Grannygate is the name given to several different sporting scandals, typically regarding eligibility of players for

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

s. A

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

version of Grannygate occurred in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in March 2000, a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

version occurred in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 2006.

Rugby union

In rugby union, Grannygate was a scandal over the eligibility of international players which occurred in March 2000. The rules of

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

, which was known in 2000 as the International Rugby Board (IRB), allow a player to qualify to play for a country based on his parents' or grandparents' country of birth. Alternatively a player can qualify based on residency in a country for a defined number of years. The players involved in Grannygate were: *

Shane Howarth Shane Paul Howarth (born 8 July 1968) is a former international rugby union player who gained four caps and scored 54 points for the All Blacks before later switching allegiance to Wales national rugby union team, Wales, attaining 19 Welsh caps ...

, former

international who gained 19

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

before being banned as he had no Welsh qualification. *

Brett Sinkinson Brett David Sinkinson (born 30 December 1971)
Scrum.com is a

Dave Hilton, born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

(though he never played for England) claimed Scottish qualification through his grandfather. He played 41 times for Scotland before it was revealed his grandfather was born in England and he was therefore ineligible to play for Scotland. He played one more international for Scotland after qualifying through residency. Three other Welsh players were initially implicated but exonerated as they had valid Welsh qualifications and had not played for other countries: Australian Jason Jones-Hughes, New Zealander

Matt Cardey Matthew Dane Cardey (born 7 July 1975) is a New Zealand born former international rugby union fullback who played for the Wales national rugby union team. He played his club rugby for Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb R ...

and English-born

Peter Rogers Peter Rogers (20 February 1914 – 14 April 2009) was an English film producer. He is best known for his involvement in the making of the ''Carry On'' series of films. Life and career Rogers began his career as a journalist for his loc ...

who had played club rugby in South Africa and Wales. A fourth player,

Colin Charvis Colin Charvis (born 27 December 1972) is a former captain of the Wales national rugby union team and also played for the British & Irish Lions. A back row forward, Charvis was equally adept as a flanker or as the no. 8. Charvis became the w ...

, had been first capped for Wales in 1996 while apparently ineligible, but by the time the scandal broke he had completed the required 3-year residency period and no further action was taken.

Rules changes

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 Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...

and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

, who had previously treated one another's players as interchangeable. New Zealander Stephen Bachop, for example, played for

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

in the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

before becoming an All Black, but later switched back to Samoa. Similarly his brother Graeme Bachop represented New Zealand and later Japan. The brothers played against each other in the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Since these events,

Sitiveni Sivivatu Sitiveni Waica Sivivatu (born 19 April 1982 in Suva, Fiji) is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer, playing on the position of a wing. He was largely successful in the 2005 Super 12 season playing for the Chiefs. He acquired a starting ...

and

Sione Lauaki Sione Tuitupu Lauaki (22 June 1981 – 12 February 2017) was a Tongan-born New Zealand rugby union footballer who played for Aviron Bayonnais, Bayonne. He previously played for the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. His brother, Epalaham ...

both played for the Pacific Islanders side but later went on to play for the New Zealand national rugby team as playing for the Islanders did not require a player to commit his international future to one of the 5 sides which make up the

. In late 2010 it was proposed by the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

that former test players be allowed to play for their country of heritage. This would have allowed players like

Jerry Collins Jerry Collins (4 November 1980 – 5 June 2015) was a Samoan – New Zealand rugby union player. He played for New Zealand, for whom he was capped 48 times, as well as for the Wellington Hurricanes in New Zealand, Toulon and Narbonne in the Rug ...

to turn out for their countries of birth but the move was rejected by the IRB.

Rugby league

The term Grannygate was used of

Nathan Fien Nathan Fien (born 1 August 1979), also known by the nickname of "Fieny", is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a and in the 2000s and 2010s. He last played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the Na ...

who played

for

in the

2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations The 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations (also known as the Gillette Rugby League Tri-Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette) was the second Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The tournament followed the same format ...

, despite not being qualified to do so. Fien had played

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

for the

Queensland Maroons The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales in the State of O ...

in 2001 but was seeking permission to play for

the Kiwis The Bushwhackers are a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions, ...

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 Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and in the winning Kiwi team against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

in New Zealand. He was later banned after ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' in Sydney revealed that Fien was claiming eligibility 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 Kiwis' efforts to make the final. Fien became eligible to play for the Kiwis in 2007 due to residency rules via his tenure with the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

in the NRL. The effect of the incident on international rugby league was a public slanging match between the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

(ARL) and the

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

(NZRL). Selwyn Bennett, the chairman of the NZRL, resigned over the incident and two weeks later Andrew Chalmers announced that he would also leave his job with a year still to run on his contract.

Graham Lowe Sir Graham Michael Lowe is the owner of the Bradford Bulls together with fellow New Zealander Andrew Chalmers. He is a New Zealand former rugby league football coach and administrator. He previously coached in Australia and England and was the ...

, a former Kiwi coach, tabled a failed bid to have the whole NZRL replaced. Bennett has since claimed that the incident was good for international rugby league, accusing ARL chief executive,

Geoff Carr Geoffrey Marc Carr (born 1952) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and administrated in the 1990s and 2000s. He was the CEO of the Australian Rugby League as well as the New South Wales Rugby Le ...

, of knowing about Fien's ineligibility before it was revealed publicly. Bennett said: "Not only Geoff Carr but the secretary at the ARL

Colin Love Colin Love AM, (born 25 January 1945 in Australia) is the former chairman of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF), New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and Australian Rugby League (ARL). He was the seventh chairman of the ARL, and the ...

looked into it. The only one who didn't know anything seemed to be me."Smh.com.au
/ref>

References

{{Reflist

External links

BBC News link
* https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/hilton-ineligible-for-scotland-after-41-caps-636371.html * http://www.pina.com.fj/?p=pacnews&m=read&o=18266659344c649da67d6a553608f5&PHPSESSID=bfbb979e3a8a9a2b3af75f6c9b5841d8 2000 in New Zealand rugby union Rugby league in New Zealand Rugby union in New Zealand 2006 in Australian rugby league Rugby league controversies Rugby union controversies 2006 in New Zealand rugby league Sports scandals in Scotland Sports scandals in Wales Sports scandals in Ireland Change of nationality in sport Sports scandals in New Zealand

Rugby union

Rules changes

Rugby league

See also

References

External links