Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=..._Woods_thwarted_in_bid_to_sign_Dean_Jamieson/
Knights boss Dave Woods thwarted in bid to sign Dean Jamieson
12:10pm 17th July 2010
By Stuart Martel
PLANS to draft Australian scrum-half Dean Jamieson into the York City Knights squad have been scuppered by visa problems.
The 24-year-old play-maker was a mainstay of Knights coach Dave Woods’ promotion-winning Gateshead Thunder side in 2008.
Woods had been hopeful of adding Jamieson to the Knights ranks this season, but that idea has now been shelved with a view to him signing for 2011.
The Knights boss said: “He’s had a girlfriend in England for a while now and is living with her, so he has applied for a spouse visa.
“The authorities keep throwing up questions and he is trying to sort it out. He doesn’t think it will be happening this year, particularly with the transfer deadline coming up at the end of the month, but it could be okay for next year.”
Jamieson, who has had spells in Australia with Cronulla Sharks, West Tigers Under-20s and St George Illawarra U20s, also encountered visa trouble at Gateshead.
After helping the club to the National League Two title, he fell foul of a change in immigration policy which ruled that Australians were no longer able to play rugby league as amateurs on working holiday visas.
Jamieson has since had a stint playing rugby union for Irish side Barnhall and is planning to play for an American side during a travelling holiday in the United States.
