sf99
Years ago
Interesting to watch news reports about Quade Cooper's Australian citizenship finally being granted.
Apparently a rule change went into effect for talented and high skilled etc applicants to have their applications fast tracked and the requirements eased.
Have to wonder if Bryce Cotton's application will now enjoy the same outcome.
Gus3232
Years ago
The bigger question is, how has someone represented a country in international sport when not even a citizen of that country? Baffling.
RobT
Years ago
Isn't Cooper a rugby player? Fijians, Tongans, Samoans and others have played for the Aussies and the Kiwis for years, haven't they?
Perthworld
Years ago
Exactly - rugby union are super relaxed when it comes to nationality. Even European national teams and Japan have Polynesians now.
JB
Years ago
Quade Cooper moved to Aus at the age 13, has pretty much lived here since and has represented Australia in rugby on numerous occasions. It was pretty baffling his application was rejected...
JB - the rules for Australian citizenship require the applicant to have spent no more than 12 months outside Australia in the 4 years prior to their citizenship application. The change made to the rules was to waive that requirement for people who are talented or highly skilled prospectively. So sports people, artists, scientists, business people etc who might travel a lot internationally, while based in Australia.
Had to laugh that one politician justified the change for Cooper by saying "his passport should match his jersey". I expect most people would prefer a sportsperson's jersey to match their passport. Most sporting bodies certainly do.
Nevertheless, the rule change makes sense in a mobile working world.
D2.0
Years ago
The reason is simple. Many of the power nations of Rugby have been pillaging our poorer South Pacific neighbours for eons.
Furthermore, for some nations to become internationally competitive, they had to be allowed access to a wider gene-pool.
Basketball is somewhat unique. Despite being an international sport, played in almost every country, (and in many at an elite level) it is "dominated" by one nation, bother in terms of skill, money, and prestige.
If FIBA adopted the same approach, we'd see a USA team comprising the Elite talent from allover the world, and every other team dominated by expatriate Americans.
JB
Years ago
I am a naturalised Australian myself, so I have some understanding of the requirements. Using time spent abroad representing Australia to reject a citizenship application is ridiculous, and there should 100% be an exception in that case.
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