It has been clear for some time that the globalisation of sport is out of control. Darren Pattinson is the most recent unwitting pawn in an increasingly weird and complicated game. And, as professional athletes move about the planet in search of the good life, the consequences are kicking in all over the place.
Next weekend in Tonga, a rare game of rugby will be played. Rare in that it will feature several international players who are not Tongan playing live in front of a local audience. Some of them aren't even from their neighbouring rivals, Samoa and Fiji. The reason the game is an oddity is that these are islands denuded of their best players, who have moved to New Zealand and the northern hemisphere to earn money they could only dream of at home.
When the Tonga international Epi Taoine set about putting together two all-star teams to celebrate the coronation of his country's king and raise money for his diabetes charity as well as rugby development, he found willing participants in Wales, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, as well as among his countrymen.
So, Tongans will be able to see in the flesh - rather than on TV - the rugby skills of Colin Charvis, Matthew Burke, Jeremy Paul, Craig Joiner, Stuart Grimes and Brian Lima as well as Toutai Kefu, Pita Alatini and Isitolo Maka. Michael Jones and Inga Tuigamala will play in a half-time game of touch rugby.
It is a game, Taoine says, 'the likes of which will probably not be seen again'.
We have to wonder why. A game such as this is small beer to us. We are fed a steady diet of internationals every winter. The cream of world rugby - including the best of the islanders - flock to clubs here. Taoine is joining Harlequins. And who can blame him?
Yet is is obvious the phenomenal expansion of rugby since it officially went professional in 1995 has created a clear north-south divide. To 112,000 Tongans, this match might be the rugby event of their lives.
It truly is a wonder that such small communities so far away from the mainstream can come to a World Cup and scare the pants off the likes of South Africa, who very nearly lost to Tonga in Lens last September. And who could forget Fiji's thrilling, and winning, exhibition against Wales?
Crunch a few numbers and the picture gets clearer. South Africa, the world champions, have 147,650 senior registered players on which to draw for the national team. New Zealand, only ever briefly not at the top of the pile, look to 27,745 players. Before the All Blacks played Australia yesterday, the Springboks were rated number one in the world. Behind the top two in the rankings come Australia (29,100 players), Argentina (there are no player numbers available but they have 317 clubs), England (147,944, the world's largest individual total), Wales (21,000), France (80,938), Ireland (19,984), Scotland (8,951) and Italy (10,359).
Just outside the top 10 are Fiji (20,000), Samoa (6,681) and Tonga (5,316). That's a combined playing strength of 31,997. The interesting comparison is that figure stacked up against New Zealand's, where very fine island rugby players flourish, usually after their parents have emigrated. Most learned their rugby in New Zealand, so it's fair enough, in one sense, that they play for the All Blacks, much the same as Devon Malcolm was entitled to play cricket for England.
But think what an impact the islands would have have made on the world stage if they'd had the resources, connections or inclination of the England and Wales Cricket Board, say, who have hoovered up so many good cricketers in recent years who qualify for England through ancestors, recent and not so recent?
They would have been able to call in players such as Steve Devine, Rodney So'oialo, Joe Rokocoko, Mils Muliaina, Jerry Collins, Kevin Mealamu, Tana Umaga and Jonah Lomu. In years gone by there were Bryan Williams, Frank Bunce, Michael Jones and scores of other great players.
There is one globalisation rule for rich nations, it seems, another for poor ones.
This is not just about the players and the game, however. It is about local people who love the game. How many Tests have the All Blacks ever played in their South Seas nursery? None against Tonga or Fiji, one against Samoa.
The next Rugby World Cup is in New Zealand in 2011. Teams who want to acclimatise will not be able to do so in the host country. Maybe they should stop off in Tonga and the other islands, and say thank you to the people there for providing us with some of the most exciting rugby we are ever likely to see.
