westoelad wrote:Wasn't aware of that legislation or how strictly it's monitored but I think the key words are "in theory". Certainly Plunkett , born Middlesbrough,was originally with Yorkshire and Durham have certainly had other Yorkshire residents in their academy,notably Arshad and Weighell more recently.. No doubt Cooke came to prominence at Bedford school but chose to travel to Chelmsford rather than Northampton to progress his career.
This is all from memory, but I think each side is allowed 8 or 9 full-time academy prospects who have to be named before each season and are not allowed to be changed once set. These all have to be over 16 years of age and have to be given a proper pathway to a career, including guarantees of coaching, second XI matches and targeted learning that the club has to honour, so not to just sign players on false promises.
Underneath this level, for every year group up till either 9 or 10 years of age, you have something (I cant remember the exact wording) like 'Interesting prospect status' which is essentially very young prospects that are going to be coached and play for the youth sides. These players are then subject to those location laws, so have to have been born in your county or be educated there, and cannot choose to move academies. Once joined, the county itself decides if they want to retain them (subject to the ECB deciding if its unreasonable). If memory serves a county can have loads of these, like 30 per year group. Hence the protection is needed, because you wouldnt want the 30th guy just about getting his chance to make up the numbers moving 600 miles and his parents quitting jobs and selling houses if two months later the punt turns out to be a bad one. So the idea is that the kids at this level are replaceable and are only driving a few miles to get the coaching and chance. No one is risking anything drastic other than the odd Tuesday night and some petrol money. Got to remember Westo that Arshard and Weighell could have joined Durham Academy as one of those junior prospects when they were 9, so this is near 20 years ago. The rules have changed now, so I dont know if they could now.
The only loophole I think can be exploited is through school. If a county really wanted to get a youngster they could in theory offer to pay for his boarding school, which would then mean the child would live in the county as per the rules. But then again in football the CAS have pounded teams for trying this. And the examples in football of parents moving to get kids past the rules have been swift.
I cant remember the lads name, but there was a very promising American kid who Barcelona signed as a teenager a few years back. If memory serves they were a hispanic family, his father was very well off and walked into a job in Barcelona, his mother found work...essentially they had risked nothing and made a very comfortable decision to give the kid a chance at La Mesia academy. FIFA slapped a worldwide ban on his registration and he spent 2 years unsuccessfully losing in court before moving back to the USA with his career pretty much over, having been barred from training legally at the most essential part of his development.
Not aware of a single case in cricket though. Maybe its of less importance and status, so people wouldnt bother. And the rules are ridiculously strict and well over what they are in football, the fact an East Londoner wouldnt be able to play for a North London county for instance is a bit mad. But I guess moving London suburbs is easy to get around and justify should a problem arise.