Inoke Afeaki when he was Tonga rugby captain after a match against Fiji in Nadi on 5 July 2003. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
A former Tonga rugby captain says it's unlikely Super Rugby contracts explicitly state New Zealand-based Pasefika players can't play for their home nations.
Inoke Afeaki's comment comes after reports New Zealand-based players of Pacific heritage are being contractually restricted from playing for teams other than the All Blacks or their clubs.
Afeaki spoke to Pacific Waves about it.
Flying Fijian's coach Mick Byrne told RNZ Pacific last month that New Zealand-based players of Pacific Island heritage have signed letters of agreement attached to their contracts that bar them from playing for teams other than the All Blacks.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Rugby said contracted players were free to choose which national team they represented.
Afeaki said while restrictions around national representation wasn't put in any "real black and white clauses", club contracts often included certain dates players had to be available.
"They'll put in dates… saying: 'This is the period that you're available and you have to focus on this'. But there's clear intent to keep them… from going away and playing international matches," he said.
New Zealand Rugby have said its five Super Rugby clubs (Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders, Hurricanes) were allowed to contract up to three "non-NZ eligible players". These included players who had already played internationally, including for Pacific nations like Fiji or Tonga, as well as players who had declared their intention to play internationally for a non-New Zealand team. Under the organisation's rules, those in the latter category were ineligible for New Zealand's national teams.
"All other players contracted to NZR's five Super Rugby clubs have declared their availability and intention to represent NZ national teams over the duration of their contract," a New Zealand Rugby spokesperson said.
Afeaki said players understood why clubs needed them to be available at certain dates. He also said it happened in clubs "everywhere" including in Japan and the UK.
"The players know that they're signing their contract because the team need them when the international players from that team - say the All Blacks - go away.
"They need us island boys making sure that we're keeping their team strong.
"The clubs are making decisions to keep their team strong while they lose their best players to their national team. Our boys know that it's the reason why they're being contracted."
Afeaki believed World Rugby - the sport's overarching governing body - needed to take a tougher stance on international fixtures being booked outside its set test match windows. The body has set periods over the year for international test matches. These were primarily around July and November.
He said a range of problems stemmed from dates around the test period.
For example, players of Pacific heritage may not be released by clubs to represent their home nations simply because other club players - like All Blacks - received preferential status for international matches, Afeaki said.
Players of Pacific heritage could also fail to secure a release because their home nation had scheduled a test match outside of World Rugby's test windows, he said.
In that instance, Afeaki said clubs could come back and say the release period violated the player's contract.
He believed both scenarios were unacceptable and resulted in players being put in a difficult position, particularly because big competitions like Super Rugby often offered lucrative contracts to players.
Afeaki said any international fixtures within the test windows should supersede club obligations, and that should be enforced by governing bodies like World Rugby and New Zealand Rugby.
"It's the game off the field.
"The regulation … clearly says that all players are allowed to play for their country during that test window. And what clubs and rugby unions are doing is clearly out of that regulation, and that's breaking the law in the game.
"They should be embarrassed."
Inoke Afeaki played for Tonga in the 1995 and 2003 Rugby World Cups. He has played professionally and coached clubs and unions around the world, including in New Zealand, France and Japan.
