Grannygate
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Grannygate was a scandal in rugby union over the eligibility of international players in March 2000.
The players involved were:
- Shane Howarth former New Zealand fly-half who played for Wales despite being ineligible.
- Brett Sinkinson, New Zealand born Welsh player, who later revealed his grandfather Sydney Sinkinson was born in Oldham in England instead of Camarthen in Wales as had previously been indicated by him.
- Colin Charvis, English born Welsh player of Jamaican (?) descent who played for Swansea RFC
The IRB later changed the eligibility rules so that a player could only play for one country. This led to problems with the Pacific Islanders and the All Blacks, who had previously treated one another's players as interchangeable. (New Zealander Stephen Bachop, for example, played for Samoa in the 1991 World Cup before becoming an All Black, but later switched back to Samoa).
[edit] Rugby League 2006 tri-nations grannygate
The term was also used of Nathan Fien who played rugby league for New Zealand in the 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations despite not being qualified to do so. [1] Fien had played State of Origin for the Queensland Maroons in 2001 but was seeking permission to play for the Kiwis in the second game of the 2006 tri nations. Fien claimed eligibility based on the grandparent rule. Fien played in the losing Kiwi team in Melbourne and in the winning Kiwi team against the Lions in New Zealand. He was later banned after The Daily Telegraph in Sydney revealed that Fien was claiming elibility based upon a great-grandmother and not a grandmother. A further consequence was that the Kiwis were forced to forfeit the two competitions points gained for the victory against the Lions which further hampered the Kiwi's efforts to make the final. Fien will be eligible to play for the Kiwis in 2007 due to residency rules.
The effect of the incident on international rugby league is that the ARL and the NZRL have been involved in a public slanging match. Selwyn Bennett, the chairman of the NZRL, resigned over the incident and two weeks later Andrew Chalmers has announced that he will leave the job with a year left in his tenure. Graham Lowe, a former Kiwi coach tabled a failed bid to have the whole NZRL replaced. [2] Bennett has since claimed that the incident was good for international rugby league. He has also accused ARL chief executive, Geoff Carr, of knowing about Fien's ineigibility before it was revealed publicly. Bennett said "Not only Geoff Carr but the secretary at the ARL [Colin Love] looked into it. The only one who didn't know anything seemed to be me." [3]
