JED Horey makes some very valid points in his letter, “A CNMI Team” in Friday’s Variety. It is very idealistic to suggest that anyone who wants to call the CNMI home should be allowed to compete for the CNMI, and quite frankly, that is a view which I personally share.
Unfortunately, most of the rest of the Pacific does not agree. Prior to last year, a person could compete for a country in the South Pacific Games even if that person were not a citizen of the country, provided that the person had resided in the country for three years up to and including the start of the Games. There were a lot of abuses, and very little opportunity to catch those who did not play by the rules.
In the context of a comprehensive review of its Charter, the great majority of the countries and territories comprising the Pacific Games Commission (formerly known as the South Pacific Games Commission) came to the collective conclusion that the Games ought to be reserved, insofar as possible, for Pacific Islanders. Accordingly, the Commission decided that, in order to compete for a country, the competitor had to be a citizen of that country.
That left the problem of how to deal with the seven or so dependent territories, i.e., those countries, like the CNMI, which do not issue their own passports. The decision was to require that the competitor possess the passport of the parent country, in our case, the U.S.A.
To stem the problem of “tourist” athletes — for example, Tongans who had never set foot in Tonga, imported for the Games; or for a much more theoretical example, the CNMI paying Dwyane Wade to come and play for us — the Council imposed a rule that, in addition to citizenship, every competitor must have resided his or her country or territory for three years at any time in his or her life.
It is certainly true that the new rule has worked a hardship on many countries in the Pacific, the CNMI included. Virtually all of our table tennis team, our star female tennis player, and all the Palauan citizens who have lived here for most of their lives, are no longer eligible to compete for us. The Marshall Islands has lost most of its swimming team, and the FSM has lost quite a few athletes, who are U.S. citizens. A very substantial portion of American Samoa’s athletes hold (Western) Samoan passports, and can’t compete for American Samoa.
In short, there has to be an eligibility rule. The old rule was changed to fix what the majority of the Pacific Games countries perceived to be a problem. No possible rule would have satisfied everyone; indeed, there was considerable pressure for the adoption of an even stricter rule. The new rule was a compromise. It may not be the best rule for us, but in my opinion it was the least offensive of the viable alternatives, and possibly the only rule which could have garnered enough support to achieve the required 2/3 majority to pass.
I feel a great deal of sympathy for Mrs. Horey, as I do for all of the hard-working athletes in the CNMI who are affected by this new rule. But please understand why the rule exists, and why it reads as it does. It may be very little consolation, but please note that, while the Pacific Games are the region’s top multi-sport event, they are far from the only competition available to our athletes.
To borrow an analogy from sports, let’s take what the defense gives us, and make the best of that. It may not be what we want, but it is what we have, and we have very little chance of changing that. Every athlete should seek personal satisfaction in participation and in competition, regardless of the venue.

MICHAEL A. WHITE
President
Northern Marianas
Amateur Sports Association