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Rugby League

Rugby league to set foreign player limits

05/02/2007

The Rugby Football League (RFL) has confirmed it is in talks with all 12 Super League teams to introduce new rules limiting the number of overseas players allowed on team rosters.

The sport's bosses said that at a meeting last week a proposal was submitted to the teams competing in the engage Super League to gradually reduce the number of foreign players and set a minimum percentage of players to be brought through clubs' own academies.

According to the proposal, a minimum of 20 per cent of each side's first-team squad would have to be taken from within its own youth ranks in order to boost British rugby league players' development.

"There has been a long-standing objective to encourage the production of more players qualified to play for Great Britain, and these proposals are similar to those being pursued by Uefa," said Nigel Wood, the RFL's chief operating officer.

Wood said that the clubs had been "absolutely supportive of the principles" of the proposal, noting that the motion could be ratified as early as next month rather than waiting until the annual regulatory meeting in June.

A further proposal over a change in the salary cap rules governing rugby league clubs was also put forward, which would mean teams have more leeway to sign junior talent outside their first-team squad that will not impinge upon their salary cap number.

"We still have some work to do in this area," Wood added.

"But we hope to have a salary cap system in 2008 that is preventative rather than retrospective and which substantially gives all clubs the ability to invest in the production of junior talent."

This season's Super League opened on Sunday – St Helens beginning their title defence with an 18-10 victory over Huddersfield at the Galpharm Stadium.

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