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Declan Rice pledges future to England

Mr Pink

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Aug 25, 2010
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You could really simplify things and make it just where you are born is who you play for.

Obviously people these days move to different countries but he qualifies through his grand parents. So both his parents were born and grew up in england and so did he. Nationality is a really weird thing that you can't really describe easily.

Let's be honest here he is an english guy with irish grand parents. You can still be english and proud of your irish roots. I bet that describes loads of people in liverpool/manchester and places like that.

I'm Northern Irish but was born in London and lived in North London until I was 8. My parents, both taught in London, my mum in White Hart lane Primary.

Both my parents are Northern Irish.

Then we moved back to Northern Ireland.

But I have a great affection for Both. But Spurs come first, that's how that's settled!!

Not that I ever had to choose who to play for ?
 

Mr.D

Old Member
Dec 2, 2014
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It would appear that Declan Rice is as Irish as my dear, late Father was. And he was English also.
Maybe the boy shouldn't have grasped the olive branch offered by the FIA. None of us will know what they told/offered him when he was a lad. The Blarney is a very persuasive stone.
Ultimately, he's decided to pledge his footballing allegience to the Country where he was born and raised. As were his parents, it seems.
I see very little wrong in that.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
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It would appear that Declan Rice is as Irish as my dear, late Father was. And he was English also.
Maybe the boy shouldn't have grasped the olive branch offered by the FIA. None of us will know what they told/offered him when he was a lad. The Blarney is a very persuasive stone.
Ultimately, he's decided to pledge his footballing allegience to the Country where he was born and raised. As were his parents, it seems.
I see very little wrong in that.
You make it sound like he was tricked by a leprechaun. Ultimately, you’ve missed out a lot of details of this particular case in your surmising.
 

Mr.D

Old Member
Dec 2, 2014
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You make it sound like he was tricked by a leprechaun. Ultimately, you’ve missed out a lot of details of this particular case in your surmising.

Yeah, he had a shelaliegh (sp) as well, didn't you know to be sure.
I'm only taking what I've read in this thread, that his grandparents are Irish and that he was born and raised in England. If that's true, and I can't really be arsed to google whether to confirm that or not, that makes him English.
Contrarary to popular belief, having a tenuous link to the Emerald Isle doesn't an Irishman make and not everyone who has such a link wants to be Irish. Some of us are very happy to be English.
Declan Rice will put out all the right words to the media, and I'm sure he's very sincere in what he's saying, but he's decided to pledge his footballing future to England. I'm sure he'll sleep soundly with all the £s in the bank once he makes his debut.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
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Yeah, he had a shelaliegh (sp) as well, didn't you know to be sure.
I'm only taking what I've read in this thread, that his grandparents are Irish and that he was born and raised in England. If that's true, and I can't really be arsed to google whether to confirm that or not, that makes him English.
Contrarary to popular belief, having a tenuous link to the Emerald Isle doesn't an Irishman make and not everyone who has such a link wants to be Irish. Some of us are very happy to be English.
Declan Rice will put out all the right words to the media, and I'm sure he's very sincere in what he's saying, but he's decided to pledge his footballing future to England. I'm sure he'll sleep soundly with all the £s in the bank once he makes his debut.
That’s such a badly thought our post I’ll just take you lead and not be arsed going into all the problems with it.
 

Johnny J

Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
Aug 18, 2012
18,124
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He's done nothing wrong, by the rules. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

There is a serious discussion to be had about footballers and athletes picking countries they have a better chance of representing. But here it's the other way round.
 

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
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He's done nothing wrong, by the rules. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

There is a serious discussion to be had about footballers and athletes picking countries they have a better chance of representing. But here it's the other way round.

I think it also comes down to ethics. As humans we should always debate right from wrong.

The Irish FA, or whatever they are called, have put time, effort and money into his development. Despite playing for Ireland at every level he has now decided to play for England.

I can understand why the Ireland fans and governing bodies might not be happy with him personally.

Unfortunately we live in a world where no one is allowed to say anything wrong sowe will never hear Rice's true reasons for choosing to play or England, hence no real discussion. He will come out with a prepared statement showing respect for Ireland but a desire to play for England.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
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As penny pinching as the FAI are at the end of the day it comes down to neither governing bodies or rules. It comes down to a player turning his back on fans after making a commitment to their team and the associated flak with that decision. That’s football. Don’t fuck with a man’s team. If you do you’ll inevitably hear about it.
 

Westmorlandspur

Well-Known Member
Feb 1, 2013
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Rice didn’t break any rules and can’t say i’m Too bothered about Ireland as they pinch players from Northern Ireland. However having seen some of his quotes after his first full international cap it leaves a bad taste. He was saying he knows the anthem and various other bits about being Irish. Even now he looks a better player than Dier and Henderson. He will be in the next England squad.
Half of the Wales squad are English. David Brooks of Bournemouth played in the Toulon tournament and promptly went over to Wales. Zara jumped ship to Ivory Coast.
Most of last years England under 17 squad are qualified for Nigeria.
It goes on but at least it gives the Irish something to moan about. Makes a change from Thierry Henry’s handball.
 
Jan 28, 2011
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It goes on but at least it gives the Irish something to moan about. Makes a change from Thierry Henry’s handball.

There's this Irish bloke I know. Every opportunity he gets, he goes on about that handball goal, again and again, citing the unfairness of it all. I used to argue with him about it, engage in a bit of banter as you do, but, more recently, I've just sat there and listened. It got to the point that, some days, I couldn't even face going out in case I bumped into him. So I went to the psychiatrist and asked for a diagnosis. And they said 'Don't worry, Mr Nine, it's just a mild case of

Thierry Ennui
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
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Rice didn’t break any rules and can’t say i’m Too bothered about Ireland as they pinch players from Northern Ireland. However having seen some of his quotes after his first full international cap it leaves a bad taste. He was saying he knows the anthem and various other bits about being Irish. Even now he looks a better player than Dier and Henderson. He will be in the next England squad.
Half of the Wales squad are English. David Brooks of Bournemouth played in the Toulon tournament and promptly went over to Wales. Zara jumped ship to Ivory Coast.
Most of last years England under 17 squad are qualified for Nigeria.
It goes on but at least it gives the Irish something to moan about. Makes a change from Thierry Henry’s handball.
Imagine, still going on about it nearly 10 years later. What are we like?

641919A0-72DE-4EA9-ABF6-5BA45EDD653B.jpeg
 

nailsy

SC Supporter
Jul 24, 2005
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True, but what we do know is that he was released by Chelsea as a teenager and the FAI showed enough faith in him to call him up for Ireland when he went to West Ham, that would have helped his confidence and helped to develop him as a player. Not suggesting he is now in debt to the FAI, but there is such a thing as gratitude.

There is a very different sense of camaraderie with the Irish set up, probably as the pool we have to select from is so small that we have no choice but to continuously select the same players regardless of form, this was probably the main reason why he took so long to to make the decision to eventually switch. But sure he's dead to us now, can see Hendrick breaking him up first chance he gets! :whistle:

He said this...

“I would like to thank Mick McCarthy, Martin O’Neill, all of the coaching staff and everyone associated with the FA of Ireland (with special thanks to Mark O’Toole), not only for their support and understanding throughout this period, but for the part they have played in my development as a young player."
 

sebo_sek

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2005
6,023
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We have, or used to have a similar problem with Polish players born and raised in Germany. The likes of Klose or Podolski. The prior has never hidden the fact the he doesn't feel Polish, but the latter holds Polish sentiment.

It does leave a sour after taste when players don't choose to represent the country of their ancestry but then again they are free to chase their ambitions.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
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We have, or used to have a similar problem with Polish players born and raised in Germany. The likes of Klose or Podolski. The prior has never hidden the fact the he doesn't feel Polish, but the latter holds Polish sentiment.

It does leave a sour after taste when players don't choose to represent the country of their ancestry but then again they are free to chase their ambitions.
Just to reiterate, as a few people seem to be arguing a different point here, my beef (100% Irish beef obviously) isn’t with him choosing to play for England. He’s fully entitled to do so. The issue with this case in particular is the player having two countries at senior level. One of which, being my own, hence the personal interest. I have no problem with Irish decent players playing for England, such as Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Danny Murphy, etc. Would have happily seen them pull on a green jersey. Fully understand their position, they were never in doubt of where their loyalties lay. Delighted that Mark Noble was fully signed up as an English man. But Rice chose to go one way and critically made a u-turn past the point where most people, if not the rules themselves, deemed unsavoury to say the least.
 

nailsy

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Jul 24, 2005
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Just to reiterate, as a few people seem to be arguing a different point here, my beef (100% Irish beef obviously) isn’t with him choosing to play for England. He’s fully entitled to do so. The issue with this case in particular is the player having two countries at senior level. One of which, being my own, hence the personal interest. I have no problem with Irish decent players playing for England, such as Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Danny Murphy, etc. Would have happily seen them pull on a green jersey. Fully understand their position, they were never in doubt of where their loyalties lay. Delighted that Mark Noble was fully signed up as an English man. But Rice chose to go one way and critically made a u-turn past the point where most people, if not the rules themselves, deemed unsavoury to say the least.

I get that and I can see your point, but I don't think the FAI look very good in all this either. They called him up to the senior squad days after he made his debut in for West Ham. He came on in the 91st minute in the final game of the season and gets a full International call up. That just stinks of a player getting a call up to try and lock him to that country in the future. Let's face it most 18 year olds getting a call up probably aren't going to be confident enough to say no as they want to think about their future before committing.
Let's not pretend that Ireland are the only country that call up players who aren't ready just to get them committed to the team. England do it, Scotland do it, most nations do it and they're all looking out for their own interests rather than thinking of what's best for the player. I wonder how many players have committed to a team because of the influence of parents, agents, and managers who put their own interests ahead of the person who actually has to kick a ball and ultimately regretted it as they ended up playing for a country that they felt wasn't their own.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
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I get that and I can see your point, but I don't think the FAI look very good in all this either. They called him up to the senior squad days after he made his debut in for West Ham. He came on in the 91st minute in the final game of the season and gets a full International call up. That just stinks of a player getting a call up to try and lock him to that country in the future. Let's face it most 18 year olds getting a call up probably aren't going to be confident enough to say no as they want to think about their future before committing.
Let's not pretend that Ireland are the only country that call up players who aren't ready just to get them committed to the team. England do it, Scotland do it, most nations do it and they're all looking out for their own interests rather than thinking of what's best for the player. I wonder how many players have committed to a team because of the influence of parents, agents, and managers who put their own interests ahead of the person who actually has to kick a ball and ultimately regretted it as they ended up playing for a country that they felt wasn't their own.
Only one flaw in your theory. Calling him up for a few friendlies achieved absolutely nothing.
 

nailsy

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Jul 24, 2005
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Only one flaw in your theory. Calling him up for a few friendlies achieved absolutely nothing.

It doesn't disprove it though. It just means they were unsuccessful. Or was MON at West Ham for his debut and so impressed with his display in those two minutes that he just had to call him up?
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
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It doesn't disprove it though. It just means they were unsuccessful. Or was MON at West Ham for his debut and so impressed with his display in those two minutes that he just had to call him up?
Or had he been fully briefed on a player who was coming through the international ranks at youth levels? He was Irish u-17 player of the year in 2017 and u-19 player of the year in 2018.
 
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