Rahul Dravid eyes grassroots revolution as ETPL targets Europe's cricket faithful
When Rahul Dravid speaks about cricket in Europe, he does not reach for the usual borrowed enthusiasm of a franchise owner at a launch event. He speaks like someone who has actually been there, stood in the dressing rooms, watched the club games, understood the particular way this part of the world loves a sport it has never quite been allowed to call its own.
On Monday in Dublin, as he was unveiled as co-owner of the ETPL's Dublin franchise, completing the league's six-team structure ahead of its 2026 inaugural season, Dravid was characteristically direct about both the challenge and the opportunity in front of him.
"It is probably not the number one sport in Ireland or in Scotland or in the Netherlands," admitted the former Indian batter. "But it has a great history, already a great tradition. There is so much club cricket that happens here, there is a passion for the sport at the grassroots level and a deep passion."
That distinction matters. Passion at the grassroots is not the same as primetime visibility, and Dravid is clear-eyed about the competitive landscape the ETPL is entering. In Ireland, rugby and GAA command the back pages. In Scotland, football dominates. In the Netherlands, football is a religion. Cricket, for all its history in these nations has rarely broken through into the mainstream sporting conversation.
The ETPL's bet is that a franchise league, built around world-class talent and a genuine investment in local players, can change that equation. Dravid, who spent the summer of 2003 as an overseas professional for the Scottish Saltires in the National Cricket League understands better than most what cricket means to people in this part of the world when it is given proper room to breathe.
"You see that even at the World Cups, when you look at the Irish fans and the Scottish fans, you see that passion for the game," he said. "And I think that presents an incredible opportunity to work with the local clubs, the local communities, get support from the press."
The league's inaugural season, scheduled for August and September 2026, will feature an exceptional international cast. Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitchell Santner, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Tim David and Heinrich Klaasen are among the names expected to feature across the six franchises, including Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. For Dravid, the presence of players of that calibre alongside emerging European talent is not just a commercial draw. It is the mechanism.
"I know some of the names...some absolutely great players. A great opportunity for them to be able to play with so many of the local Irish, Scottish, Dutch and European players. I think that in itself should be a really exciting opportunity."
But Dravid is equally focused on what happens beyond the boundary. He is aware that in markets where cricket is competing with deeply embedded sporting cultures, the on-field product alone is not sufficient.
"At the grassroots level, it's about creating that awareness for the fans, it's about getting people on the ground, it's about giving them a great experience. When they come to the cricket, the quality has got to be of a high standard but the experience of everything else at that venue has to be top-notch. Because we are competing with some very, very established sports."
It is the kind of thinking that goes beyond ownership as a title. Dravid arrived in Dublin not with the detachment of an investor, but with the engagement of someone who has spent two decades thinking about how cricket grows, first as a player who chose Scotland over county comfort in 2003, then as the architect of India's junior programme and now as the man tasked with giving Dublin's cricketing community something to believe in.
What Dravid brings is something harder to manufacture.