Valley baulk at racial selection policy

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union has been accused of introducing an apartheid-style selection system by leading club Valley, who added that Hong Kong rugby does not need 'separate development measures of this sort'.

Under fire, the union has softened its stance on the selection policy introduced last month encouraging local players.

Valley yesterday pitched into the union's selection policy - labelled a quota system - that states future representative teams will need to field a minimum number of local players.

Valley said the union's new policy was discriminatory and 'racially divisive, offensive and insulting'. But union chairman John Molloy brushed aside the broadside, saying that only targets had been mentioned and no quota system was in place.

'It is not a hard-and-fast rule that certain numbers of local players must play. What we said is that certain targets must be met and if they are not, we want to know the reason why. It is not a strict quota system,' said Molloy.

Last month, the union unveiled a new selection policy whereby over the next three seasons, representative teams would have to include a certain number of local players.

Highlighting the new selection policy, the union said: 'Team composition targets will be phased in over the next three playing seasons. In 2000-2001, the SAR sevens squad will include two local players with at least one of these players among the 10 players nominated to play.