Jonty Rhodes on Buying Rotterdam Franchise: "I Can Make a Difference in Europe Through ETPL"

Apart from Rhodes, fellow South Africans Faf du Plessis, who will also captain the Rotterdam side in the inaugural season, and Heinrich Klaasen, are also on board as co-owners of the Rotterdam franchise. "Actually, I lived in Sweden for two and a half years during the pandemic, during the lockdown, because Sweden didn't have a lockdown.

"My wife and I, with the kids, shifted across to Sweden, and I coached the national team there. I was really involved, not just in the Nordics, because obviously we sort of were one, two levels below where I'm currently looking now. But I always had a keen eye focused on Germany, France, and Italy, which were the next level above Sweden.

"We also had a close relationship with the Dutch national setup, because they were very supportive of us in the Nordics. Because I think the Netherlands cricket board had been well supported by the English cricket board, so the Netherlands understood the importance of having a bigger brother in European cricket, and they took that responsibility quite well," Rhodes told IANS in an exclusive conversation on Thursday, facilitated by ETPL.

The time in Sweden gave Rhodes more than just coaching experience -- it gave him a conviction that European cricketers, long starved of exposure to elite players and high-level infrastructure, were hungry for precisely the kind of investment the ETPL has been designed to deliver. When the opportunity to enter ETPL as an owner rather than a coach arrived, Rhodes seized it without hesitation.

"So, one of the co-owners, Madhukar Shree, who works on the commercial side in T20 cricket, and worked in tennis on the IP side, has always been talking about it. Like, 'If we get an opportunity to get in as co-owners as opposed to employees, let's take it.' When the European T20 Premier League came around, we were very excited because I've seen the difference when I was in Sweden.

"I only worked with the national team for about a year and a half and saw how eager and keen and how grateful they were for an international player to come and spend time and give, just keep giving, these players have lapped it up. So from that perspective, I jumped in straight away.

"I mean, I've retired from coaching, I've obviously long retired as a player, but this will be the first time I've ever had an opportunity to be a co-owner in franchise-level cricket. That excites me because on a couple of points, I can make a difference in Europe, and through the ETPL, we want to ensure that the platform that they already have, the existing platform with the existing local people playing cricket in Europe, in the Netherlands, Ireland, and Scotland.

"We want to grow that platform and base by bringing in great players to play at the ETPL, and great coaches, but also ensuring that it's not just a four-week window. The way to do that, we've kind of structured our franchise with a very South African feel because then with the hemispheres, we can still introduce some of the Rotterdam players to cricket practice, and club cricket in South Africa to ensure that they get this sort of exposure all year round and not just in the four weeks of the ETPL," he added.

By building the setup with a distinctly South African ownership, Rhodes is attempting to address one of associate cricket's most persistent challenges - the absence of year-round competitive exposure for players outside the traditional cricketing powerhouses.

The vision, however, stretches well beyond the boundary, as Rhodes sees the ETPL as a vehicle to bring cricket to a generation of European sports enthusiasts who have grown up playing football, hockey, or tennis but never held a bat.

"The key is that when we kind of talk about cricket in Europe, there are 33 countries that are associate members of ICC. So there really is a big presence in Europe, but the majority of that is the diaspora. Some local players and people who have grown up in the Netherlands might be playing football and hockey.

"I mean, I was a hockey player, and I know the benefits of being a hockey player. Tennis is also a big sport in Europe. So, we want to introduce it to people who might not have played cricket before, but ensuring that we get them down to fan engagement activations away from just the cricket itself is going to be important because we want to educate a bigger base about the joys of the game and the ability for people to cross over sports.

"It's because they didn't grow up playing cricket that doesn't discount them. If we introduce it to kids who are already playing football, hockey, and tennis, I know that there's a great opportunity to switch from a technical point of view and become cricket players. If you've got the natural movement that all these other sports will bring, as I had the opportunity growing up in South Africa to participate in so many different sports," he elaborated.

Rhodes is equally clear about the boundaries of his own involvement - though he won't be in coaching, his focus as Rotterdam's co-owner will be on building every layer of the operations - from local management and logistics to grassroots development - into something that outlasts the competition's inaugural season by many years.

"I don't think I'll be coaching and stay in my lane as a co-owner, but what is important is that we're trying to grow an ecosystem by not just bringing international players to benefit the local players. We are also utilizing local coaching staff and local management to ensure that, through this franchise, we are growing because cricket is a team game, and it's not just the 11 players on the field.

"It's an entire team, the logistics, the administration side of it, the running of it is so important because yes, it is about the players, but without everything being done behind the scenes, it's not going to happen.

"So a key focus for us is, how do we leave cricket better in the Netherlands from our involvement, not just on the playing side, but how do we actually grow the cricketing infrastructure? There is an infrastructure, and good facilities are already there, which is exciting.

"We've seen in the USA - they've had to build facilities. Here we have existing cricket facilities in the Netherlands, Ireland, and Scotland, where the ETPL will be starting with two teams in each of those countries. There are existing good cricketing facilities, and it's ensuring that we as a franchise grow the entire cricket community on every side, if that makes any sense."

The six-team ETPL, scheduled to run from August 26 to September 20, will feature city-based franchises in Rotterdam, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Belfast. The tournament joins a growing list of T20 leagues around the world inspired by the franchise model of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

- IANS