Declan Rice pledges future to England

[poc]

I doubt he cares, and it's not as if England and Ireland will be playing each every year so it'll be quickly forgotten after his first few caps.


I think the bigger issue is someone can play three times for a country and then change when a bigger country comes in for them.

Agree with this few months and games down the line this will mean nothing. End of the day he is english, I have Irish gparents it's different to my old man who as a 1st generation supports Ireland. All this movement between countries should not be allowed anyway imo how to stop the countries pouncing on players so early anyway I'm not sure.

 

[Tucker]

Doesn’t sit right with me that you can be capped for a country and then switch your allegiance.

I’ve always found it a bit stupid that you can play for a country just because your grandparents were born there, things like Vinny Jones playing for Wales etc.

The Welsh and Irish teams seem like the worst offenders for this (and if I was a footballer I’d qualify for both as well as England) so many players over the years have only played for Wales because their Nan went on holiday to Porthcawl as a kid, or played for Ireland because their Grandad had a pouges album.

I don’t think it helps Welsh or Irish football either, if you’re a young footballer in either country, working hard to make it and you see your FA and national coaches cherry picking the cast offs from the England team it must be a real kick in the teeth.

 

['O Zio]

Doesn’t sit right with me that you can be capped for a country and then switch your allegiance.

I’ve always found it a bit stupid that you can play for a country just because your grandparents were born there, things like Vinny Jones playing for Wales etc.

The Welsh and Irish teams seem like the worst offenders for this (and if I was a footballer I’d qualify for both as well as England) so many players over the years have only played for Wales because their Nan went on holiday to Porthcawl as a kid, or played for Ireland because their Grandad had a pouges album.

I don’t think it helps Welsh or Irish football either, if you’re a young footballer in either country, working hard to make it and you see your FA and national coaches cherry picking the cast offs from the England team it must be a real kick in the teeth.

If you're a dual national, then regarding switching I think you should be allowed to switch up until you turn 18, then you should have to choose IMO.

As for playing for a team based on your grandparents then I agree with you. I think it's daft that someone who is born and raised in England by English parents can then decide to just become Irish and play for Ireland on some technicality because their granddad was Irish. If it were me, it just wouldn't feel right. For example, I'm technically eligible for Poland or England (it's just my footballing ability holding me back!) but having been born and raised in England I would feel like a complete fraud turning up to training camp with the Polish national team. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely proud of my Polish heritage and all that, but I just feel like I wouldn't fit in with people who've grown up in Poland and would feel like a fraud/cheat who was only playing for them because I wasn't good enough to get into the England side.

It's different for some people, like if you've always considered yourself Irish even thoguh you were born in ENgland then that's fine, but it's this idea of considering yourself ENglish until you're like 23 years old and then suddenly getting an Irish passport through your granddad when you realise you haven't made the grade to play for ENgland that annoys me, and it would annoy me if I were an Irish fan as well having all these random cockneys and essex boys pretending they're green through and through when it's blatantly obvious they're just doing it on the off chance they get to play in the WC

 

[Dougal]

It's not as commonplace as it's made out that the Irish squad is full of England-born players. A quick Google tells me we have had 89 England-born players. That includes Rice so less say 88 as he's dead to me now. The bigger picture is that's four full 22 man squads spread over the decades. And in that you have the likes of Paul McGrath, Kevin Kilbane, Big Mick and Scousers like Aldridge, Walters, McAteer who would never consider themselves English, Scousers being a special breed as we all know. Sure, there's a Cascarino, but he too is a special case as it turned out he didn't even qualify through the Granny rule.

Northern Ireland, there's 5 players. Surprised that was so low. Don't know if you read the news but the border there is a bit of a grey area.

Born in Scotland, 7 players. Well that's just the whole Northern Ireland thing transferred to Glasgow.

One Welsh born, one States born, one German born. Again, quite surprising considering the emigration rate of Ireland.

In my own house I have four people. Myself (Irish born), the wife and two daughters (England born). The wife was born to a Mayo mother and Tipperary father whose trade were running various pubs in Kilburn in the late 70s/early 80s, a time when Kilburn/Cricklewood were considered the 33rd county of Ireland. There was no doubting my wife's allegiances. 100% Irish and don't you dare say different. I don't run pubs in Kilburn. I rarely get to them now but that's a different story. But I'm bringing up my daughters Irish. In Watford. I do this by educating them as best I can about the culture of Ireland. The music, the sport, the language. It's what the Irish have done for generations and the very reason someone born in England can consider themselves Irish. My daughter's nursery class has a Conor, Cian, Kealan, Cillian, Oisin, Caoimhe, Aidan, Brendan, Orla and Erin. We don't let go of our heritage and many of the 88 (great year by the way) will have grown with the same parenting methods from 1st and 2nd generation parents. We celebrate the culture, something I've always encouraged English people to do with their own (I fully back the call for St George's Day to be a holiday, nothing to do with the fact my youngest was born that day...11.55pm and the wife wouldn't cross her legs for another 5 minutes!).

In my view Declan Rice is more the exception to the rule. England won a World Cup a long time ago and have prospered under Southgate but ask most English fans in the years in between and you would find many who treated the national team with complete disdain. And the players looked even less happy to be playing for them for many years, it was a chore.

So don't think for a second that the 88 were just filling in the gap in their international careers where their England career should have been. These players will dine out for the rest of their lives on playing for Ireland. Jack Charlton can't buy a pint in Ireland. There's a story of a signed cheque hanging behind a bar that's never been cashed. Jack always was canny, who pays for a round of drinks by cheque unless they know it's not getting cashed?

Long story short, there's a lot of individual stories and the assumption can't be made that we have so many Declan Rice cases. With Stephen Kenny taking over the hotseat in two years we'll hopefully be seeing the emergence of more talent from the Irish league and the younger age groups who have many players of promise to go alongside our own boy Troy. And hopefully we won't see many defections.

 

[IfiHadTheWings]

They took our potatoes and now they have taken our Rice.

Tiocfaidh ár lá.

 

[IanWrightsUglyWife]

And along with his decision, Mark Noble's dream dies.

Marvelous.

Just bantered out the park by his own team mate.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I think we should buy him

 

[Dougal]

I think we should buy him

His price has just dramatically risen.

 

[dontcallme]

Andy Townsend has criticised the decision, a man whose only claim to being Irish was one Irish grandparent.

I do agree though that once you have played for one country, you shouldn’t be allowed to play for another.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

His price has just dramatically risen.

Because he's chosen England? Not sure about that.

Either way, even if that holds, it would mean his sell on value has gone up as well, so really it shouldn't matter.

I think he'd be perfect

 

[KingKay]

No rice, only potatoes now.

 

[chrissivad]

Because he's chosen England? Not sure about that.

Either way, even if that holds, it would mean his sell on value has gone up as well, so really it shouldn't matter.

I think he'd be perfect

Hasnt he signed a new contract with West ham?
That would put his price up

 

[SugarRay]

It’s weird he didn’t back himself when younger if he feels English. It’s not like he was playing his trade at lower league clubs and England was the impossible dream.

To be honest, the fact he’s made this decision makes me question him as a person.

Once capped by one country, that’s it imo. Anyway, he isn’t exactly the missing piece of the jigsaw for England, as good a prospect as he clearly is!

 

[Blockbuster]

Very salty on the Irish part, doubt anyone could have even made a thread had he chosen Ireland.

He is a young lad and wants to be at the very top, not forgetting that he is actually English.

 

[Dougal]

Very salty on the Irish part, doubt anyone could have even made a thread had he chosen Ireland.

He is a young lad and wants to be at the very top, not forgetting that he is actually English.

Again, he blurred the lines on his nationality by changing his mind at full international level. If he represented England from under 16 then there wouldn’t be a thread today. Just an interesting ‘did you know Rice qualified to play for Ireland had he fancied it?’ anecdote, such as the one for Harry Kane.

 

[Insomnia]

Again, he blurred the lines on his nationality by changing his mind at full international level. If he represented England from under 16 then there wouldn’t be a thread today. Just an interesting ‘did you know Rice qualified to play for Ireland had he fancied it?’ anecdote, such as the one for Harry Kane.

 

['O Zio]

@Dougal
Genuine question out of interest, is there any ill feeling in Ireland among "proper" Irish folk toward those who do decide to play for Ireland on a technicality e.g. the Andy Townsends of the world? As you say, that sort of situation isn't as wide-spread as it perhaps once was or as it's made out to be, but are there people in Ireland who are dead against it and would rather have a slightly worse player who was genuinely Irish as opposed to some Essex boy whose granddad turns out to have been Irish? Or is everyone just glad to have them on board?

 

[Thewobbler]

He made the right choice. This england team is going places and he is a very welcome addition.

 

[Dougal]

@Dougal
Genuine question out of interest, is there any ill feeling in Ireland among "proper" Irish folk toward those who do decide to play for Ireland on a technicality e.g. the Andy Townsends of the world? As you say, that sort of situation isn't as wide-spread as it perhaps once was or as it's made out to be, but are there people in Ireland who are dead against it and would rather have a slightly worse player who was genuinely Irish as opposed to some Essex boy whose granddad turns out to have been Irish? Or is everyone just glad to have them on board?

Think ‘Roy Keane’...

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Hasnt he signed a new contract with West ham?
That would put his price up

He has. I still think we should try to buy him

How's this for a side:

------------------- Kane

-----------Sterling --- Sancho

-------------------- Alli

---------- Winks -------- Rice

Rose --- Stones --- Gomez ---- AWB


You can argue with a few names, but that's the most interesting/exciting England team I'd have seen in a long time