Formed 2004 ... Herts 7s U14 Runners-up 2005 ... North Herts U14 team, Herts Youth Games 2005 runners-up (coached by Letchworth)... Herts Superteams U14 Runners-up 2005 ... Herts SuperTeams "Fairplay" winners 2006 ... Rochford 10s U17 Champions 2006 ... East Midlands 10s U17 Runners-up 2007 ... East Midlands 10s U17 "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... National 10s U17 5th place and "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... Herts 7s U17 Plate runners-up 2007 ... National 7s U17 Plate winners 2007 ... RFU "President's XV" Award winners 2007 ... Herts Superteams winners 2007 ... Midlands 10s U18 Runners-up 2008 ... National 10s U18 4th place 2008 ... North Herts U11 team, Herts Youth Games 2008 runners-up (coached by Letchworth girls) ... London and SE 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2008 ... Herts 7s U18s runners-up 2008 ... National 7s U18s quarter-finalists 2008 ... Gloucester City 10s U18 Bowl runner-up (6th) 2009 ... Worthing 10s U18 Plate runner-up 2009 ... National 7s U18 Plate winners 2009... Worthing 10s U15 Plate winners 2010... Worthing 10s U18 Shield winners 2010... Herts 7s U15 and U18 Bowl runners-up 2010... National 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2010...

Monday, December 15, 2008

"International" irritation

Forgive me for being apparently needlessly pernickerty, but I find this annoying - and in a way rather telling of a certain organisation's attitudes.

As you may know, one small sideline I have been working on is a definitive list of all women's internationals - mainly because its not something that anyone else has done (not least the IRB, who expend huge effort on recording the most obscure men's internationals but can't be bothered to keep records of more than a tiny fraction of women's games).

One slight problem with this is that different countries can have different opinions about whether or not a game is an international or not. And of all nations possibly the most pedantic when it comes to the awarding of international status is England where the RFUW, for example, uniquely refuse to recognise most games played by England in the annual FIRA European championship as internationals because (in most years) England happen to select an understrength, development, team for the event.

Yet RFUW are calling this Saturday's game in Dublin between England and an "Ireland President's XV" an "international" - even though their opponents are (by definition) not a full national side - presumably just because they are fielding a full England team!

Is it just me, or is it the height of arrogance for one nation to feel it can dictate whether or not a game (or entire tournament) should or should not be considered a full international based solely on the level of team it selects?? Its hard work at the best of times to get the media to take women's international rugby seriously - such wild inconsistencies of interpretation by those within the game really do not help.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Total Pageviews (since June 2009)

 
Sport Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory