Good to see our immigration officials are doing their job for once. Greg Bird has been denied a visa to come to England. I really thought ( and so did Bradford) that he was going to be allowed to play here.
Stay in Oz and fester you idiot.

What happened to innocent till proven guilty

If he is innocent, why have his club and the NRL turned their backs on him. According to all the news reports he has lied about events and then refused to speak about them.

No Smoke Without Fire

Greg Eastwood also denied a visa at Leeds. (and if they can't wangle one, nobody can!) Rumour of a previous motoring conviction. And just to think, in days gone by, we used to transport all ours out to Oz!!!

What are the sudden rule changes the government have made over imigration? I know its not just RL who struggle with bringing over players.

Hardly sudden, the changes happened in October - hopefully they can tighten further which would prevent a lot of these criminals from abroad seeking haven (not Whitehaven) in this country.

On the other side of the coin it's affecting RL but should mean that more British players get their chance in the game.

Do you know if this tightening of rules applies to Wales? Or, with their independent Parliament, do they have different immigration rules?

I mean, CC were incredibly lucky to get visas for all their overseas' players, weren't they?

Depends also if the club is set up as a sponsor though as well

How do you mean "sponsor"? I would have thought every team hoping to employ these players was "sponsoring" them.