Representing a country that you weren't born in...

Whilst this subject came about in another post, do you think it is fair that players who were born in one country can then play for another country because a parent or relative came from another? I don't think this is fair and I don't agree with it at all. The likes of James McLean who was born in Northern Ireland and chose to play for the republic, he's in a group of many who have done the same. Same goes for the likes of Diego Costa who is Brazilian and never received a cap but because he lived in Spain for ten years and was granted a spanish citizen he can now represent spain, oh and the young united lad Janazaj who would have represented any of 7 countries! To me it's crazy, look at the wales and Scotland team, it's littered by English born players who were never good enough for England so chose to represent another country due to parents, grandparents etc.

Thoughts?

 

I wish George Best had had English Grandparents.

 

I don't have a problem with choosing the birth place of parents though I don't like the grand parent thing.

Say you aren't good enough to get near an England squad but you have one grandparent from Northern Ireland should you really be allowed to play for them? Not for me. A parent then yes, that's 50% of your genes from the country & should qualify you to play for them.

On the moving countries thing then I think there should be an age limit. I think you should have to have spent some of your developing years here. I'm not sure what age I'd have the cut off at, maybe 11 or 12. I certainly don't think you should be able to change nationality when turned 16. What Costa did shouldn't be allowed

 

It's a fair question to ask but the answers not that Simple. Even if you take a country like England - massive population - but still cast the net very wide in choosing players who weren't born in the country: Terry Butcher, Cyrille Regis, Matt Le Tissier, Owen Haregreaves, Wilfred Zaha, Raheem Sterling, Luther Blisset, Graham Le Soux etc.....I'm not saying it's right but if you're one of the bigger Countries who casts its net as wide as possible, it's a little easier to understand why those Countries that have a smaller population try to get at least as good a deal - if not better.
I won't even start on the examples in other sports - Cricket, Rugby...

 

]and Athletics - haven't we had American born athletes representing the U.K.? And some African born athletes run for some of the Scandinavian countries. What about Mo Farrah - think he is Somali born.
A very complex issue.

 

My little lad, born in Barnsley, will qualify for Scotland, as the missus is from Scotland. I don't really have a problem with that, but the grandparent thing is pushing it a bit. Particularly when you find out that players like Tony Cascarino weren't telling the truth about their grandparents anyway. If a family move to a country for a short period of time and they have a kid whilst there it doesn't really mean that the kid would have any commitment to that country, particularly if they were to move again whilst the kid was young.

As it is, my little lad is four and isn't showing much sporting prowess, so I can't see it becoming an issue for him. He'd have to learn how to run without falling over first...hang on, that probably means he qualifies to play for Liverpool.

 

Nailed on for a full Scotland cap then.

 

Bloody hell mate, you've written him off a bit early!!

One of the weirdest ones in this category is Chris Froome. Not only was he not born in the UK, he's never actually lived here. Until his early 20s he'd never even lived in Europe. He was born in Kenya and educated in South Africa. He even used to race for Kenya. Would he have discovered cycling if he was born and raised in Britain? We'll never know, but everything he is, everything he's become, is down to his upbringing in Africa. I like Chris Froome, he's a fantastic athlete, but I can't help thinking he only rides for Britain because we've got all the best stuff. We get as much out of that deal as he does, maybe more, but personally I believe the more romantic story would have been a Kenyan winning the Tour de France.

 

Yes, I feel bad now for downplaying his ability to run without falling over to make the cheap gag about certain Anfield favourites who are similar. Fortunately he can't read yet either. I've got him a little goal for the back garden that he enjoy scoring goals into (I would have loved one of them when I was younger, as I used to used the coffee table in the living room as a goal!), so you never know.

We went to watch my little girl's dancing show on Friday and there were a couple of lads on the stage, so the missus asked him if he was going to join in when he's bigger. The way he looked at her was brilliant. It was similar to the way Whitey would look at you if you said that TK was our best player. He just looked at his mum and said "no, i'm going to play football." And than gave me a look to say that mummy had turned as crazy as a coconut. He's only four, but he's already picked up on gender stereotypes. Football, dragons and brave knights and Batman are for boys, whilst dancing, dolls and clothes shopping are for girls.

 

Darren Barnard playing for Wales always threw me.

Ok he was born in Germany. His parents were from Bolton I think... I might be wrong.

So - making a rough assumption that they were from Bolton - I can accept that he could qualify for either Germany or England, however whilst it gave Barnard an international career it feels like cheating that he played for Wales.

Similar to Mo Farah - John Barnes was born in Jamaica and moved here as a child.

Culturaly and legally a british citizen - it doesn't feel wrong.

But then you look at France and portugal.

I think every Algerian and Sierra Leonian can legitimately play for France and every Brazillian Portugal. It all feels wrong. There's a credibilty gap a mile wide with some of them. I think there's a Brazilian who plays for Slovakia or somewhere balkany. Very dubious.

 

If you look at some of the teams from the last few world cups there are loads of teams that have players born outside their country. France and Germany in particularly had loads.

With regard to the players born overseas in forces bases I seem to recall that it meant they were entitled to play for any of the home nations, which sounded a bit daft.

 

What do you do with people from countries like Syria, Ukraine, etc, where non-sporting influences are taking over to the detriment of every sports person from that country. You could have a footballer that was born in Crimea, and sees himself as Ukrainian (maybe even an international). To many people he is now suddenly Russian again, and may have no interest in every playing for that country. To complicate things, the older players could have been born in Russia, lived for 30 years in Ukraine, and now be Russian again - without moving house.

Its not just individuals though - depending on how things pan out, Shakhtar Donetsk are 6 points clear in the Ukrainian league. By October, Donetsk could be in Russia. How would that affect things like the Champions League next season?

And since when was Australia part of Asia? (Ozzie clubs play in the Asian Champions League and the national team is part of the AFC qualification for the WC).

 

maternal grandfather was a bog trotter, fraternal grandmother was a sheep worrier, I was born in Doncaster ( according to some is part of Scotland due to treaty of durham.... sort it big lil ) so, wales, republic, Scotland (?) england

 

That's one for an archivist, not an archaeologist Trev, old mate. However, my opinion (for what it's worth) is that it's absolute gibberish!

 

That's a different thread ;-)

 

Totally agree with someone playing for parent's place of birth. Grandparents is a bit too tenuous though. If I was good enough for Ireland (Mum's country of birth) but I didn't realistically stand chance with England, I'd feel proud to play in green.

Shame I'm not good enough the dog and duck. Lol

 

What on earth is a FRATERNAL grandmother?
Maternal - mother's side, -- Paternal - fathers side.
can you sort this one big lil?

 

Good point. Fraternal means relating to brothers, or members of a shared interest.
I can't criticise jedi one for using the wrong word (even though I knew what he meant), as I didn't spot the honest mistake, either. Shows what a thicko I am!

 

I meant paternal, big lil is doing an archaeology degree so that's close enough to history, well its to do with old crap

 

With links to the other side of Offa's Dyke, I think a spot of sheep-sha**ing was something the males did - never heard of a grandmother being a sheepworrier
(my brother once worked with a lad who had a conviction for er sha**ing a goat in the back of an old Ford Cortina - honest - outraged public decency!)
The co-op in Upper Tredegar (Rhondda) gives a free pair of Velcro gloves with every pair of wellies bought.....

[can't believe I'm typing this crap!]