This is just getting to be a bl00dy stupid minefield.

so.... you gave me a tenner?

Maureen!!! Getting a bit busy out here!

It depends how you interpret this ruling, does the player have to be contracted to a British club before Feb 08 or does he have had to played for a British club before Feb 08?

Its true Cusack had signed for us before Feb 08, so if the RFL are happy with making Cusack a federation trained player, then we can sign another overseas player.

This would only apply if Cusack was Non-Fed. He isn't. He's an overseas player/quota player. They CANNOT APPLY.

My understanding is that a Non fed player is one who didnt train at a british club for 3 years before he was 21, this includes quota players.

So Cusack would count as a non fed player.

Yes and no. Cusack is clearly non-federation trained, but because he has no legal right to work in the UK he is also quota.

Quota is, if you like, a subset of non-federation trained.

Or, if you use the phraseology of the RFL rules, Cusack is an overseas player.

Either way, he doesn't qualify for the exemption as I understand the ruling.

It's a sad, sad indication of the state of the club that this conversation is about one of the most average overseas signings we have ever endured, and then he gets another year on the gravy train.

He isn't good, he's just been made to look good by even more shocking players around him!

As I understand the ruling, the RFL decided that all non fed players can apply to become a fed player as long as they was in the British game before Feb 08.

They way I personally see the ruling, you would have had to play in the British game before Feb 08, but if the RFL are going to let you off due to a player signing a contract before Feb 08, then clubs are going to take advantage of it.

The Operational Rules make a clear distinction between Overseas Players (like Cusack) and all other players, federation trained or not. There is a separate definition and a separate quota. The reasoning behind this is that they have no right of employment in the EU and can therefore be limited however the RFL sees fit.

Non-fed players from the EU or certain other countries have a legal right to work here. Limiting their numbers is legally problematic as the Kolpak ruling pointed out. When the new quota rules were brought in it was this group of players that presented a possible legal challenge, and hence the dispensation first offered to Stanley Gene.

Cusack, IMO, fails on two counts. Firstly, he is an overseas player with no legal right to work here; secondly, the email from the RFL states that any player wishing to apply to be fed trained had to be in the game prior to Feb 08. SL contracts do not come into force until November, and so Cusack was clearly NOT in the the game in time - regardless of when he was signed.

Can't be d to read the last 9 pages or so. But has Rule or his PA wrote back the Whitestars second letter explaining in a little more detail?