Nurturing (home) talent

The decision not to renew the contract of England Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce provoked some considerable discussion recently.

On the one hand, the team's disappointing performances at the last two tournaments meant the decision was not altogether surprising. At the same time, there was a sense that merely replacing the coach does not really address the underlying problem: the lack of young English talent coming through in football ... and the lack of experience being gained by whatever talent is around.

Both aspects of this problem can be attributed, in large, to the huge influx of foreign players in the English domestic game over the past decade.

This is, in itself, an interesting issue to ponder. It could be argued that overseas players bring great benefit to the domestic game, in that they raise standards and enable people to compete against the best from around the world.

However, this will only be true if the environment in which this happens enables domestic talent to develop and gain experience. If young domestic players are squeezed out of the picture altogether these benefits will be largely lost.

At this point I would want to make a comparison between the English Premier League (football) and the Indian Premier League (20/20 cricket).

Both are considered "strong products" (a purely commercial perspective, but one that is relevant, nonetheless); both attract huge amounts of money, in sponsorship and TV deals; both attract the interest of businesses and wealthy individuals who want to be involved commercially as owners or part-owners of teams; and both attract the best of overseas players from around the world.

And here is the crucial difference:

The Indian Premier League has rules about the make-up of teams and squads. As far as I understand it, squads have to contain a minimum of 16 players (presumably to ensure viability) but, crucially, no more than 11 can be overseas players, and a minimum of 14 have to be Indian players, with a further requirement of a minimum of 6 from the current Indian under-22 pool.

In addition, the team picked for each game can contain no more than four overseas players.

What these rules do is to ensure that, while the rich influx of overseas players raises the standards of games from a spectator point of view, it does so in a way that nurtures domestic talent.

The English Premier League has no such rules, as far as I am aware. Perhaps it is time for the FA to look into doing so. Let them learn from the Indian cricket model.