The issue of player eligibility has flared up again in Auckland schoolboy rugby once again with a father fighting for his barred son to be allowed to play First XV rugby.
Playing for your First XV is the pinnacle for many teenage rugby players but the hard-line rules in Auckland's hotly contested 1A competition are crushing that dream for Aaron Taylor’s son.
“The reason I'm talking to you [is] there's a sense of justice in me that thinks this is unfair,” Taylor says.
Taylor's son made a wellbeing transfer from Mount Albert Grammar early last year to King's College – a shift Taylor says were for a “bunch of reasons” but none of which were rugby.
“Not rugby or sport related, it's all about academics and happiness and a few other things,” he says.
His son played lower-grade rugby for Mount Albert but after improving over summer, he's in the frame for the King’s College top team.
However, the problem is the 1A code of practice says any transfer by a development player means a two-year stand down.
They were rules brought in to stop player poaching – a serious issue in the Auckland schoolboy rugby scene – but Taylor says his son wasn’t a steal for King’s College.
“He wasn't even shoulder tapped by the school he was at.”
In a statement, Mount Albert principal Pat Drumm says the 1A code agreed by principals is transparent to ensure everyone can make informed decisions, adding it's "helped stop poaching and inappropriate recruitment".
There was no comment from Drumm on this specific case and King’s College didn't respond to 1News, while the Auckland Secondary Schools rugby union wouldn't comment.
College Sport Auckland and the Auckland Provincial Union also gave no comment despite their involvement in the First XV grade and while New Zealand Rugby oversees the sport in this country, the First XV competition and schools rugby is completely separate from their jurisdiction.
It’s treatment that has left Taylor at a loss.
“There is no appeal process, there is no oversight to see if it's governed properly.”
Taylor's son can play Second XV or below for his new school but it signals the end of any First XV dreams he had.
“These are our kids,” Taylor says.
“You get into the argument, ‘what's happening to the game?' We're losing players out of the game'yet you're putting up a system which discourages them or shatters their hopes and dreams.”
Rules that were designed to protect the schoolboys, perhaps now working against them.
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