You can play for your country, if you can pay for it ; COLUMN: Belleville's Cindy Nelles made U20 Canadian women's rugby team, but needed to shell out $4,000 to play

Congratulations.

You have just been selected to represent your country on a national

team at a world championship tournament.

Now, please, pay up.

That's exactly what is happening to Canadian athletes chosen to

play for national women's rugby teams and one of them, Cindy Nelles,

lives right here in Belleville.

Nelles, who is a three-year Ontario provincial junior team veteran,

made her debut for Canada at the U20 Nations Cup held recently in

Santa Barbara, California, where the Canadians finished third in the

four-team tournament with a 2-and-2 record. Nelles scored the lone

Canadian try in a 15-5 loss to arch-rival USA.

In order to wear the maple leaf and play for her country, after a

lengthy and rigorous trial process, Nelles -- and her teammates --

had to fork over more than $4,000 apiece.

Fortunately for Nelles, she had tremendous support from family and

friends to help her cover the costs of attending the Canadian team's

week-long, lead-up training camp on Vancouver Island and the four

matches in California. Before she left, her supporters threw her a

fundraising barbecue bash that netted about half of the cash she

needed to go west, said Nelles, while individual sponsors also came

forward with various donations.

According to Nelles, some players aren't so lucky. For those with

summer jobs and heading into their second or third year of

university, it is impossible to leave work for national team

commitments without being properly compensated.

Recently, three members of the Canadian senior women's national

team refused to pay the almost $3,000 required to play for their

country at an upcoming tournament in Oakville. In a story by Toronto

Star reporter Mary Ormsby, one of the Canadian players who is

boycotting the tourney, 31-year-old teacher Brooke Hilditch of

Mississauga -- an eight-year veteran of the national team -- called

the fee "a slap in the face."

Hilditch said she could afford the fee but is taking a stand

because she's concerned that soon the women's national team program

will attract only players with the money to play and that some very

talented athletes who can't find the cash will fall through the

cracks.

"It's definitely a problem," said Nelles. "It's a big factor in

women's sports."

Less so for men. Because this is a World Cup year, Canada's senior

men's team is being fully funded by the International Rugby Board at

the upcoming global competition in New Zealand.

According to the Star story, the Canadian men are working with a

$1.8 million budget and the IRB -- which generates about $500

million from the World Cup every four years -- will pay Team

Canada's bills during the squad's six weeks in New Zealand. (Rugby

Canada covers all national women's team expenses during a female

World Cup year.)

So what's the answer?

Attract more girls to rugby, says Nelles. The Canadian Soccer

Assocition has more than 350,000 girls and women registered to play

across the nation while 60 per cent of Rugby Canada's total

registration of 21,500 are men.

Perhaps Rugby Canada could also do a better job promoting the

women's game and its star athletes to large corporations and

businesses that might be prompted to pay to have some of these

strong female role models endorse their product or service.

The reality, though, is that there are only so many government and

corporate dollars available and a lot of sports associations holding

out their hands. In a hockey-mad country like Canada, women's rugby

ranks extremely low on the athletic food chain.

Until the situation improves, some of our best athletes -- like

Nelles -- will rely on part-time jobs, understanding bosses, family

members, friends and local sponsors to help them pay the price for

playing for their country.

And making us proud.

CZECH POINTS ... Nelles, who graduated from St. Theresa Secondary

School in the spring as the Titans senior female athlete of the

year, called her U20 Team Canada experience "phenomenal" and is

eager to get back on the field later this month when she plays for

the U18 Ontario squad at the Nationals in Calgary. "I learned so

much," said Nelles. "My teammates and coaches were fantastic. I

think Canada has great potential to be a really great team. We

definitely have a shot to be a contender, for sure." Nelles started

all four matches against England, the U.S. and South Africa (twice),

seeing action mostly in the second row. And was her try against the

Americans an exciting, field-length dash with several broken

tackles? "I wish," she said. "The States had won a ruck but had

sloppy ball and were passing it back. One of my teammates charged

forward and knocked the ball out of their hands and I dove on it."

CREDIT: PAUL SVOBODA