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The New Zealand Rugby League admits it is outnumbered as its lawyer contests the "ambiguous" wording of international rules in a last stand to retain the Kiwis' Tri-Nations points.
A phone conference of the Rugby League International Federation executive committee yesterday agreed to the NZRL's request for time to prepare a written submission on the disputed eligibility of Australian-born Kiwis hooker Nathan Fien.
The NZRL is convinced its legal advice is right and will file its submission by 5pm today.
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The federation's committee meet again tomorrow by telephone hook-up to decide if there is a breach, and what penalty the Kiwis should face.
Australian Rugby League (ARL) chairman Colin Love, also the chairman of the federation executive committee, said last night the penalty could include loss of competition points or a fine.
The furore was sparked by NZRL chairman Selwyn Bennett's admission that Fien's great-grandmother, not his grandmother, was New Zealand-born.
Love and ARL chief executive Geoff Carr were tight-lipped after yesterday's meeting, but have expressed their displeasure in recent days and said the issue was important for the credibility of international league.
The NZRL boss may be a lone voice at the four-man meeting tomorrow, which is chaired by Love and includes Britain's Rugby Football League chief executive Richard Lewis and National Rugby League boss David Gallop.
Gallop is the federation secretary and won't have a vote on the NZRL's fate, but if Australia and Great Britain are intent on docking points then it appears a lost cause, unless the NZRL decide to take legal action.
"We're sticking with it. We believe Nathan is a Kiwi. We've looked at the rulebook the same as the Aussies have," Bennett said. "The only thing that's not in our favour is that we've got one vote in our favour and three against."
The NZRL's defence centres on section 3.1(b) of the federation's constitution, written by Love who is a lawyer, which says a player is eligible for "the country in which either of his parents or any of his grandparents was born".
"We looked at the rulebook and the constitution says grandparents, it's a play on words," said Bennett. "Grandparent, great-grandparent, in a lot of families it's one and the same."
Yesterday Bennett backtracked on a threat to withdraw the Kiwis from the November 11 match against Great Britain, if they were docked points.
"It's very emotional and you do say things on the spur of the moment."
The birth certificate the NZRL used to verify Fien's eligibility was for his great-grandmother, Irene Lillian Maude Lett, born in Wanganui in 1906.
"We're not giving this up easily, we believe we're in the right. We have made no mistake," Bennett said.
- NZPA
