Georgia rugby chief's 3 minute rant at 'snub-nosed, retrograde' World Rugby officials
The Georgian Rugby president Gocha Svanidze has sent a message on Twitter in light of World Rugby’s controversial proposal last week to set up a World League.
This league would be created at the expense of Georgia, as well as other Tier Two nations such as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. This is despite Georgia being above Italy and the USA in the world rankings, who are in the league.
This is what Svanidze said:
This news would have been catastrophic for Georgia and many other countries, so it is understandable that Svanidze is bitter towards World Rugby and the way that Georgia has been treated.
He said that this treatment is “unacceptable” by “snub-nosed, retrograde officials” in World Rugby, who have neglected Georgia. This is in light of the fact that World Rugby had apparently promised Georgia two matches a year against Tier One nations from 2020, something that will clearly not happen if the new World League comes into force.
What seems clear, and will surely receive a lot of support from many nations, is Georgia’s determination for this not to happen. As a rugby nation, Georgia seem to be improving year on year. Their close encounter with Wales in the Autumn was indicative of how far they have come and how much they are improving.
Excluding Georgia from the chance to regularly play Tier One nations would see rugby development “stagnate”, according to Svanidze. That would surely be the case, as other fringe countries, such as the Pacific nations, would be left out in the cold, which would ultimately kill off international rugby in those parts of the world.
The proposal has seen a monumental backlash from all corners of the globe since it was unveiled last week, with a overwhelming majority of players, pundits and fans opposing the new system.
Georgia clearly have not given up hope, and Svanidze seems determined to stop this from happening.
Watch: Beaumont issues World League statement
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Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
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