[url=http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/03/10/RUGBYL_Catalans.htmlThis is just taking the pîss even more now[/url



Bird flying back to so won't be playing this weeken, but will be back in time to play us the following weekend.

>>>>>Border Agency

Hope he bloody well can, else we'll be up against him twice and Leeds will escape.



Its not the RFL or Cat's fault. In the slightest. Its this useless useless scumbag vermin UK administration.



Come the revolution brother...

realistically I fully expect there to be reasons why he cant travel to uk on each possible occasion before his court case to avoid catalans the embarassment/bad publicity of him being turned away. Which means If gets convicted then the only SL clubs to have to play against him will be cas,wigan and us twice. Thats what really pee's me off about the situation.

If a player isnt eligible to play for one superleague club for legal reasons then RFL should refuse to register him for any of the other 13 too. We now have a situation where catalans can sign players with NRL problems, on more lenient french visas, that are unavailable to the rest of Superleague and because catalans are there only possible destination they presumably wont have to pay as much as they might in a free market.

Owing to the vagueries of the work permit / visa laws this couldn't be seen through without all players applying for permits in both countries every time. E.g. if Bird had gone striaght to Cats without trying us first then how would we have known that he was ineligible for the UK and so how could the RFL ban him?



It does seem ridiculous that he can play for one club but not another owing to different rules but there doesn't seem to be any avoiding it.





At least it's not the RU where the French teams in the European cup don't have a salary cap like the British and Irish ones do!

you've got point there but if they've been refused for one country then surely theres a case for blocking them from signing for a team playing in the other on the rebound, especially as the french visa system is seemingly much laxer than ours so 99% of the time it is going to be catalans who get the advantage.

Any dates/times for these ties yet? It would be a bummer to book flights out assuming the game is on the Sat, flying back on Sun then find out the game is being televised on the Sunday...



I assume that Leeds - Saints will be one televised tie. Catalans - Bulls could be a good choice for the other. It will be a weekend out for the BBC guys too...

Absolutely fair, but it's the sort of one that would be put in place only to fall away the second that someone challenges it. I could imagine it becoming a cause celebre in France if the English were seen to be trying to impose English law over the French.



Actually, come to think of it this could become the issue that could break RL through in the French conscious....

An oxymoron, if the hard drinking Catalans lads we met last year are anything to go by

The French sense of belittling indifference.....

You are on TV at 14:30 on the Sunday



Saves a few pound!!

Well that's a bit of good news. At least I won't miss seeing the match.



No doubt it will be on the big screen at the Top house. Might be a good one to see in the pub and at least be in a crowd watching the game. If they got someone to throw fireworks around and p!ss all over the place, it'll be just like the real thing!