What is a Kolpak?

Question

Who is allowed to be a kolpak, and what does the Kolpak ruling allow the counties to do?

Answer 1

Kolpak is a term used in the United Kingdom for players in the domestic cricket and rugby league from overseas. The term became popular following the EU ruling in favour of Maros Kolpak, a Slovak handball player. His legal actions in Germany set a precedent for professional sports in Europe, which have had a wide-ranging effect, especially in regards to English county cricket and British professional rugby.

The court decision was based upon the idea that no resident of the European Union should be prevented from working in another part of the EU. Specifically the case meant that, in professional sports, if a sporting club chose a player who resided in the EU, then there could be no law preventing this. For example, a German baseball team could not be prevented from hiring a Greek player since both nations are members of the EU. Moreover, since Kolpak was not from the EU but from a country that had an associate trading relationship, the decision meant that any player from any nation which had such a relationship with the EU could also freely play as a professional.

In practice, the decision has allowed English county cricket clubs to employ the services of a multitude of overseas cricketers - especially from South Africa. At the time of the ruling, ECB rules had limited each county to one overseas professional (currently two, though this is set to be reduce to one again).

County cricket clubs could already employ any number of EU residents under the Bosman ruling. There are no other strong cricketing nations within the EU, however, which explains why it was Kolpak, not Bosman, which has had the significant impact on English county cricket.

A county can register a cricketer under the Kolpak ruling if a player has not represented his country for over twelve months.

In rugby union and rugby league, the Kolpak ruling has allowed teams to sign a lot of players from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.


County cricketers registered under Kolpak



* HD Ackerman, Leicestershire
* Dale Benkenstein, Durham
* Claude Henderson, Leicestershire
* Martin van Jaarsveld, Kent
* Deon Kruis, Yorkshire.
* Johann Louw, Northamptonshire
* Dewald Pretorius, Warwickshire
* Charl Willoughby, Somerset, and previously Leicestershire
* Paul Harris, Warwickshire
* Riki Wessels, Northamptonshire

Answer 2

There are certain countries (eg. South Africa, Zimbabwe, some West Indian islands) that have an agreement with EU nations with regards to their citizens gaining employment in the EU nations. Basically the Kolpak ruling states that citizens of those countries that have an Association Agreement with EU and those who possess a valid working permit of the nation in which he/she is trying to obtain work, for the purpose of employment, be treated as the citizen of the country where he/she is trying to gain employment.

What this will allow counties to do is have players from Kolpak nations play in their respective county clubs without being subjected to the "foreign" players limit. As a result, a county can have 5 players from England, 4 players from South Africa (which is a Kolpak nation) and 2 players from any other nation. These 2 players are termed as foreign nationals since their respective nations have not signed the Association Agreement.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolpak

Answer 4

a kolpak is another word for a pack of coal!?

Answer 5

dont know