I was born in a British Military Hospital in Germany to a British father and German mother. My grandfather on my mother's side was born in Strasbourg (at that time and now in France but has been in Germany at times over the centuries) to a German father and French mother. My grandmother on my mother's side was born in Holland to a Dutch mother and German father. I've only ever had a British passport although I didn't live in this country before I was 8 years old. Had I ever been good enough I could have definitely played for England or Germany and perhaps even France or Holland but I can't really understand how you could play for a country where you don't really have a strong connection. Surely the whole point is playing for your country, the place where you feel you belong. I've only ever really considered myself English and couldn't really imagine claiming another country as my own, it just wouldn't feel right. Oh and for the record, I've only ever supported England and when they play Germany there has never been any time where there has been any question of me having any split loyalties. It used to really piss my mother off but she just had to get used to it, my Dad just used to sit there with a self satisfied grin on his face. As for France or Holland, I don't feel any real affinity with them at all and can't imagine how you could just think that you'd play for one of them because that might be the only way you could play international football.
That's bullshit. I could move to Rwanda tomorrow and feel more 'at home' than I ever have in Yorkshire, but it wouldn't make me Rwandan. The rules should be simple: you play for the country you were born in. None of this bollocks with the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Adnan Januzaj getting to play for England because they went to school here for a bit or lived here for 5-years... Obviously I'd like to see an all-white England team, and everyone on here knows that (and probably agree, though they won't say it), but it's much simpler to say that you play for whichever nation you were born in. What's that, Terry Butcher, you were born in Singapore? Sorry, no England caps for you. Harsh, but fair.
Just seen this on Twitter to Jack Wilshere In your opinion, should Madeline McCann be eligible for Portugal?
No doubt there'll be an arrest and criminal record for the witty soul who posted it, and a week of debate in the press about 'free speech' and 'a lost generation' to go with it.
No, that's bullshit! So you're saying that had I been good enough to play at that level, I would have had to play for Germany because that is where I was born, despite the fact that my father was English, I've only ever had a British passport and I consider myself to be English?
Clearly every case is different but maybe some rule needs to be set up. Here are important criterias to take into consideration -Nationality of your parents (what happens when each parent is of different nationality, does it matter more what the father is? or mother?) - Where was the player born - How old is the individual and what percentage of his life has been living in his present nation. - How old was the player when he left his place of birth. all these have to be taken into consideration and clearly there can be a ton of variables. Take me for example. British dad, French Mother, Born in France, lived there 10 years, then lived in Belgium for another 10 and now been living in the U.K for 7. Would I be allowed to play for England, France and Belgium? or just France because I was born there? or England as well because my father is English and I have lived here for over 5 years? I mean all of this could be regulated with specific rules rather than have to take each case separately. If you do take each case individually you run the risk of exceptions being made and rules being bent.
Sorry mate, you can't play that card now. Even the irony 'get out of jail card' has its limits; as even does the robust 'race card'.
Na. Even if you were as adroit as the late great funnyman Phil Cool, you’d still have a job pulling that one off. I’d have played the ‘someone else in the house briefly used my account card’
