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County cricket
Kolpak loophole set to be closed
Cricinfo staff
September 22, 2008
The end is nigh for the legion of Kolpak players who have used European Union employment legislation to bypass quotas on overseas players in English cricket, according to a report in today's Daily Telegraph.
The growth of Kolpaks, who mainly come from South Africa, has caused increasing concern in England. Until recently, it has been believed that there was nothing the authorities could do to restrict the numbers, but this view has now changed.
The newspaper says that the Central Council for Physical Recreation, a lobby group for sport in Britain, discovered that the agreement being used as the basis for the Kolpak ruling - the Cotonou Treaty, signed in 2000 - was in fact meant to allow free trade and not freedom of labour.
While some of the counties are believed to be prepared to challenge the ECB's change of heart, it seems likely that 2009 will be the last year where Kolpak players proliferate. The newspaper predicts that there could be a 60% fall-off in the numbers of foreign players in county cricket.
Overseas cricketers will still be present, subject to existing ECB limits, but they will have far greater restrictions placed on them and they will have to prove that they are of a high-enough standard to be able to get a work permit. Generally, this will involve them having played a certain quantity of international cricket in the previous two years.
What the review of the Kolpak legislation won't remove are the players who qualify because they have access to passports from EU countries because of parents and grandparents.
The article adds that the ECB is also set to introduce increased financial incentives for counties that field Under-25 England-qualified players from 2010.
© Cricinfo
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All I would say is if English players were good enough, Kolpaks wouldn't be necessary. I recently observed the Somerset v Durham fixture, where the Australian-born Calum Thorp was preferred to England international Liam Plunkett. Judging by his performance in thatfixture and the decisive title winning fixture this week at Canterbury where he seems to have made a far bigger contribution than Steve Harmison, who can argue that Thorp, a player with little form in Australia is not an asset both to County Cricket and to Durham. If some counties have had poor seasons with their Kolpaks it merely means that those counties are poorly run, not that the system is wrong. Let's not return to the mediocre years of circa 1999 when England were at the bottom of the international ladder and the standard of County Cricket was abject and sides were stuffed full of mediocre 30 year old Englishmen tredding water until their benefit years.
Posted by Patrick_Clarke on September 28 2008, 08:51 AM GMT
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To the posters who said there aren't enough good young English players to fill the gaps, how do you know that? How much county cricket do you watch? I've been going to county games regularly since the mid-1970s and I believe English cricket was stronger then. True, some sides had three overseas players, but they were good players such as Richards, Zaheer and Marshall. That was good for the game here, signing up legions of mediocre 30-something South Africans isn't.
Posted by Tailender63 on September 23 2008, 17:46 PM GMT
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English cricket is not what it used to be..clubs are in crisis and the enthusiasm is dying gradually.The introduction of foreign players have injected some life to the game..and i see the kolpak players as a positive ...in my opinion they should be allowed to continue playing for Counties.It raises the game too a higher level.
Posted by dsachit on September 23 2008, 14:23 PM GMT
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eddsnake - you should check your facts before you start castigating teams for using high numbers of Kolpakkers. Take a look at this link to see what I mean
http://www.leicestershireccc.co.uk/England_U25_Players.html
Posted by hinckleygaz on September 23 2008, 13:10 PM GMT
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To reply to tomjs100 about accusations of shoddy journalism, I should like to point out that "there isn't enough quality players" is grammatically incorrect. It should read "there aren't". People in glass houses...
Posted by mickb on September 22 2008, 21:19 PM GMT
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It seems to me replacing high quality overseas players (Kolpaks or otherwise) with mediocre Englishmen can only reduce the standard of county cricket - the Aussies will be delighted! Also high quality Englishmen will be a scarce resource so their value will increase tilting the playing field in favour of the richer counties. Lastly, even with Kolpaks there are many many times more Englishmen playing county cricket (300+)than there are Aussies are playing State cricket (<100) - the issue is quality not quantity. So, all in all, a wrong-headed proposal which will drag English cricket backwards.
Posted by Combineharvester on September 22 2008, 18:29 PM GMT
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South Africans, with their determined and full-blooded approach to the game, are a pleasure to watch in county cricket. I have no doubt that the more experienced ones do their share of coaching younger native players as well. If sufficient local players can get into the county sides on merit, fine, leave the Kolpaks out, but don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
Posted by Athy on September 22 2008, 16:38 PM GMT
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ECB has taken a leaf out of proposal put forward by Gavaskar lead for the India fist class season where foreign players will need to have a minimum standard. This can only be good for English cricketers while not so good news for some other countries whose players developed their skills playing county cricket before representing their respective countries in Int'l cricket.
Posted by Shams on September 22 2008, 14:59 PM GMT
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It is really absurd what they're trying to do now with kolpaks not being allowed to earn a living in England. Seriously, they are getting way more money in England than they ever would in South Africa, and I just don't see how this would hurt english cricket. I agree with tomjs in that England doesn't have enough quality young cricketers for each side to field 7 of them, and there will be lawsuits you better believe it. The real question is, why isn't there a "Major League Cricket", similar to baseball in the U.S., where players are brought from around the world, without quotas or domestic guidelines. It's absurd to think that in America this would go on, where the Yankees and Red Sox are dominated by players from the carribean. It's time some nation out there wakes up, and stops damning foreign athletes.
Posted by bkhan420 on September 22 2008, 13:55 PM GMT
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Ridiculous. The only England qualified players who are denied First Class selection by Kolpaks are the mediocre ones. You know who they are - players who play for ten years and average in the low 30s as a batsman or in the mid to high 30s as a bowler. The presence of these mediocre English players reduces the quality of play while the presence of Kolpaks increases the quality of play. Australia has just 6 First Class teams to choose a Test team from. If two-thirds of the players in County Cricket were overseas or Kolpak players, England would be able to have the same amount of players to choose a test team as Australia does. Mediocre English qualified players make County Cricket worse. It is high time for the counties to be allowed to hire whoever they want with no restrictions.
Posted by NeilCameron on September 22 2008, 13:26 PM GMT
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