Jack Wilshere says only English should play for England http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24455721 Only English people should play football for England, says midfielder Jack Wilshere. Manchester United's Adnan Januzaj could play for England if he passes Fifa's five-year residency requirement, as he is yet to commit to another country. Midfielder Januzaj, 18, is eligible for selection by Belgium, Serbia, Albania and Turkey. Asked about the issue, Wilshere said: "If you live in England for five years it doesn't make you English." “ We have lots of boys in our squad who were not born here, whose families have fled here ” England Under-21 coach Gareth Southgate Later on Wednesday, the 21-year-old Arsenal player took to Twitter to say his comments were not in reference to Januzaj. "I wasn't referring to Janujaz," he said. "The question was should foreign players be allowed to play for England, and in my opinion I don't think they should. He is a great player. I wish he was English." England boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed he has been monitoring Januzaj. Wilshere, who earlier this week insisted he is not a smoker despite being pictured with a cigarette outside a nightclub, added in the earlier interview: "We have to remember what we are. "We are English. We tackle hard, are tough on the pitch and are hard to beat. "We have great characters. You think of Spain and you think technical but you think of England and you think they are brave and they tackle hard. We have to remember that. "The only people who should play for England are English people. "If I went to Spain and lived there for five years, I'm not going to play for Spain." Liverpool's Raheem Sterling, born in Jamaica, and Wilfried Zaha of Manchester United, born in Ivory Coast, are part of the England Under-21 set-up along with West Brom's Saido Berahino, who left war-torn Burundi as a 10-year-old. "It's a difficult one," said England Under-21 coach Gareth Southgate. "He [Januzaj] has not played for anyone else. "We have lots of boys in our squad who were not born here, whose families have fled here. "There are some wonderful stories and they are all incredibly proud to play for England. Who is Adnan Januzaj? Januzaj was born on 5 February 1995 in Brussels, Belgium. He spent six years as a youth player at Anderlecht before joining United as a 16-year-old in 2011. Januzaj was an unused substitute in Sir Alex Ferguson's last game as United manager, away to West Brom in May. He made his competitive debut for United in the Community Shield against Wigan. His first Premier League appearance was as a substitute against Crystal Palace on 14 September. "I'm torn with it. The world is changing. People move and work abroad. It is important to know why someone wants to play for you." Former Football Association chairman David Bernstein said England must "play within the rules and get the best team we can". He told BBC Radio 5 live: "There is much more fluidity in terms of population movement. "I would say we must play within the rules but if players are eligible, I would be inclined to pick the best players we can get. Other countries do that." FA chairman Greg Dyke said: "It is an issue we need to look at. We [the FA] will discuss our policy again." Former England midfielder Chris Waddle told BBC Sport: "I've always believed if you're born in a country you should play for your country. "But maybe somebody comes here when they're young and by the time they are 20 they are eligible to play. To him it's probably home - why not?" Cricketers Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott play for England despite being born in South Africa. Southgate added: "We seem to have embraced the cricket team that has won the Ashes, but it is a really interesting, philosophical debate." Januzaj, who joined United in 2011 from Belgian club Anderlecht for a reported fee of nearly £300,000, was born in Brussels. He has turned down the advances of Belgium, and has not won a cap at any level for any country. Januzaj qualifies for Albania through his Kosovan-Albanian parents, Turkey through his grandparents and Serbia as Kosovo's independence has not been recognised by the United Nations. Kosovo's national team are not members of Uefa or Fifa. Fifa, the sport's governing body, states a player is eligible if "he has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association". That would mean Januzaj would have to wait until 2018 to represent England, assuming he remains in the country until he turns 23.
If people want to live in England, and want to call England their home, then why shouldn't they be able to play for their (adopted) country ??
Because it is open to abuse. think Zola Bud. If someone arrives here at the age of 3 from wherever and spends his childhood and teenage years and is classed as an English citizen, then fine, they should play for their adopted country. However, a teenager who comes over to the UK from his home nation because a UK club has signed him is not a English player and should not play for England.
I've got no problem with players pledging their allegiance to England when they haven't been born here if they genuinely want to play for us. What I don't like is our national manager actively seeking out players who have never shown any interest in playing for England. It just makes us look desperate.
stereotypical English followers are racist IMO .. I used to know a lot of people who would follow them ... they all used to go large on St Georges day
That was the reason I posted it, to highlight, a young Englishman making such outwardly racist comments, and not realising that it is being racist.
This is an interesting dilemma. A few years ago we got to the ridiculous situation where Carlo Cudicini was getting close to qualifying for England, but haven’t quite reached the extremes in cricket and rugby. Earlier this year Boyd Rankin and Ed Joyce faced up on the international stage against each other for the second time having swapped countries since their first meeting. The first time I was aware of a player swapping countries was when Kepler Wessels was appointed South African captain after playing a number of tests for Australia (although S.A.’s ban from international cricket gave him some mitigating circumstances). In rugby union it is almost commonplace. My first memory of this was Jamie Salmon turning out for England having previously represented the All Blacks, and I think I can recall stories about Australia’s David Campese, one time holder of the world record for international tries, being qualified to play for Italy. As mentioned by Stringer, Zola Bud was an embarrassing example of trying to grab success; it completely devalues international competition in my opinion. The only way this works for me is if someone spends their formative years in a “foreign” country then they should allowed to choose, but once their decision is made it must be set in stone.
I thought the residency rules only applied to Rugby? I thought Soccer players either had to be from that Country or have a parent or grandparent from there?
He's right, the Aussies rushed through a foreigners citizenship so he could play in the ashes. There should be no qualification just by living in a country and they should cut down the grandparents rule to parents nationality or place of birth. The fact he's labeled racist is laughable.
I don't think you can make that statement based on what he said. Surely it has to come down to the legal position over what constitutes what actually is "English". A Spanish teenager arriving over here at 14 and spends 5 years with QPR and suddenly the England manager wants to play him, does not make that Spanish player English. He is still Spanish. If he is still on a Spanish passport and gets qualification through the governing body rules, then he is qualified to play for England but he is not English. He at worst is stating cultural differences between the way different national players are schooled and is either a fact or he is factually wrong. I don't see who this constitutes Racism?
What a stereotypical statement. I follow england home and away, i 'go large' on St georges day and i am not a racist, my children are mixed race. Why can any other country be patriotic except us, we are seen as being racist and biggots. If an irishman has a guiness on paddys day and follows the green army there is no harm in it. An englishman does it and he's a racist. ridiculous statement!!
Problem is most sports vary in their residency criteria. Athletics and cricket appear to have the weakest criteria, and different countries have different criteria. I wouldn't have a problem with a 16 year old Belgian moving to England, and after 5 years qualifying to play for England, if he obtained UK citizenship. He "works" in England, employed by an English club, and his parents have moved to England
Think of it from a commercial point of view. If you are an 18 year old who plays for Manchester United and are qualified to play for Belgium, Serbia, Albania, Turkey and England. Who are you going to choose to play for? Who would your agent advise you to play for? You may choose Belgium as they have a decent team at the moment but you are not going to choose Serbia, Albania or Turkey over England for commercial or footballing reasons. If the lad is good enough to play for Manchester United, he's obviously good, right? If he qualifies to play for England and chooses that option, good luck to him. I suppose he is every bit as English as John Barnes was.
Hmmm, what about any one who makes a living out of English fans' money, either match day or via Sky, shoud be compelled to make themselves available to England. I think Suarez would love it.
The fact that he qualifies for five different countries shows you how stupid the rules are. I bet he can't even speak three of those languages or probably never even set foot in a couple of them.
"An englishman does it and he's a racist." That is purely down to the fact that the vast majority of England fans who travel abroad, support their team respectfully, behave themselves, get on great with the locals and come home again, don't make for interesting copy in the media and so therefore they are never heard of. It's only the bad eggs that get the coverage.
