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First sensible thing Blatter has ever said?
- Thread starter Tooting Gull
- Start date
Uncle Buck
Ghost Writer
- Jul 7, 2003
- 28,075
It is limited due to the fact that no other countries in the EU play to cricket to any real standard, so there is not an influx of EU cricketers. However with counties now limited to one overseas players, expect a number of Australians to be researching their European past in the hope it can earn them an EU passport and so not be classed as an overseas player.
The Kolpak issue has had an impact on cricket and has lead to more average South African players coming over here and this is why the ECB has brought it down to one overseas player, which will have an impact on the standard of county cricket.
While all of that's true, it doesn't explain why there's no limit on non-EU players in football. There are plenty of Brazilians, Argentians, Ghanaians, Nigerians, Norwegian etc in the PL. If cricket instigated a ban, then the PL could do so without falling foul of EU legislation.
Uncle Buck
Ghost Writer
- Jul 7, 2003
- 28,075
There is a limit. I think clubs are only allowed to field 3 of them in a team at anyone time. In the UK they used to have to apply for a work permit every season and to qualify for that they had to have played in something like 80% of their clubs games and 70% of their countries games. This has now been changed so that they apply for a work permitt for the same length of time as their contract.
The reason there are so many Africians and South Americans over here is they are classed as EU players, as through various means they qualify for EU passports. African players often sign as youngsters for French or Belgian clubs as after a residency period (less than the UK's) they are awarded a passport for the country they are playing in.
South American players tend to be able to get EU passports on the back of family history. Turienzo qualified for an Italian passport, which is not unknown for Argentians and you see a number of Brazilian players with Portugese passports.
In cricket it's the same as football you cannot stop EU citizens playing for a UK team. Trouble is there are not many Mainland Europe cricket players except for the Dutch si it reall is not a problem. The overseas one player per team restriction applies to non european players only , unless they are Kolpack exempt which means that countries which have an Association Agreement with the European Union (countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, some West Indian Islands etc) and that person is in possession of a valid UK work permit, he must be treated for the purposes of employment as if he was a citizen of an EU country. That's why Murray Goodwin can play for Sussex as he is a Zimbabwe national yet does not count as an overseas player.
London Calling
New member
And in League?
Lord Bracknell
On fire
Presumably Blatter's proposal would operate around a definition of "foreign" that was based on National Football Federations.
This would not only restrict the number of French players selected for Arsenal. A restriction on the number of non-English players would also exclude Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Guernsey players from English teams. Would non-Welsh players also be excluded from Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham (who are all members of the FAW)?
This would not only restrict the number of French players selected for Arsenal. A restriction on the number of non-English players would also exclude Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Guernsey players from English teams. Would non-Welsh players also be excluded from Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham (who are all members of the FAW)?