ESL questions ?

[Mixmasterreece]

Hay got a couple of ESL questions I hoped you guys might be able to answer for me :
1. Does the ESL have a salary cap?
2. Does the ESL have limits on how many foriegn based player you can have in each team ?

 

[ParraDude_Jay]

1. They do have a salary cap but I'm not sure of the exact amount, it is larger than the NRL's cap though. They also have a 20:20 rule, which means they must have 20 players on at least 20k pound. I'm not sure if you have to have exactly 20 on 20k, or if you can just have no more than 20.

2. Technically there is a limit to overseas players, but it's not really an effective one. For example, if you have an Irish passport but you're a born and bred Australian you don't count on the overseas quota. It also works with grandparents/parents if they have European descent then you aren't on the overseas quota. Kolpaks don't count either, so the whole thing is pretty much pointless.

 

[terracesider]

50% of a club's income can be spent on players' salaries, up to a maximum of £1.8m.

The overseas players limit is a farce. I think it's technically 3 per club but for the reasons ParaDude gives, some clubs have as many as 10 or 11 such players on their books. Perhaps a third of players are not qualified for GB and are in ESL there because they're not good enough to get a NRL contract.

 

[bartman]

And not all clubs have the income to be able to spend that maximum salary cap amount.

I think Catalans and Harlequins (still?) have an exemption and can have higher numbers of overseas quota places at the moment?

To explain Kolpak it's a European employment law/court ruling, meaning that you can't exclude someone from participating in a sport competition in Europe if they are from a country that has a certain trade deal with the EU. So people from New Zealand and various Pacific Islands can play in Superleague without being in a club's overseas quota, just as if they were European citizens. themselves. Mix that with a healthy exchange rate and many clubs of all divisions often prefer to attract quality overseas players than invest the money in the development of the game in their regions.

 

[nadera78]

Also it is cheaper to employ an aussie/kiwi than a local player. You can pay a player from down under a wage that he will find pretty good given the wages on offer at home and the exchange rate, but a local boy wouldn't play for that amount because, given the cost of living, he just couldn't survive.

 

[douglasallen91]

And not all clubs have the income to be able to spend that maximum salary cap amount.

I think Catalans and Harlequins (still?) have an exemption and can have higher numbers of overseas quota places at the moment?

To explain Kolpak it's a European employment law/court ruling, meaning that you can't exclude someone from participating in a sport competition in Europe if they are from a country that has a certain trade deal with the EU. So people from New Zealand and various Pacific Islands can play in Superleague without being in a club's overseas quota, just as if they were European citizens. themselves. Mix that with a healthy exchange rate and many clubs of all divisions often prefer to attract quality overseas players than invest the money in the development of the game in their regions.

remove the new zealand part and you would be spot on.

 

[bartman]

Sorry about that... I lose track of who's from New Zealand per se and who is from the Pacific Islands, seeing as they can all pretty much turn out for the NZ rep team through ancestry anyway.