0
An Article from Planet Rugby:
Few topics get fans hotter under the collar than the IRB's three-year residency rule, which has blurred the lines of loyalty, national pride and sporting fairness.
Last week, a national press agency released a story headlined "Strauss released to play for Scotland" in which Golden Lions president Kevin de Klerk explained how the Johannesburg team had released former captain Joshua Strauss following his "request to pursue his international career with Scotland" via a stint with Glasgow Warriors that would "make him eligible to... participate in the next World Cup."
Strauss is not Scottish by birth nor heritage, even if his impressive beard would have us believe he is a time-travelling Highlander from 1297. While you can't fault his desire to play Test rugby, it's hard not to tag him as a mercenary.
The British and Irish Lions are set to jet out to Australia next year with a squad - led by a Kiwi - likely to feature such names as Manu Tuilagi, Tim Visser, Richardt Strauss and Mouritz Botha.
Japan's squad at the 2011 World Cup was liberally sprinkled with New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders. Salesi Ma'afu is a Wallaby but his brother, Campese, plays for Fiji. A third brother, Apakuka, has played Sevens for Tonga...the list goes on and on.
It's a purist's nightmare.
But in the world of professional sport, where national teams have become commercial commodities, is it the responsibility of a team's coach/selectors to defend the integrity of that country's national identity? Is that even possible when the coach is also a foreigner?
Perhaps the question should be whether such ideas of nationality still have a place in the cultural mixing pot of today's Global Village. Should we condemn notions of exclusive nationality to the 1930s and accept that in 2012, your home is where you lay your hat?