Will Ireland finally get a franchise league?
The new European T20 Premier League has seen plenty of hype, but how is it different from previous failed attempts at franchise cricket in Ireland?
Abhishek Bachchan waited in a private dining room at the Shelbourne, arguably the most exclusive hotel Ireland has to offer. When Bollywood meets cricket, there are no half measures.
Bachchan, an Indian actor with close to 30 million social media followers across Instagram and Twitter, has been anointed the saviour of the Euro Slam concept. Since 2019, Cricket Ireland has taken the lead in attempts to organise a T20 league which includes Irish, Scottish and Dutch teams.
Only it never happened. To the point where the Slam has become a source of embarrassment for Irish cricket’s governing body. Such was the negative PR generated by annual failed attempts to get the league over the line, the latest edition is all change.
Previously, a man named Gurmeet Singh was the primary financial backer of the league. In association with a company called Woods Entertainment, they entered into an agreement with Cricket Ireland to deliver the Slam. In 2025, Singh and Woods Entertainment are no longer involved.
(Singh’s company GS Holdings has issued High Court proceedings against Cricket Ireland. Few details are available and there are legal restrictions on the reporting of matters currently before the courts. Both Cricket Ireland and solicitors for GS Holdings declined to comment.)
Instead of Singh, Bachchan is now the main investor, a co-owner of the league. Alongside a new company, Rules Sports Tech, he has been working with Cricket Ireland to ensure a ball is actually bowled this summer. CI owns 20 per cent of the league, with Rules and Bachchan combining for the other 80. The league’s name has also changed, such was the negativity of the public discourse over the previous six years.
The Euro Slam is dead, long live the European T20 Premier League.
On St Patrick’s weekend, Bachchan visited Dublin. He conducted media interviews (The Irish Cricket Podcast included), filmed outside the Guinness Storehouse, met with Kevin O’Brien, visited the Indian embassy and was mobbed by Bollywood fans at Adamstown Cricket Club. It looked a competition launch, albeit most of the important information was left for a later date.
With a presence in Dublin, it seems all systems are go for the ETPL. Only outside of those working to bring it to fruition, few believe that Ireland’s wait for a franchise competition is actually set to come to an end.
“Kevin O’Brien partying with a Bollywood star does little to improve confidence,” said one industry source involved in franchise cricket. Another figure with knowledge of discussions rated his confidence in the league taking place this year at “about 60%.”
Bachchan, for his part, responded with a resolute “Yes,” when asked if the ETPL would definitely take place this summer.
Why the discrepancy in confidence?
On a superficial level, history is the main explanation. ‘False start’ is the phrase of the day when asking industry figures about Irish franchise leagues. Back in 2019, the original year of the old Euro Slam, a full player draft took place. Shane Watson, Shahid Afridi, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum and Rashid Khan were all assigned to teams in Amsterdam, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Rotterdam respectively.
The draft was scheduled for July 19th. The league was due to commence on August 30th. On August 15th, official word came: no Slam.
At the time, reasons for the postponement were lacking. This publication has learned that there were insufficient funds to guarantee that players would be paid, a scarcity driven by a failure to sell off all six teams to individual owners.
While Bachchan is putting his face to the concept this time around, the ETPL is still some time away from hosting a draft and announcing players. Six years ago, at a more advanced stage than current plans, the Slam had its plug pulled just weeks before the start date. “Until the first ball is bowled, it’s not happening as far as I’m concerned,” said one player likely to be involved.
Beneath the surface-level scepticism, both justified and downright stubborn, there is an absence of concrete reassurance. At times, organisers have been inaccurate with the detail they have provided.
In an interview with The Irish Cricket Podcast, while Bachchan distanced himself from the original Euro Slam concept (he was not involved prior to this latest attempt), he said that its proximity to the pandemic was the issue which prevented things from getting off the ground. This is not entirely true, seeing as the first Euro Slam was due to take place in 2019, the summer before the global spread of Covid-19.
Bacchan also said that the ETPL would not clash with either Major League Cricket or The Hundred, alternative summer leagues which may well present competition when recruiting players. He claimed that the sanctioning of the tournament provided by the ICC ensured a clear window. These statements appear to be mistaken.
The ICC website lists a number of requirements for a domestic competition to secure its approval, namely the home board guaranteeing all player payments and adequate anti-corruption measures to ensure the integrity of the event. In no place does the ICC say its sanction guarantees a playing window free from competing events.
Similarly, while the public dates announced by Cricket Ireland for the ETPL (July 15th-August 3rd) suggests there will be no clash with The Hundred, internal communication seen by this publication states that the previously announced dates have changed. The ETPL looks set to now run until August 8th or 9th, therefore clashing with England’s premier franchise tournament which kicks off on August 5th. Cricket Ireland acknowledged that “an adjustment is being considered,” with confirmation coming “in due course.”
While a clash of three or four days may not seem significant on paper, in the packed franchise calendar, the smallest of conflicts between competing leagues can alter a team’s recruitment plans. Especially during the summer window in which the ETPL wants to exist. Last year, the Southern Brave were forced to use Australian Daniel Hughes as a temporary replacement for Kieron Pollard in The Hundred. This because his team in America, Mumbai Indians New York, made it to the playoffs of Major League Cricket, thus creating a clash with the start of The Hundred. The Brave only found out definitively they would have to make do without Pollard 36 hours before their first game, such was the MLC schedule.
Above all else, given a lack of individual team ownership was a defining factor in year one of the Slam, the status of the current sale is the most pressing issue. Unlike the early years of the Hundred where the England and Wales Cricket Board owned the teams centrally, Bachchan and co are selling franchises from day one. Once an owner comes on board, paying players becomes their responsibility.
The asking price for prospective team owners is understood to be in the region of $3 million per annum over 10 years, culminating in a $30 million investment per team.
Sources have suggested that four of the six teams have attracted varying degrees of interest. Two investors with IPL links are said to be close to committing, while two additional investors are believed to be engaged in negotiations. Organisers are also understood to have looked towards unsuccessful bidders in the recent auction for teams in The Hundred. Bachchan declined to answer questions on the number of completed sales, citing non-disclosure agreements. While expressing a wish for some Indian involvement, he said that he did not want the ETPL to become “another extension of the IPL.”
Bachchan stated that he was in “advanced discussions” with potential owners. When it was put to him that this suggested that not all six teams were yet sold, he disagreed. “Because of our non-disclosures, I’m currently shackled from using the verbiage I would like to. It’s all pretty much locked in.” Cricket Ireland said that organisers are “still in negotiations with prospective owners” and declined to comment on the specifics of possible sales.
In many ways, the fact that Bachchan is in Dublin at all presents a seemingly positive step. He wanted to get “boots on the ground” to avoid “building castles in the air”. Having such a public face to this concept, someone who is fronting his own cash instead of merely being a paid ambassador, is a sign of strong organiser confidence.
Yet for all the slick videos outside the Guinness factory, there are aspects of fanfare which are lacking. Bachchan’s personal social media output on the league he owns is minimal. Since being announced as a league co-owner in January, Bachchan has shared just one post regarding the new venture to his near 30 million followers.
The ETPL’s own channels across the same platforms only have 900 combined followers. A recent Instagram video included a graphic with an error in the name of the competition. They also used an Irish tricolour as opposed to Cricket Ireland’s politically neutral flag - a mistake which, across world cricket, is not uncommon. Four months out from the competition starting, the official league website still has a homepage which promises that “our website is coming soon - stay tuned!”
The ETPL’s junior partners, Cricket Scotland (CS) and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB), have been quiet. The CS website has no mention of the ETPL, while a KNCB announcement on the league back in January totalled three paragraphs. The Dutch chairman, Guido Landheer, briefly mentioned the competition in a new year’s press release.
What to make of it all?
In times gone by, wealthy Indian benefactors promising the highest quality overseas players in a predominantly Irish-organised competition would elicit outpourings of joy. Thanks to the sins of the past, though, scepticism is inevitable. Given the ETPL has not yet arrived at the player acquisition stage which the failed 2019 Slam reached, not to mention the lack of clarity on key issues, optimism is unlikely to be the order of the day.
Bachchan did offer one kernel of detail which provides a timeline. He expressed hope that he would be back in Ireland within four-to-six weeks “with great fanfare”, announcing details of team owners, broadcasters and player recruitment. He has set his own timeline. If word doesn’t come by the end of April, plenty will be quick to sign a new death certificate for Irish franchise cricket.
Even if we do hear, the quality of player available by then, given alternative competitions, remains to be seen. “The longer they leave it to get organised, fewer players will wait inevitably,” said one agent. An ETPL document circulated at the end of last year contained pictures of Rashid Khan, Ben Stokes (with a misspelled surname) and Faf du Plessis, among others. Given the timeline, it seems unlikely that players of that calibre will be available. Rashid and du Plessis have signed for teams in The Hundred. Having already withdrawn from the Northern Superchargers, Stokes is unlikely to play franchise cricket in the foreseeable future as he prioritises his fitness for a winter Ashes tour.
While ETPL organisers are aware of the doubts, they don’t hold any themselves. “Nothing comes easy in life, everything is going to be a challenge,” says Bachchan. “Does starting a league have its challenges? Of course it does. Is it worth doing? Absolutely. Are we going to manage to do it? God willing, yes.
“I’m not someone who’s ever listened in my entire life, be it in my professional career or my business career, to naysayers. I think you have to go with your conviction and your belief.
“Are there going to be people who are sceptical because of the past? Yes, and I hope that they’ll be the first people to go buy their tickets to come to the stadiums and watch our matches.”
Another great read Nathan. Honestly hope it happens but with so much history and little confirmation to date I have serious doubts