One thing that might be interesting although politically dubious would be an Origin/Heritage tournament, where Aus, NZ and England were not invited and instead players represented the nations of their parents and/or grandparents.



Greece, Italy, Lebanon etc would all have plenty of players to choose from, the South Sea Island nations would all have first pick on the likes of Civonaceva. Scotland, Wales and France and other emerging nations would have more of a shot in such a tournament. You could invite the Aborigines and the Maoris, Africa and the West Indies, perhaps Queensland, NSW, Yorks and Lancs could field teams of players who had no grandparent from any of the competing nations.



I'm expecting some hammer for this and it obviously needs a bit more thought, but I do believe we have a problem with international sport being a Victorian concept that is increasingly difficult to carry out in the 21st century. It's a smaller world and more and more people have difficulty defining their nationality in simple terms. And going by the last World Cup and what I've seen in the schools round here, the bragging rights between communities in Sydney are a potential source of interest and atmosphere.

I think it could work alongside the world cup and an emerging nations, but with the teams being ones not in the main world cup (e.g. Italy, Greece, Portugal, Malta, Aborigines, Maoris etc., although some of them may have leagues by then, supposedly Italy does now)

I'd run it in an alternate year to the regular World Cup, get Inglis playing for the Aborigines, maybe Idris playing for Nigeria and so on.



The Aboriginal Dreamtime side is set to play an NRL All-Star side next year, and the Maoris have already played in the World Cup before so there is precedent.

I dont like the idea that the fact could happen... Idris plays for Nigeria then bang he's playing for Australia, the same could happen for Greece with Anasta & maybe Kouparitsas etc etc.



We're meant to helping the International Game by getting rid of nation hopping, this idea quashes it somewhat. Sorry mate i dont mean to trample all over your idea.

I really do not see what this would achieve?

No worries at all.



At the moment we have an international game that is virtualy ignored by the Aussie (well, my experience is Sydney) public despite the soccer-like levels of coverage (front and back of the newspapers, almost eight straight hours on the major terrestial channel each Sunday etc). SoO is routinely referred to as 'the pinnacle of our game' and despite NZ's win last November, the Roos are assumed to be head and shoulders better than them and anyone else, rendering any contest as pointless.



What got people interested last year was the contest between Samoa and Tonga, two sides with large communities in Sydney who identify with those nations despite being largely made up of people who would qualify for the Roos and in all likelihood would opt to play for them over Samoa/Tonga if the choice was ever to arise.



'Nation-hopping' seems undesirable but at the moment the lure of playing for the Roos sucks in all the best players. Civoniceva could have done fine wok for Fiji but he wants to play SoO and tests at the highest level so he's never represented them. An International Origin would allow him the opportunity to do so by taking Australia out of the picture.



The result would hopefully be a tournament made up of teams that people (in Sydney, Brisbane, maybe Melbourne, maybe the North of England and maybe London and some of the bigger cities around the rest of the country) would care about. This would be a suppliment to the World Cup and traditional Aus-NZ-Eng tests, which would continue in the other four out of five years of the cycle. Some sides would be better than others but it would be hard to pick a clear favourite. RL would be maintaining its history of innovation by looking at international RL and making it look like the people who take part and watch. Civoniceva is Fijian and Australian. If we had a tournament like this built into the international calendar, he'd be able to represent each.

For me, one of the biggest problems that affects the credibility of the international game is the issue of player eligibility.



We've already got enough problems with players, particularly from the South Sea Islands, effectively "picking and choosing" who they want to play for every 2-3 years (whatever the criteria is). This idea isn't going to improve that situation and I don't see why the Island nations or Scotland and Ireland would willingly be part of a concept that could just turn into them being part of a "feeder system" for Australia, New Zealand and England.

Sorry but we have enough problems getting any interest in RL International games never mind a meaningless origin competition.

Exactly the same things were said about NSW vs QLD in 1980. That doesn't prove my case but it leaves it more open than you two would have it.



Take Jarrod Hayne as an example. Captain of Fiji, yet if he had been told that doing so would leave him no chance of playing for NSW and Aus in the future he would not have done so.



I think it is too easy for people who are 'English and that's it' to start handing down pronouncements as to what players of mixed heritage should do. Ryan Giggs had a big choice to make but at least Wales soccer team have a chance to mix it with the big boys and have beaten Germany and other notable sides in recent memory. The smaller nations in RL cannot offer that. Heck, even England and NZ are uncompetitive with Aus as often as not This torunament I'm proposing would open the door to the smaller clubs being represented by players who have some sort of significant connection, and I think the victory would mean something. There are plenty of kids in the schools I've taught in here that are born and bred Aussies yet describe themselves as nationals of another nation. Why not break up the behemoth that is the ARL every now and then and translate that pride and rivalry onto the field? Worked for Samoa and Tonga, and I'm sure it can for other nations given the chance.

I think a lot of people find it easier to define their "origin" than their nationality as the latter is often confused with citizenship. Clever marketing would be required and "English" would have to be included.