Regional Oceania Niue



A month on from the International Olympic Committee's decision to include Rugby in the Olympic Games from 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, this weekend will see new ground broken in Mexico City as they host the NACRA Sevens.

This is the first time that Mexico has ever hosted a NACRA (North America Caribbean Rugby Association) and takes on added significance because not only with the 2009 winner be crowned, but also qualifiers determined for the Commonwealth Games and Central American and Caribbean Games in 2010.

The top Caribbean finishing team which is eligible for the Commonwealth Games will seal their tickets to India, while the top five NACRA teams will join hosts Guyana, and two Central American countries, at the Providence Stadium in Georgetown next July.

Thirteen teams will battle for those places in Mexico City over the weekend, including the host nation, Trinidad & Tobago, defending champions Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Jamaica and St Lucia.

Guyana, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe and Dominican Republic have been drawn in Pool A, with Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Barbados and St Lucia in Pool B and Bermuda, Jamaica, Martinique and St Vincent & The Grenadines in Pool C.

The NACRA Sevens also features a women's event with five teams - Guyana, Mexico, Cayman Islands, St Lucia and Bahamas - aiming to taste success. It will be the first international tournament for the Bahamas and Mexico women, while Cayman Islands could pose the biggest threat to defending champions Guyana.

"The NACRA Sevens takes on added significance this year with Commonwealth Games and Central American and Caribbean Games qualification at stake," said Tom Jones, the IRB's Regional Development Manager.

"This is the first time the NACRA Sevens will be held in Mexico. The 1.4 miles (2240 metre) altitude of the venue in Mexico City is sure to be a factor with the host team holding the advantage over the island teams."

Samoa favourites in Oceania

However the NACRA Sevens is not the only regional tournament taking place this weekend with the Oceania Sevens kicking off on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia on Friday evening.

Six teams have travelled to Tahiti for the event in IRB Sevens World Series regular and RWC Sevens 2009 semi finalists Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Niue, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

Samoa will undoubtedly start as favourites to defend their Oceania Sevens crown, but Tonga and the Cook Islands in particular are no strangers to causing upsets on the IRB Sevens World Series in recent years.

Add into the mix a Papua New Guinea side now being coached by Fiji's Sevens maestro Waisale Serevi and a Niue side who stunned Samoa in the Wellington leg of the World Series last year and with the magic of Sevens anything could happen.

The seven sides will all play each other in a round robin with hosts Tahiti, relative newcomers but excited by the challenge of Sevens, taking on Tonga in the opening match at the Stade Pater in Papeete on Friday.

I see some interesting comments that I would like to address.

First of all, the problem with loss of identity when a currency disappears.
In my opinion, it is a fallacious argument. A currency, as money, is a mean that allow people, companies and governments to buy, sell, and charge. When you buy a book, whether you pay in US Dollar (if you’re an American citizen living in California) or in Yen (if you’re the same person, but in Japan for a holiday trip), it won’t alter the intrinsic quality of the book. Once again, a bank note, a cheque or a credit card are just means of payment. In this context, I don’t think that you can justify a corollary between national currency and national identity. By using Euros, Italians won’t stop eating pasta and drinking red wine, German won’t stop building great cars, French won’t stop participating to street demonstrations, and Spaniards won’t swap their tapas for fish’n’chips. It’s a caricature, but I bet you get my point.
It may take a while to reluctant people to understand that their lifestyle is not endangered by the adoption of a new currency, especially if it is a pro-active choice made by their governments.
With this in mind, to come back to the example mentioned previously, Canadians should not be afraid of loosing their cultural prerogatives if they decide to merge their currency with the US and Mexico.

Delays for implementing the Euro.
Paul rightly stated: “it took two world wars before the European Union was set up, and its taken so long after then for even just a few of the EU nations to embrace the Euro”.
Yes, but the Euro is premiere. That’s why it took a long time. Now that it is done, it will inspire other nations that should be capable, provided political willingness is patent, to set up a similar system in less time. Furthermore, the terrible conflicts that marked the European continent during the 20th century didn’t exist for instance in South America or Oceania. Nevertheless, even in regions that experienced conflicts – such as South East Asia – susceptibilities (when they exist) will be overcome by wisdom.
As you can see, I am quite optimistic… otherwise, I wouldn’t have placed this bet.

Convergence of economies.
This could be regarded as a pre-condition for success. I do agree that this may be the biggest problem. However, within a sole country, there are already economic and social disparities. For example, in the UK, because house prices rocket in London and the South East, the Bank of England may decide to increase interest rates… while in the more industrial north part of the UK, industries will face more difficulties to export their goods. Similarly, Bavaria has an unemployment rate twice lower than in the rest of Germany. How could the former Deutsche Bank be totally impartial? My point is that the problem of regional convergence is not inherent to the Euro. It already existed within each country.

Rich vs. instable states.
Yes, stable and rich countries are more likely to succeed if they decide to merge their currencies. On the other hand, developing countries may be better off if they abandon their own currencies to create a supra currency… It will not be automatically beneficial, but it could increase their chance to reach economic stability.

Africa
Some countries already use the “Franc CFA”, which is a sort of ersatz of the French Franc. The next step could be a currency modelled on the Euro.

Finally, regarding the terms of the bet, I am ready to agree that there will be, on top of the Euro in the European community, two regions (i.e. each with at least two countries) that will adopted a common currency (to be created, like the Euro, or already existing).