REGULATION 8 EXPLANATORY GUIDELINES pursuant to Regulation 8.1(b) will be the Player’s blood grandparents. It is not possible under Regulation 8.1(b) to assume eligibility via non-blood grandparents even if a Player has been formally and legally adopted. For the avoidance of any doubt, stepparents and fostering parents will not be considered to constitute a Player’s parent for the purposes of Regulation 8.1(b). 14. How is the Residence criteria satisfied? Regulation 8.1(c) requires a Player to complete 36 consecutive months of Residence immediately preceding the time of playing. Residence is defined as “the place or location in which the Player has his primary and permanent home” and Resident shall be construed accordingly. In essence, Regulation 8.1(c) constitutes a sporting naturalization procedure, based on a geographical/presence test. As in any naturalisation process, a number of factors will influence the determination of what constitutes a Player’s permanent and primary home. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the actual time spent in a country and the purpose of any absences during the qualification period. By being Resident in a country for a period of 36 consecutive months immediately preceding the time of playing for a Union, a Player is deemed to acquire a credible, close and established national link with a country/Union that entitles him to participate in sporting competitions for that Union. Based on the overriding rationale of the eligibility Regulations, in cases where a Player’s eligibility is uncertain the Regulations Committee will consider that Player’s eligibility by reference to the particular facts and circumstances of his case to establish if the Residency test, in the context of the overall rationale of the eligibility Regulations, has been satisfied. The principles set out in responses to the questions below will act as guidelines to the Regulations Committee when it is asked to consider any cases pursuant to this criterion. 15. Whose burden of proof? In all cases where a Player is seeking to establish eligibility by reference to the Residency criteria in Regulation 8.1(c) (and, indeed, in relation to Regulation (or 8.1(a) and (b)), the burden of proof is on the Player and the Union that he wishes to represent to prove that Player’s eligibility. Under Regulation 8.1(c), the Player and his Union must be able to demonstrate that, during the relevant period, the country in which he claims he has been Resident was, genuinely, the country that the Player treated as his home and is clearly the country in which the Player has his primary and permanent home. If a Player has moved from one country to another, and is seeking to establish Residence in that new country, then he must also be able to demonstrate that he is clearly no longer Resident in the country in which he lived previously and that he no longer treats that country as his home. For the avoidance of any doubt, a Player cannot nominate a country as his home without demonstrating that he has satisfied the geographical commitment/presence test enshrined in Regulation 8.1(c). The geographical commitment/presence test will be vigorously upheld and Last update: 14 January, 2015 143
World Rugby Handbook
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