GREEN LIONS
Should we break the habit of tournaments past and get behind the most ‘Irish’ England squad assembled?
NO doubt, there were some who viewed last Wednesday’s press conference as a bit of mischief-making by the English FA. The part of any build-up to a major tournament sees a couple of players given to the media each day. Jack Grealish and Declan Rice, ‘the two that got away’, just happened to be asked to field questions together.
Of course, they were both asked about how they once felt more Irish than English.
Grealish, the former Gaelic footballer who has kicked a point in Croke Park and grew up in Birmingham’s Irish community, spoke fondly of his time with Ireland’s underage sides, recounting how he fainted in the bathroom after being asked to play for both Ireland and England in one youth tournament.
Tellingly, though, he began to feel more of a pull towards the country of his birth when he broke into Aston Villa’s first team. ‘There was a time when I thought obviously I am English. My parents were born in England. I was obviously born in England, so I feel English.’
The reluctance of Martin O’Neill to cap Grealish at senior level has always been held up as one reason behind the switch, but Rice played three times for the senior side and still switched. So that is no longer any guarantee. Rice also spoke well last week and while this pair have been painted as pantomime villains, they are two young men who are difficult to dislike.
That goes for this whole England set-up. From Gareth Southgate’s sensible and level-headed demeanour through to Marcus Rashford taking the UK’s Conservative government to task last year, this English side is easy to get behind, even if some in this country will cheer on Luka Modric and his fellow Croatians this afternoon.
However, it is not simply the likability of this team that should mean we have second thoughts on maintaining the major tournament tradition of supporting the sides that oppose them. Southgate has also put together the most ‘Irish’ England squad ever.
That old chestnut from the Jack Charlton days about the FAI standing for ‘Find Another Irishman’ has a different twist at these European championships.
In the England, Wales, Scotland and Finland squads, there are players who could have played for Ireland. Thomas Delaney, midfielder in the Denmark side that has so often been the bane of Irish teams in recent years, also has Irish ancestry but it goes too far back to his great-grandparents, who emigrated to America.
Apart from Grealish and Rice, there are at least five more English players who were eligible to play for Ireland – Harry Kane, Reece James, Harry Maguire, Jude Bellingham and Kalvin Phillips. There may be more, such as Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson, whose maternal side of the family are called Plunkett, but we aren’t able to confirm if he qualifies. Not that Stephen Kenny needs a goalkeeper at the moment.
With Scotland, there’s Andy Robertson and Motherwell wing-back Stephen O’Donnell, while Wales have Ethan Ampadu, who could also have played for England and Ghana. Although his dad Kwame played for Arsenal and was an Ireland Under 21 international, Ampadu junior said previously that Wales were always his first choice. Meanwhile, Daniel O’Shaughnessy’s
‘SEVEN OF THE ENGLAND SQUAD WERE ELIGIBLE FOR IRELAND’
father Robert is from Galway, but the defender has lined out for his native Finland since U15 level.
When it comes to international football, nationality has become more fluid. Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte is a Frenchman who will be lining out for Spain at these Euros. Laporte is one of 17 players at the tournament who will have switched nationality, although only five of them – including Declan Rice – have won senior caps for their original choice of country to represent.
Back when Charlton and Ireland were being criticised for their pursuit of any qualified player, it wasn’t the done thing. It was the exception among countries, rather than the norm. But that has changed. Footballers are well aware of their dual nationality now, with Miguel Delaney pointing out in the London Independent this week that 175 of those players selected to play in the Euros have dual nationality of some kind.
In the Charlton era, Ireland were excellent at pinpointing eligible players early and tying them down before they made an impact on a bigger stage. John Aldridge was capped while he was at Oxford before going on to be the top goalscorer in England’s First Division. Similarly, Andy Townsend only became one of the most consistent midfielders in England’s top flight after making his Ireland debut.
In times gone by, someone like Phillips might have been pursued while he was impressing for Leeds in the Championship, before he became an established Premier League performer, although his eligibility only came to light last year when his mother confirmed on Twitter that he had an Irish grandparent.
Much has been made of the FAI not attempting to coax Harry Kane at underage level, especially as his father was from Letterfrack.
However, although Kane took time to find his feet in senior club football, he was always part of England’s under-age system.
As nationality becomes less clearcut in the international game, Irish football may not be able to use the ‘granny rule’ as it once did. More than 100 players born in the UK have represented Ireland and they include some of our greatest stars.
But it is more difficult these days to unearth a gem off-Broadway like Aldridge and Townsend. And when they do discover a potential superstar, there’s no guarantee they will remain with Ireland, as the examples of Grealish and Rice have shown. Times have changed.