rather than allowing Les Cats individual status to take advantage of it. Only being able to sign for Les Cats in SL does somewhat lower there market value which could be an issue and may see more targets remain in the NRL.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:18 pm  

SmokeyTA wrote:

here, the first part seems to contradict the second



how are we supposed to know if a player is eligable to join all 14 member clubs unless they pass both the french and uk border agencies decisions?

had bird not signed for bradford, and not been refused entry, he still wouldnt have been eligable to sign for bradford, and still would have been able to sign for les catalans

eventually, if it carries on like it is, clubs will get a good idea which players would and wouldnt get in, and we will still have a situation where les catalans can get some players in that others dont even bother with, a ruling like you are asking for isnt only illegal and discriminatory, but unworkable,

we are in a multi-national competition, in that, because of the laws which superseed our games, there will be differences, sometimes they will go in the british clubs favour, sometimes the other countries, its just a fact of life

I’ve already acknowledged that a ruling such as refusing to register a player who is unable to compete in the UK yet can play in another EU country as being on dodgy ground legally. That’s why I took the legalities away from my reasoning.

I see you’re point as to not knowing whether a player would be granted a UK visa if a British club have not tried to sign them, but, given that Eastwood was denied a visa because of a driving conviction it seems anyone with any sort of past misdemeanour will be denied a UK visa in future. This would make it easy to gauge who would and who wouldn’t obtain a visa.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:39 pm  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

I’ve already acknowledged that a ruling such as refusing to register a player who is unable to compete in the UK yet can play in another EU country as being on dodgy ground legally. That’s why I took the legalities away from my reasoning.

I see you’re point as to not knowing whether a player would be granted a UK visa if a British club have not tried to sign them, but, given that Eastwood was denied a visa because of a driving conviction it seems anyone with any sort of past misdemeanour will be denied a UK visa in future. This would make it easy to gauge who would and who wouldn’t obtain a visa.

but we cant prejudge the decisions of the UKBA to even before we get in to a wierd situation where we are prejudging the decisions of the UKBA on whether or not they would allow a player to join a UK club, even though the player isnt going to join a UK club,

a ruling that states a player must be able to get a UK work permit to play in france is crazy, so we just have to accept it, there are players who can play for a french team but not a british one, and im sure there is the possibility of that situation being reversed as well,

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:46 pm  

jonh wrote:

Its a tricky one and i understand why some people are up in arms about it but regardless of the visa status, once the RFL approved his signing for Bradford and agreed to register him, then they would have been inviting trouble if they refused to register him with Les Cats.

Its a good point you make regarding the signing of players in the future that may only be realistic targets for Les Cats in the future and something i think the RFL should look into, perhaps not registering a player until a visa is granted would aid them in being able to turn them down rather than allowing Les Cats individual status to take advantage of it. Only being able to sign for Les Cats in SL does somewhat lower there market value which could be an issue and may see more targets remain in the NRL.

i think the trick has been missed by pretty much everyone, and it would deal with this situation easily

we change the SC and the quota rules and how we pay out tv revenue to encourage clubs to look at other areas,

for example,bring down the cap to say £800k, not have players developed at a club on that clubs SC, having players signed from Europe but outside SL count half, and everyone else count full, and doing away with the quota, which would mean in a situation like this the value of a player like bird would be lowered dramatically because he is going to cost twice as much on the cap

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:59 pm  

SmokeyTA wrote:

here, the first part seems to contradict the second



how are we supposed to know if a player is eligable to join all 14 member clubs unless they pass both the french and uk border agencies decisions?

had bird not signed for bradford, and not been refused entry, he still wouldnt have been eligable to sign for bradford, and still would have been able to sign for les catalans

eventually, if it carries on like it is, clubs will get a good idea which players would and wouldnt get in, and we will still have a situation where les catalans can get some players in that others dont even bother with, a ruling like you are asking for isnt only illegal and discriminatory, but unworkable,

we are in a multi-national competition, in that, because of the laws which superseed our games, there will be differences, sometimes they will go in the british clubs favour, sometimes the other countries, its just a fact of life

Youre a fine one to get on about illegal and discriminatory rules.

You recently suggested that it should be made public by clubs that a player wouldnt be considered for the first team -- for what reason -- none other than they are an overseas player.This is an attempt to drive down the number of overseas players in the game.

You wouldnt know an illegal/discriminatory rule if it jumped up and slapped you around the face,yet you pop up all over these forums pontificating and boring everyone.

: Sat Mar 14, 2009 5:36 am  

FORMER NRL star Greg Bird was "the victim" when he allegedly assaulted a young woman in a Cronulla nightclub, Sutherland Local Court heard yesterday. The 25-year-old, who on Thursday flew in from France where he is playing for the Catalans rugby league team, had his one common assault charge upgraded to five charges but believes the evidence of three security guards and security video will clear him. "Three security officers are able not only to give evidence, but to give evidence to the effect that he was the victim in this matter," his solicitor Patrick Conaghan told the court. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 21,00.html

FORMER NRL star Greg Bird was "the victim" when he allegedly assaulted a young woman in a Cronulla nightclub, Sutherland Local Court heard yesterday. The 25-year-old, who on Thursday flew in from France where he is playing for the Catalans rugby league team, had his one common assault charge upgraded to five charges but believes the evidence of three security guards and security video will clear him. "Three security officers are able not only to give evidence, but to give evidence to the effect that he was the victim in this matter," his solicitor Patrick Conaghan told the court. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/s ... 21,00.html

: Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:54 pm  

TURFEDOUT wrote:

Youre a fine one to get on about illegal and discriminatory rules.

You recently suggested that it should be made public by clubs that a player wouldnt be considered for the first team -- for what reason -- none other than they are an overseas player.This is an attempt to drive down the number of overseas players in the game.

You wouldnt know an illegal/discriminatory rule if it jumped up and slapped you around the face,yet you pop up all over these forums pontificating and boring everyone.

its disappointing that even though it explained it to you three times, you still couldnt understand it,

i would try again, but i honestly dont think i could simplify it any more for you, ill just accept that as a concept, what i was explaining was a little too complex for you