Officials at clubs who are considering signing on a player as a Category 3 [Amateur] should take into account the league rules and should probably end that consideration if league rule 39.4 [IX] cannot be met. The rule asserts that ‘’To qualify as a Category 3 (Amateur) Player the following criteria must be met: Playing sport is incidental to the reason for coming to the UK’’ 

 

So what you cannot do is to bring a player to your club who is just in the UK to play cricket which is made clear in Rule 39.4 [III] ‘’This authorisation will only be granted for players who fail to meet the Category 1 criteria because they have only recently moved to this country for genuine reasons involving work, study, holiday, or migration purposes and are not being paid by the club or receive any benefits in kind.’’ 

 

So, is your player here for genuine reasons involving work, study, holiday, or migration purposes and are not being paid by the club or receive any benefits in kind? If not, the player cannot play in the YPLN. 

 

The rule is not in place to assist clubs in bringing in a Category 3 player with the specific aim of adding to their playing squad or as a coach. 

 

What are considered benefits in kind? The list is not exhaustible, but airfares, accommodation and employment are the main considerations. 

You then need to ensure that the player has never received, is not intending on receiving, or has not received within the previous four years, payment, including payment in kind, for playing or coaching that is covering all, or the majority of, their costs for travelling to, and living in the UK. 

Make sure that the player is not currently registered to, or who has not been registered within the previous four years to a professional or semi-professional sports team. This includes all academy and development age groups. The player must not have represented their nation or national team within the previous two years, including all youth and development age groups from Under 17’s upwards. 

A further consideration is that the player has not represented their state or regional team within the previous two years, including all youth and development age groups from Under 17’s upwards. 

A further rule states that the player must not have within the last twelve months engaged an agent or representative [including online agencies etc], with the aim of find opportunities as a sportsperson, and / or developing a current or future career as a sportsperson. 

Even after all of the above is the player even on the right type of visa? Any player adjudged by the ECB, UK Visa’s & Immigration, the Home Office, or other official body to be on an incorrect visa or in the UK illegally will be deemed to be ineligible. 

Until the 2025 season, the league’s rules provided that Category 3 players were not eligible to participate in cricket matches below the first two Levels of the divisional structure unless and until written permission from the Registration Secretary was obtained; such permission would only be granted in respect of players who did not satisfy the Category 1 criteria because they had recently relocated to this country for genuine reasons relating to work or study; clubs applying for such permission were required to provide written evidence of these circumstances. 

At the 2024 Annual General Meeting, the rules were amended to allow visitors to the area from overseas to play cricket while they were staying here. The change was regarded as reasonable in light of several cases in which genuine visitors had been prevented from playing the occasional game. For example, there was a case involving a 14-year-old Australian boy visiting the United Kingdom with his British family, where the father was able to play a couple of games with his former club, but the son was prevented from playing under the rules that then applied.