See above

but the club have said he can play! ffs, where do you people come from?

Sonny Bill also plays in New Zealand, to represent the All Blacks you must play club rugby in New Zealand.

I thought he played in France, shows what i know about Union, ok get a big available name from the Northern hemisphere.

Joel Tomkins...

His bosses are giving him 100% backing

you have anger issues Gareth, my point was me as a paying fan who contributes to the paying of Sam's wages should expect commitment and loyalty to our team as with out us he wouldn't be on his lucrative contract.

You really are clutching at straws now to justify this. The fact of the matter is the main purpose of the charity is to promote RU. That is where most of their money goes and that is what this charity was set up to do. Every now and again it makes donations to other causes.

The last big donation they made was £10,000 to Bill Maclaren Foundation. Another RU charity whose aim is to develop the game in Sclotland.

"THE BARBARIANS RUGBY CHARITABLE TRUST

The Barbarians Rugby Charitable Trust was founded in 2004.
Its general principle is to support worthy causes and development of the game at all age levels wherever deemed appropriate throughout the world.
In the last six years clubs, provinces and unions in Georgia, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Belgium and Tunisia have received donations from the Trust.
Donations, to date, have been made to progress youth development in Africa, money has been sent to aid the disaster relief appeals in Italy and Fiji, and also for general charitable initiatives in India and elsewhere.
Nearer home, donations have been regularly made to injured players' charities in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Italy.
The Trust supports Services' rugby with donations to the Royal British Legion at the Remembrance Match and a donation was also made to Help for Heroes.
In 2011 a donation was made to the Bill McLaren Foundation on the occasion of the Barbarians v South of Scotland match in Hawick."

If they simply donated to disaster relief then I am sure Sam could justify his involvement to some degree but as it is he will be aiding the development of RU.

The Barbarian players do get paid these days from gate receipts. Is Sam giving his wages from this game to charity? He might gain a bit of kudos if he donated his pay packet to the RL past players charity.

Unless the exiles game is being played when its the unions off season then its never going to happen..because there never really is a off season in union with internationals

so a huge star name will never be available

Who is the biggest name in the England, Wales and France RU squads?

I said earlier in this thread that Sam clearly wants to play for Wigan. He could have quite easily jumped ship as Joel did, and earn't far more money than Wigan are presently giving him, but he didn't he chose to stay.
I think he craves the media attention personally. He's possibly the most gifted player in Europe in either code. Yet he's hardly known. I think he wants to raise his profile, and as sad as it is, in RL he'll never be able to do that. No doubt this one single game will expose his name and talent outside of the traditional heartlands more than any RL match has or will.
Maybe it's the price Wigan have to pay for having Sam Tomkins the most gifted player in Europe IMO, play for us. I know one thing I'd much rather he plays this game as a Wigan player, as he is doing, and will be for the next three years. Than have lost him to the sport as we did Joel less than a month ago.

I must say looking down the squad of the BB, there's some house hold names in there, and I don't watch any more RU than I think most will on here. But you can't help but be exposed to the names and faces of the top RU players. Perhaps Sam want to elevate his status to that level whilst still pulling on a Wigan shirt, and who can blame him, the kids 22 with all the talent in the world, yet get's little of the attention he should, In comparison with some of the dross and talent less RU players that are constantly driven down everyone's throats.

I'm personally not bothered whether he plays or not, and I certainly ain't going to get all hot and bothered about it, because like most things, it's out of my control.

So, because you buy a season ticket, maybe a replica shirt, you feel you have a say in what the club's employee's do with their time?

maybe you should start questioning why Brenda, part-time cleaner at the club, also works at Asda on the till? If she where fully commited to the club she wouldn't do that as, after a night shift at Asda, she comes into work at Orrell to clean the gym and, due to her tiredness, she leaves a small amount of cleaning liquid on the floor. Sam comes in, slips on it and does his knee ligaments. He's now out for the season and its ALL BRENDA'S fault!!!

some 'fans' need to realise they dont actually run the club and what they think doesnt matter one tiny little bit

Im not the one clutching Dave.

Sam signed a contract with Wigan, the club have said he can play this game, end of story. No amount of whining and intellectual posturing is going to change it.

its hardly going to spell armageddon for rugby league is it?

(and no, i didnt read your very long and probably very dull and predicatable post)

And this is why I will never take any thing you say seriously, without the "fans" there is no Wigan Rugby League.

I know wilkinson ,o'driscoll and Roberts are big league fans..but we'll never get any of them size names because of club or international games..

could you imagine the anger if we moved the exiles game to suit a union plyers availability ??

I couldnt care less wether you take me seriously or not. Being a fan does not give you the right to decide what the club or players do and moaning about something on an internet site will not change that fact. if you want to have a say, work hard at school , get a decent job and become a shareholder!

the decision is made, stop moaning, deal with it and look forward to next season

Jamie Roberts would be a great player in Rugby League and so would O'driscoll at his peak, a 2008 Shane Williams would light super league up.

. . . . and because the RFU, IRU and WRU would laugh us out of town at such a silly idea because they hold their own sport in more esteem than Sam and IL seem to and don't feel the need to promote a rival sport's fixtures with their own players.

And if we did get them to play, I doubt their clubs would issue a fawning statement about how wonderful RL friendlies are and how they would never stand in the way of the priveledge to play on such a momentous stage.

Prove it

P*ss the fans off watch them leave in droves and then say their opinion counts for sh*t.

Bless.

I'm at University, and this is a discussion board were people debated things I think you've taking a bit of discussion too adversely. Opinions are at the corner stone to our government and society accept that this forum is just another platform on which to share opinions and discuss.

great statement, it is within the interest of every sporting club on the planet to satisfy the fans demands otherwise the club is worthless.

I blame Brenda,lets get a posse up and go down to Asda tonight and do her over.
On second thoughts you can count me out if its the same Brenda who used to work in the blacksmiths shop at Gullicks.

So you cant prove it..its just your laughable bitterness saying or more likely hoping they would.