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'If you're not proud to be here then sod off & play for someone else'
“He said he was a proud Irishman. Then he said he was a proud Englishman. If he’s both… good luck to him but I don’t buy it. I think you’re either one or the other."
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019...-then-sod-off/
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This is always going to be the issue with the grand parent qualified players. Yes you may be tempted to play some international football, you might have some fond memories from your grand parents, but when it comes down to it you have more connection from the country you and your parents were born in.
Says the guy who played 7 times for northern Ireland u21s?
To be fair, I imagine he believes in a united Ireland and therefore, arguably, he can say he'd always played for his country.
The IFA seem to be in a mess currently and the English FA seem to be about to embark of a decade of success - having copied lots from Spain, Germany, Wales/Ireland/Northern Ireland to get to this point and invested (probably) more into football than any other country in the world since 1966 - so I can see why a proud Irish man is telling a player who has only now picked England to sod off. However, while I can't say Rice has picked England despite this, honestly, unless you felt English on some strong level would you really want to play for them? Their football story seems to be waltzing through qualifiers and then an ever increasing amount of pride and expectancy (a good number of their fans stop here) which becomes arrogance which becomes colonialism-like mindset until they either a) win a tournament or b) crash out. It seems like an easy life then an extremely difficult one where any success only makes Tommy Robinson happier
To be fair to rice that's exactly what he has done. I think it's possible to be English and have a connection to another country, the likes of Brooks and possibly ampadu really couldn't have ruled out England call ups at some point and so they definitely have a strong feeling for Wales. Id doubt either would deny being English though, unless grangetown blue is interviewing
If he says anything other than "it's ok to change your mind and play for any nation that you want, for whatever personal reasons you have" then he's a hypocrite. He played for the u21s for N. Ireland and when it came the time to declare the nation that he wanted to permanently represent, he changed to the Republic.
There's no get out clause for his decision if he wants to be a dick about other players doing the exact same thing as he did.
Oh yeah, he's an odious c**t too... Which has no bearing at all on my opinion on this topic, honest
I don't think being born either side of a red line on a map determines your nationality. I have 2 daughters born in England. One has never lived in Wales, the other lived here for 10 years. Both a staunchly Welsh, and subscirbe to the ABE fan club. One has even got a tattoo of the words to Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau on her. They've both attended Wales football matches (before they became popular) and have both previously been season ticket holders at Ninian Park and the CCS. One now lives in the USA and her children support Wales and Cardiff City from afar. They've been to City games, but not Wales games yet (They watch every game on TV - when I texted about our goal this week, I was admonsihed because they were a couple of minutes behind us, as they had set the TV to pause while they ate breakfast so they didn't miss the anthem).
The point I'm making is, every individual feels differently. Others in the same position as me might find their children/ grandchildren feel more English or American than Welsh - so be it, but I've done my best to ensure that mine know their roots and feel as Welsh as anyone born here.
As for Declan Rice (Rice is a Welsh name by the way, it's a corruption of Rhys) , if he'd declared his allegiance to Wales and then played for England I'd be annoyed, but as he declared for Eire then played for England, I really don't give a sh1t.