For Us, By Us
by Ben Darwin | 02 November 2009 (07:10)
There is something that worries me a little about international sport. Are international sides truly representational anymore? The days of clubs representing their area were over a long time ago. Ronaldo changing clubs came without much fuss on either side of the channel; it is just part of the business of football. When it came to the 2003 America’s Cup, almost all of the entire 2000 New Zealand America’s Cup team was bought to sail against their own and win it for Switzerland. Even the current English cricket side has been nicknamed South Africa B.
I heard Scott Johnson from the Ospreys talk about how American-Samoan rugby players could actually represent United States rugby and that many were functioning right now in the NPC. It makes total sense and is probably something I would look to do given the option. It is representative of sport the world over at the moment, coming down to international relations, relatives and trade agreements. The decision of somebody’s grandmother to move to another county has enabled many people to represent countries other than that of their birth, when the chance to play in their birth country has not been an option.
It brings me to a team a little closer to home - the Japanese national rugby team, which has quite a few foreign players in the side. Their coach, John Kirwan, is doing what he believes to be the best thing in finding the best players to represent Japan. Yet there is a long-term catch. Japanese people are a very proud group and love their country. It would be hard to look at the Japanese team and say that teams represents Japan. Passports or not, it does seem odd to watch the side run around with half a dozen non-Japanese faces in the team. If a young Japanese boy watches the game is he likely to think that he would love to play number 8 for Japan if the last 5 were born in New Zealand? Would he think it is even plausible to do so? One of the Japanese backs, James Arlidge, is from New Zealand is currently playing in Wales. It makes total sense but if this is the nature of rugby as it stands right now, it is worth asking the question: should national teams represent the culture and the history of a nation or simply represent the passport holders of that particular country?
I do wonder how passionate people would be about representing a certain country that they had only come to know 4 years earlier. I once met a young guy from Zimbabwe who had grown up wanting to play for the Boks. He moved to New Zealand and then became so passionate about wanting to play tests for New Zealand; he got a silver fern tattoo. In the end he wound up in Australia wanting to play for the Wallabies.
Ultimately as I have not had the experience of changing countries and representing another, it is not my place to say how ardent these players may or may not be. I think it boils down to how zealous the fans are about who is representing them.
