# Did pro teams ever consist of local players only? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 21, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pro-teams-ever-consist-of-local-players-only/777686 "2017-01-21T02:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pro-teams-ever-consist-of-local-players-only/777686/21 "2017-01-23T19:58:19Z")
Not a pro team (in fact, mandated amateurs) but the Gaelic Atlethic Association of Ireland requires you to live or be from the County you play for (think States). So an inter-county hurler or football players in almost always from the County they play (with some occasional exceptions). It’s of the key drivers of the game in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pro-teams-ever-consist-of-local-players-only/777686/22 "2017-01-23T21:39:59Z")
Yorkshire County Cricket Club, a professional level team, mandated that players had to be born within the historic county borders of Yorkshire to play, a restriction that remained until 1992. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pro-teams-ever-consist-of-local-players-only/777686/23 "2017-01-24T19:57:32Z")
Athletic Bilbao still try to maintain a Basque-only team. It’s a broad definition but they are a good sized team in La Liga in Spain. > **[Athletic Bilbao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_Bilbao)** > > Athletic Club (Basque: Bilboko Athletic Kluba; Spanish: Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as Los Leones (The Lions) because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés, which was named after Saint Mammes, an early Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans. Mammes pacified the lions and was later made a saint. The team plays its home ... ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pro-teams-ever-consist-of-local-players-only/777686/24 "2017-01-24T20:19:34Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > I grew up in Ottawa, Canada, in the 1970s and at that time I think that that was the case. Ottawa’s professional football team at the time was the Ottawa Roughriders and one of their star players, Russ Jackson, was also the vice-principal of a local high school. > > According to the Wikipedia article on Jackson: “Many consider him one of the best Canadian-born players to play in the CFL, while most consider him to be the best Canadian to play the quarterback position.” Russ Jackson wasn’t from Ottawa, though. He was from Hamilton, and went to college there, too. Logically, had he played for the local team he’d have played for the Tiger-Cats. He did take up teaching in Ottawa, but did not move there until the Rough Riders drafted him. Jackson was one hell of a football player, I’ll tell you that. He probably could have been a starter in the NFL. He got better as he aged, and retired at 33 coming off a season where he threw for 33 touchdowns, personally averaged nine yards per rush, and won the Grey Cup (in which he threw four touchdown passes.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pro-teams-ever-consist-of-local-players-only/777686.md?page=1)