Flags of convenience

Published on Wednesday 29 January 2003 00:00

HATS off to the erudite one who coined the phrase Kilted Kiwi.

It all began in the late 1980s when the International Rugby Board decreed that non-domiciled players who could prove British ancestry via parents or grandparents could qualify for England, Wales, Ireland or Scotland. Going on the time-honoured belief that an average rugby player from the southern hemisphere is always preferable to a genius from the north, the hasty leafing through of family trees began at once.

Some Kiwis/Aussies/South Africans could claim dual ancestry and were forced into a choice, their preference invariably dictated by whichever country could come up with the best "package". There were also moments of farce, particularly when antipodeans were captured during the pre-match anthems trying to cope with the words of Amh‡n Na bhFiann (Ireland) or Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Wales). Some even struggled with Flower of Scotland ("Mate, who the hell’s proud Edward?").

There were also the inevitable controversies. When Brendan Laney, late of the Otago Highlanders, arrived in Scotland in November 2001, he hardly had time to get unpacked before he was lining up for Scotland against his native New Zealand. The Scottish management argued that they were only following the rules. But two unarguably Scottish players had been demoted to make way and the more vociferous opponents of the system argued that the sight of someone picking pockets doesn’t give you the right to follow suit. Or, as the former Scotland lock Alastair McHarg puts it: "Those guys whose granny once spent a long weekend in Sauchiehall Street can stand there and sing Flower of Scotland as long as they like, but it falls on stony ground with me."

And there are anomalies. The two Leslies, John and Martin, will admit that they would prefer to have been All Blacks, and the Scotland captain, Budge Pountney, is as Scottish as rhyming slang, his rights to play for this country coming from a Channel Islands relative.

But there are also exceptions. No-one would seriously expect the Laneys or the Leslies to be here in 15 years’ time, but Sean Lineen, the original Kilted Kiwi, arrived in November 1988 and vows he is here for life. Originally a centre at Boroughmuir, a member of the 1990 Scotland Grand Slam team and now the publisher of Scottish Rugby magazine and a highly regarded coach, Lineen is certainly more Scottish than Pountney.

Lineen, whose father, Terry, played for New Zealand, admits that the Kilted Kiwi tag has been hard to live with at times, no more so than when he has played against his countrymen.

"The first thing you have to do is earn their respect and I had to play twice as hard, otherwise they would just turn round and say: ‘Oh, he just wasn’t good enough to be an All Black’."

But there have also been positives: "Scotland is my home now and I could not see myself ever leaving. Another thing is, when I was in New Zealand, I was known as SOT (son of Terry), but once I played for Scotland, my dad became FOS (father of Sean)!"