Forget eligibility rules, Super Rugby can plug PI player drain - Dan Leo

World Rugby’s changes to Regulation 8 will do little to stop the plunder of the Pacific Islands’ player stocks, ex-Samoa captain Dan Leo tells James Harrington – but a Super Rugby side or two would make a big difference.

Bringing Super Rugby to the Pacific Islands would do more to prevent the talent drain than increasing residency requirements to five years – and will improve the competition, former Samoa captain Dan Leo believes.

“That would definitely be part of the solution,” he said. “It would give guys a reason to stay on the Islands. At the moment we don’t have professional rugby, so there’s no reason for them to stay there.

“The Super Rugby product has dwindled in the past few years. When you look at it, they’ve watered down the product and made it such a wide competition in terms of distances involved. And in the middle of it all, the closest place to Australia and New Zealand is the Pacific Islands. We have probably the strongest talent pool, too.

“It doesn’t make sense that the Islands have been overlooked for so long. But hopefully, as mainstream media pick up on that, it will start to change.”

Leo, founder of Pacific Island Player Welfare, which raises awareness and understanding of issues faced by Islanders tempted overseas by professional contracts, fears changing residency rules could have the opposite of the desired effect. “I know the aim was to get rid of the project player scenario. But my worry is that people will head overseas a couple of years younger, so they will be eligible by the time they are 19, 20, or 21. We have to be in a place to be able to protect guys if that does start to happen.”

Pacific Islands ‘plundered’

That protection begins at home, Leo said. “There needs to be regulation around rogue agents plundering player stocks in the Pacific.

“World Rugby can change eligibility rules to five years, but that does not deal with the issue on the Islands – that there’s no professional rugby. There’s no pathway there. If anyone wants a decent education or a professional rugby career, they have got to leave.

“A three-year residency or five-year residency rule does not change the fact that people want to leave because to make life better for themselves, they have to. Maybe that’s not a rugby issue. Maybe it’s a social issue, but it needs addressing.

“There are agents who are ripping off Pacific Island players. At the moment there’s no real regulation. They can go over to the Islands and pretty much do what they like. There’s a lot of money to be made from relatively cheap Island labour. When money’s involved things become very difficult.

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Missed opportunity

“When the game went professional in 1995, something could have happened to support the Islands. Since then, though, most will agree the gap between the rugby haves and have-nots has widened.

“If World Rugby had access to what contracts were being signed, by whom and for how much; and if agents had to say how much they were charging players for their services, I think it would go a long way to fixing the problem.”

Unions also have a responsibility to players brought over to play in their competitions, beyond the rarified atmosphere of top-flight rugby, Leo – who has played in France and England – said. “I had an email from the Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) a couple of weeks ago. It said that there are 186 professional or semi-professional rugby players with Fijian passports in France alone.

“If you add Samoan and Tongans into that, I’d expect that figure to be the same again. You’re looking in the vicinity of 400 Islanders driving professional rugby in France.

Life after rugby

“At the end of those 400 guys’ careers, when they’re spat out of the other end of the game, what’s in place for them? Do they have the work experience and higher education support they need to generate an income after the game, or are they left high and dry?

“One of my fears is guys are coming out of rugby with little to show for a 10 or 12-year career, other than some good memories. I don’t think that’s good enough.

“If you’re playing top-flight rugby, chances are you’re being looked after quite well by your agent – he’s probably answering your phone calls because you’re bringing in a good pay packet, and clubs have really good support structures now thanks to switched-on team managers, and you have organisations like [player unions] the RPA in the UK and France’s Provale, but they are not being engaged by Pacific Island players – other than some of those at Top 14 and Premiership level. The guys in the lower leagues require a bit more support.”

Innocents abroad

The culture shock Pacific Island-born players face when they first move overseas may appear insurmountable. Leo said: “In a typical Samoan family, which I was brought up in, parents have total control over the finances, over everything. You’re not necessarily empowered to make life decisions until you’re 21, at least.

“In England, for example, you’re seen as an adult by the time you’re 16 or 18. In the Pacific Islands, that’s something that happens a lot later.

“For a lot of young players who move overseas, they’re going out and doing things and dealing with money for the first time in their lives. Their first rugby contract is the first time they have the responsibility to do all those things for themselves.

“It’s a very innocent upbringing for those guys on the islands and life can be very harsh outside those environments.”