RICE’S IRA REGRET
FA warns Declan after storm over Twitter post
DECLAN RiCE has been forced to apologise after being caught in the middle of an iRA storm on the eve of his England debut.
Gareth Southgate will speak to Rice and the Football Association insisted the West Ham youngster would be reminded of his responsibilities after Twitter posts — dating back to 2015 — appearing to endorse the iRA emerged yesterday. Rice has recently switched international allegiance from the Republic of ireland to England, despite having earned three senior caps for the irish and is set to be on the bench at Wembley tonight for the Euro 2020 qualifier against the Czech Republic.
And the midfielder moved quickly to express his regret at the messages on social media, posting yesterday: ‘i am aware that a poorly expressed comment i made when i
was a junior player has been circulated on social media.
‘I recognise now that my attempt to show support for my teammates at the time could be negatively interpreted. While my naive words were not meant to be a political opinion and do not represent who I am, I sincerely apologise for any offence caused.’
Despite the controversy, Southgate believes England supporters will back Rice tonight.
‘People understand,’ said the England boss. ‘Most people will have children of those ages and people are still maturing at that age. You’re in conversations with friends, you can get giddy and you can say things that maybe you don’t even know enough about or you don’t understand the context.
‘I think our fans and our public will recognise that fact. He’s apologised. It’s not representative of what he believes and feels. It was when he was 15 or 16 when he was engaged in a social conversation with friends. I don’t think he can say or do any more than he’s said at this point in time.’
The FA have worked tirelessly to combat various anti-IRA chants often sang by England supporters, particularly on away trips.
But Southgate insisted the controversy does not undermine the work the governing body have done to prevent the songs from being chanted. ‘ I don’t think anything changes from an FA or England point of view,’ he said.
The FA will write to Rice to remind him of his responsibilities and Southgate added: ‘I’ll speak to him to make sure he knows that he’s OK and that he’s supported.’
Meanwhile, Jadon Sancho is in line for a first competitive start tonight. Michael Keane will play alongside Harry Maguire in the heart of England’s defence that is also expected to include Kyle Walker and Ben Chilwell. Dele Alli is hopeful of playing at No 10.
England Under 21 stars Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Tammy Abraham are on standby to join the senior squad for Monday’s game in Montenegro after six withdrawals.