The England & Wales Cricket Board is "planning to crack down on the number of Kolpak players flooding into county cricket when it draws up its next contract with the counties," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. A Kolpak is a "ruling that means people from countries that have free trade agreements with the European Union have the right to work and live in the EU." The ECB will later this summer "draft a new memorandum of understanding with the counties and the influx of Kolpak players this year will be part of those discussions." South Africa’s Marchant de Lange became the 11th Kolpak to sign for a county this winter "when he joined Glamorgan on Monday as overseas cricketers look to exploit the loophole before Brexit is expected to close it off." Kolpaks "flooded" into county cricket in the mid-'00s after Slovakian handball player Maros Kolpak "successfully appealed to the European Court of Justice arguing that as a resident of a country with a trade agreement with the EU he should have the same employment rights as an EU citizen." Several cricketing countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe and most Caribbean islands "are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement," a free trade deal that allows access to the EU. The ECB thought it had "stemmed the flow" of Kolpaks three years ago when counties were "docked" £1,100 per match for every non-England qualified player they picked. But the economic situation in countries like South Africa "resulted in better players opting for the Kolpak route and counties viewing them as a financial risk worth taking" (TELEGRAPH, 4/5).
