Yamaha Sacks Pro Rugby Players

[Mulboyne]

Reuters: Yamaha to release professional players to cut costs
Japan's Yamaha Jubilo rugby club will release their entire professional playing staff as part of cost-cutting measures by owners Yamaha Motors. Jubilo said on Monday that all 17 professionals, including nine foreign players, would be let go and the team would be made up solely of company employees from next April. The move comes as Yamaha Motors looks to reduce costs amid a severe market downturn that has prompted several Japanese motor companies to take similar measures.

Yamaha's team includes ex-New Zealand captain Reuben Thorne.

[Thanatos' embalmed botfly]

wft is going on with this one.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/im-not-h ... w-zealand/

...Top League ruling that effectively ruled him out of a contract on the basis that he isn’t Japanese,

For the past nine years, the 35-year-old had plied his trade for the NTT Communications Shining Arcs, but was left without a club earlier this year due to his foreign status, despite the fact he has held a Japanese passport since 2017.

[Taro Toporific]

wft is going on with this one.
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/im-not-h ... w-zealand/

...Top League ruling that effectively ruled him out of a contract on the basis that he isn’t Japanese,

For the past nine years, the 35-year-old had plied his trade for the NTT Communications Shining Arcs, but was left without a club earlier this year due to his foreign status, despite the fact he has held a Japanese passport since 2017.

I was wondering what the rules for "foreigner status" were so I found out the following:

japantimes.co.jp/sports/2019/09/23/rugby/foreign-born-players-uniting...
...A World Rugby regulation states that a player can represent a country by meeting one of four requirements — being born in the country, having one parent or grandparent born in the country, or...cumulative residency in the country for 10 years or living in the country for ... five years, effective Dec. 31, 2020, to “ensure a close, credible and established link between a union and players, which is good for rugby and good for fans,” according to World Rugby.

National rugby team building trumps Japanese citizens' rights
kyodonews.net/news/2020/09...
—Three naturalized Japanese citizens found themselves on the wrong side of a decision that essentially restricts their ability to work as professional rugby players in their adopted homeland.
The Japan Rugby Football Union on Friday confirmed that the three, including two who are eligible to play for Japan in the Olympics, will continue to be denied Japanese status within the Top League simply because they are not eligible to play for Japan's national rugby 15s side...more...

screwball-duck.gif

[Thanatos' embalmed botfly]

So because Ross has played for NZ he's ineligible for Japan. Fair enough... but now he has a Japanese passport they still decree that he is a foreigner.

Good old Japan.

[matsuki]

So because Ross has played for NZ he's ineligible for Japan. Fair enough... but now he has a Japanese passport they still decree that he is a foreigner.

Good old Japan.

They can't even fall back on a dual citizenship argument. Force you to legally sever your ties with your previous country then not extend you full rights in Japan. Seems like a pretty good set of circumstances to go full Debito on them.