His options open
West Ham’s centre-half is entitled to take time before deciding whether to play for England or Ireland. Many others share his dilemma
It is hard not to have sympathy for Declan Rice. He started off playing for a team as a relative unknown, enjoying being a professional and wondering where it would take him. Suddenly the manager he plays for is yesterday’s man, the side are losing to opponents they would ordinarily have been expected to beat – and there seems to be a much better option elsewhere. No wonder he is having second thoughts. But that is enough about West Ham.
The Republic of Ireland’s latest international waverer has picked at an old wound in international football: his request that Martin O’Neill leave him out of the squad for the two most recent games while he considers his future a prelude to the usual fury. It certainly is a messy outcome, with three caps already for Rice and the suggestion that a change of agent might be responsible for putting the idea in his head. That said, Gareth Southgate also admitted that he spoke to the 19-year-old about an England career, but stopped short of promising him anything.
The notion that nothing with England might be a better option for a young London-born footballer with an Irish grandfather than something with Ireland is probably the most hurtful part of it all for Englishborn players who dedicated themselves to the latter. You can see why Mark Lawrenson and Kevin Kilbane say Rice should never play for Ireland again. But it is not a solution to the awkward question of multinationality, which is what so many of these young footballers need.
Sensible advice for Rice would be to play no international football for at least 12 months. It would allow the more radical fringe to simmer down and it might give him a better idea of where he stands as a potential England footballer. Realistically he is always likely to be borderline, which is why Southgate was non-committal. If Rice was the Anglo-Irish equivalent of Raphael Varane, he would be picking his own suite at St George’s Park.
The issue with the next generation of young footballers is that, when it comes to multinationality, they have been raised to be both or more. It is a different, more enlightened world when it comes to culture and nationality, with club academies committed to recognising the diversity of the major cities from which most top young players come. You can be English and Irish, English and Nigerian or English and Jamaican. It is not just that these children can be both – it is that they have, throughout their lives, been encouraged to be so.
Up to their first under-17s, Fifaendorsed competition players can represent as many nations as they like – and then after that first official game they can switch allegiance once. Rice has not switched yet, and not having played a senior competitive game for Ireland, both options are feasibly still open. Jack Grealish, the last Englishborn Irish hope, has used his options up – which is a pity, because he might be surprised how forgiving football can be in a different time, under different circumstances. England’s junior teams are full of gifted multinational players.
Arsenal teenager Mark McGuinness played for England at junior level but has been courted by both Northern Ireland and the Republic. Vontae Daley-Campbell, Arsenal’s England Under-18 rightback, has Jamaica eligibility, as does West Bromwich Albion’s England Under-19 player, Nathan Ferguson. Campbell’s England and Arsenal Under-18s team-mate, the goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, could play for Nigeria – and there are many others.
International football is about belonging – but it is also about opportunity, and no player should be afraid of that. Pitching yourself at the right level is crucial, and – unless the sense of belonging outweighs all other considerations – why should a young player not pick the best option for his career? The national associations are just as ruthless in the process. Wales’s aggressive scouting has landed them Ethan Ampadu, the 17-year-old English-born Chelsea midfielder who looked so assured on Thursday night against the Republic of Ireland, a country for whose under-21s his father Kwame played. Bournemouth’s David Brooks, in the same Wales team, played for England and Wales junior sides in the same summer. Two of Scotland’s Under-21s XI who beat Andorra are English-born. None are out to cause offence to one nation or the other – they are just trying to plot the best career they can.
Sometimes a player’s career can surprise even him, which is most likely what happened with Rice who, when he was released by Chelsea as a 14-year-old Ireland junior international, probably never envisaged the current impasse. Sometimes a player can surprise his representative nation, and if Wilfried Zaha were still up for grabs, Southgate would offer him whatever he wanted to play for England.
The 16-year-old Celtic prodigy Karamoko Dembele has played for both England and Scotland at under-15 and under-16 levels – a wise move. Born in London, raised in Govan with Ivorian heritage, he got good advice from whoever told him to test them all out for size. After all, if by the time he is 21 he is only good enough for Brechin City, no one will give him a cap out of sympathy.
Both sides are playing a game, with the national associations applying pressure to the players they believe will be most useful and allowing those they can do without to move on. As long as the rules allow it, modern players will move to the option that suits them best. The key is not to take it personally.