Peter Walton (born 3 June 1969) is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
-born
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 ...
player who won 24
caps
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Science and technology Computing
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playing in the back-row for the
Scottish rugby union side between 1994 and 1999, despite uncertainty as to whether he was eligible for Scotland, given a lack of Scottish ancestry. He was educated at
Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...
, and played club rugby for both
Northampton Saints
Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...
and
Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union.
The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...
. At Newcastle he made 15 appearances as they won the
1997-98 Premiership. He was forced to retire due to injury in June 2000. He was assistant coach, Academy Coach and Head for Newcastle Falcons between 2000 and 2008. Since 2008 he has been Assistant Coach with England U18 during which they won three consecutive Grand Slams and had a sequence of 19 victories.
International selection
Under World Rugby rules, the clauses in Regulation 8, Guideline 17 can be taken to pertain to international eligibility in schooling cases.
Regulation 8 on international eligibility is clarified under Guideline 17. The specific 'schooling' clauses state:
For the avoidance of any doubt, seeking to rely on short
periods of Residence as a child in a particular country, combined with a
short period of Residence in that same country prior to playing for a
Union, is likely to create a link that would be too tenuous to satisfy the
underlying intentions of establishing a contemporary, permanent, national
link with a Union.
However, each case will be assessed on its overall
merits to establish if a Player is able to demonstrate a genuine, close,
credible and established national link by reference to the amount of time
the Player can demonstrate that he has treated the "new" country as his
home and other relevant factors.
Walton spent 7 years in Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. He played for and captained Scottish Schoolboys in Rugby. However he was initially told that this would not be enough for play for Scotland internationally so then played for England Under 19s. Walton states he felt Scottish and that the English players called him 'Jock'.
He was then selected by Scotland on the basis that his 7 years schooling in Scotland gave him a genuine and credible link to the nation. At the time he was living in England but he was available to capped as the clauses above do not mention immediacy.
The Home Nations have since agreed that 5 years schooling is enough to provide a genuine and credible link to allow international selection in international football and this has been approved by FIFA.
World Rugby still assess each case on their individual merits and the demonstration of a genuine, close, credible and established national link is key.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Peter
1969 births
Living people
Scottish rugby union players
Scotland international rugby union players
People educated at Merchiston Castle School
Northampton Saints players
Newcastle Falcons players
Alumni of the Royal Agricultural University
Rugby union flankers
1995 Rugby World Cup players
1999 Rugby World Cup players