This is brutally honest but very true.
The Pogba Brothers are a great example of this. Boateng Brothers too.
Declan Rice | Switches international allegiance to England four years ago
- Thread starter Walters_19_MuFc
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The Pogba Brothers are a great example of this. Boateng Brothers too.
Yeah pinched! Many players who grew up in NI and played in all NI youth teams who have moved to ROI in the same way Rice has.
Right decision really. I know Ireland gets the England B-Team joke thrown at it but surely they'd prefer to avoid these situations.
It was a no brainer decision for him really. England has an incredible array of young talent and will have a squad capable of competing for major tournaments for many years. They may have a numpty of a manager but Ireland's is even worse with useless players.
In the modern world, there will be more and more dual nationality players and the sad fact is that irrespective of which country you associate more with, the good ones will play for the big countries and the smaller countries will get the dregs.
Fair play to him. It was a classy, well written statement. I wish him nothing but abject failure for the rest of his career.
In the modern world, there will be more and more dual nationality players and the sad fact is that irrespective of which country you associate more with, the good ones will play for the big countries and the smaller countries will get the dregs.
Fair play to him. It was a classy, well written statement. I wish him nothing but abject failure for the rest of his career.
The same on paper perhaps. Not in reality however.
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The 'pinching' relates solely to representation at youth level then, which is a fair enough point. I've always been of the view that Northern players who wish to play for the ROI, should make the ROI youth teams their first port of call.
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Right decision. In fairness he shouldn’t of played for Ireland in the first place. That’s someone else’s opportunity his taking while getting more exposure and making his mind up. The rule should change so they have to decide earlier and not when they develop into better players. If he wasn’t highly rated he’d be playing for Ireland right now which makes his statement seem false.
Great news for England that. Rice and Sancho are serious upgrades for what was already a decent side. Funny enough those are the 2 I want United to break the bank on
He wasn't highly rated when he was younger which is why he switched to Ireland's youth teams. Then when he broke into senior football his reputation sky rocketed and he realised he'd be good enough for Engand so he's switched back.
Hope he doesn't go the way of Januzaj or Grealish, where the last thing newsworthy about them was the drama over their international allegiance. I like Rice but I'm not sure he's as good as I've heard many make him out to be. Still has a fair way to go in my opinion...
That came from Maguire reaching a world cup semi-final, which is something he'd never achieve if he was Irish.
If the guy was irish or if he even felt irish then he would never in a million years want to even cheer England on let alone play for them .
So this just proves he is English therefore ok .
I'm sure he will play for England and I will enjoy rooting for whoever is playing England same as always . Nothing changes
So this just proves he is English therefore ok .
I'm sure he will play for England and I will enjoy rooting for whoever is playing England same as always . Nothing changes
That’s my point. I don’t think it’s fair that you can switch depending on high your reputation is at the time.
Apologies, completely misread your post the first time by the sounds of it when I've read it back now
That just isn't true at all. There are thousands and thousands of people who feel Irish and English. Not every Irish person despises England.
He was born in England to two English born parents so It's no surprise that he's chosen England. It's quite obvious now that he was opting for Ireland at the start because he didn't think he'd have any sort of career with England but now he's really kicked on he wants to have a career with the country that he most identifies with.
Right decision Declan
England's U25 Team
Pickford (24) - Alexander-Arnold (20), Stones (24), Gomez (21), Chilwell (22) - Rice (20); Sterling (24), Alli (22) - Sancho (18), Kane (25), Rashford (21)
England's U25 Team
Pickford (24) - Alexander-Arnold (20), Stones (24), Gomez (21), Chilwell (22) - Rice (20); Sterling (24), Alli (22) - Sancho (18), Kane (25), Rashford (21)
It never ceases to amaze me how people speak with such conviction over things they have absolutely no idea about.
His dad apparently had his first Ireland jersey framed and was extremely proud of him representing Ireland.
As for his decision now, England are a far better team and playing for them will greatly improve his career prospects. It was a no brainer decision but the "it's obvious now" and "he's English with English parents" stuff is all wide of the mark.
That equally means absolutely nothing does it? I'm sure he was proud of him playing for Ireland why wouldn't he be?
Still...he played for Ireland at every level and now he's binned them to play for England. Which tells you basically everything you need to know, still i'm sure his Dad will keep that jersey, maybe he'll hang his first England jersey next to it...
Others have said it, but I'll offer an explanation as to why. Giggs was born in Wales to Welsh parents. At the time, the four home associations would not accept players without at least one parent being from the nation they governed. So it was never Giggs' choice to make, it was Wales or nothing for him.
Thanks for that - learn something new every day.
Giggs has said several times that at no point did he ever consider playing for England as he considers himself Welsh. Rice gave an interview with the Irish Independent last year where he said 'I am Irish so there's no decision to be made, I am here to stay'. A few months later he is asking for time off to consider his nationality. The statement he released yesterday is full of platitudes and feels massively insincere and has the hallmarks of being drafted by a PR firm. There was no suggestion of being a proud Englishman until England had a reasonably successful World Cup and now he is acting like the reincarnation of King Arthur. If he had come out and said I think my career prospects would be better served playing for England I would have respect for him instead of that phoney PR guff that was released in his name.
He was born and raised in England, and is therefore English, so it's only natural that he'd want to play for them.
It's a shame though because Ireland could do with him a lot more than England could (although he'll start for the latter as well).
It's a shame though because Ireland could do with him a lot more than England could (although he'll start for the latter as well).
Good news this. Not sure how good they will but given the state of our midfield, Rice and Winks coming through is much needed.
First and foremost, I'm Irish but I think Rice has made a great choice for himself. Tons of potential in that England side.
Aside from that, it's embarrassing how touchy other Irish people are in here, we've relied on the "granny" rule for years and nicked our fair share of lads who've played through Northern Irish underage teams. Even McGeady was Scottish and switched, no complaints from the Irish then! Hyprocrites.
If anything, this all just highlights how poor our own grass roots structures are. Can't be relying on English lads truly wanting to play for us.
Aside from that, it's embarrassing how touchy other Irish people are in here, we've relied on the "granny" rule for years and nicked our fair share of lads who've played through Northern Irish underage teams. Even McGeady was Scottish and switched, no complaints from the Irish then! Hyprocrites.
If anything, this all just highlights how poor our own grass roots structures are. Can't be relying on English lads truly wanting to play for us.
He is playing for England because he is English and feels English simple as that .
He isn't doing it because they are a better team it's the team he feels most affinity too .
As has been said playing for Ireland was a good move for him at the time and helped him get to here . Now though knowing he is good enough to play for both sides has opted for the one he loves England .
I don't hate him for that it's his choice . However do you think Roy Keane would have made that choice had he been able too ?
Off course not and that's my point Noone who feels irish and loves being irish would want to play for another country especially England
None of that is relevant to what you claimed nor do you know that any of that is true.
Your point is complete bollocks, people are capable of feeling Irish and English, some of whom will then play for England. Feeling Irish doesn't mean you can't feel something else as well. Jack Grealish feels very much Irish, he feels English too. I've spoken to his brother before and know of his dad as well and they very much feel Irish, and yet there he is playing for Ireland. So your point is clearly non-sense.
That's wrong though. In my own family there are people who absolutely feel Irish and love being Irish but also feel English and could happily play for either country in that hypothetical scenario.
You've made up some rule in your head that feeling English stops you from feeling Irish too or vice versa when that simply isn't the case. Nationality isn't a zero sum game.
If you feel English you are not Irish simple as that no matter what you might try and tell yourself
I have relatives in America who consider themselves irish yet support Trump I would tell them you can't consider yourself irish yet support a guy who stands for everything irish would hate
Off course you will have exceptions as some people just like to make themselves different .there will always be some guy at work who will say I'd love to see England win the world Cup and support them while everyone else will tell them to wise up
That's just the way some people are .
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What? This isn't true at all. The world is a lot more complex than that now. People can have multiple identities, multiple countries they feel an attachment to.
Also what does that even mean, stand for everything Irish would hate? The Irish aren't homogenous, just like any other country. I'm sure you have racist bigots just like anywhere else.
Like I say there's always,exceptions most irish people however would find it hard considering our history how we could then support other forms of racism etc.
See people in here stating that Ireland should leave English players alone or whatever... What a load of shite. If that's the case, lets just make international eligibility by being born in the country, No African born players for England, France etc. Think it becomes a little more complex with N. Ireland and Ireland. Its Ireland, no matter how you look at it, North and South.
Rice is lucky he seems a likeable character otherwise he would be nothing but a cnut to me. The badge kissing, anthem singing runaway
Rice is lucky he seems a likeable character otherwise he would be nothing but a cnut to me. The badge kissing, anthem singing runaway
If the Irish all hate the English so much then why support English football sides?
On topic - in terms of career prospects this was 100% the right move. He can slot into that holding midfield position in a very talented young England squad.
I don’t know how he feels personally but he’s London born and bred, you can’t blame him for wanting to play for his nation of birth.
Add Winks to that, he's an impressive midfielder. I said yesterday, but I think England will win a major competition in the next 10 years, we have a wealth of talent coming through.Right decision Declan
England's U25 Team
Pickford (24) - Alexander-Arnold (20), Stones (24), Gomez (21), Chilwell (22) - Rice (20); Sterling (24), Alli (22) - Sancho (18), Kane (25), Rashford (21)
A few years ago Shaw was supposed to be the next Ashley Cole. Now he’s not even considered to be above an average Leicester player in England’s U25 XI.
Add Grealish too.. once he finally leaves Villa I reckon he will break into the England set up.
He can play for whoever he wants. He's probably not as patriotic as some of the fans and probably just wants to play in an international tournament, something he will rarely get the chance to do with Ireland. You can't blame him for making the choice. Hopefully he get's selected now for England. There have been players down the years that missed the opportunity of playing international football because they declared for England and then never got selected.
I don't buy that
You wouldn't say the same of Vida or Lovren even though they made it to the World Cup final
there's a hype machine associated with English players
Lucas Moura 25m, Son 27m, Salah 33m, Mane, Sane the list goes on.......Sterling 3 or so years ago 50m
Was written on the wall with it so drawn out. It's just the fact he was involved with the first team that hurts a little more. But FAI and Martin O'Neill handled this poorly too.
It's an easy decision for us. We are Irish - other posters are here are English, simple choice for us if it was our choice. Obviously harder for Declan, but as soon as you question things it was never going to end the way we wanted.
It's an easy decision for us. We are Irish - other posters are here are English, simple choice for us if it was our choice. Obviously harder for Declan, but as soon as you question things it was never going to end the way we wanted.
If that’s the route that would stop people crying over a London lad not playing for Ireland, then fair enough. If you start making exceptions though then you start complicating the process.
Personally I think people need to understand that you can feel like you are part of two different nationalities, in that case you have to go with the one that gives you back the most.