Originally Posted by
lopez
Well I've been accused of 'having an agenda', 'every post being on 2G' and told 'to talk about football' but I have some sympathy for Pablo here. He want's a team that has some pre-footballing connection with Ireland. He's quite clear that that doesn't necessarily mean being born in Ireland. Personally it's something I'd like. I dislike people who haven't a clue where their Irish grandmother was born, yet next minute think they're Irish.
Take Michael Robinson. He was in Match Weekly in one of those question/answer jobs about who would he most like to meet? Most put down the Queen, the Pope or Farrah Fawcett Majors at a swingers' party. He puts down 'Ron Greenwood (the then England Manager) on business.' The ink isn't dry and he's in the squad to play France. I met him in Reykjavik six years later and got talking. He starts coming out with all this 'I'm so proud to be Irish' cojones, and how his son's got a tricolour above his bed. He was close to going into Rose Dugdale mode. He then gets dropped by Jack and about a year later he's in a Spanish footy mag (he'd moved to Osasuna) claiming that although he played for Ireland he was English. I think he obtained Spanish citizenship, which incidently entails renouncing all other citizenships he'd ever had.
The point is, as eirebhoy says, other countries are equally (or more) guilty of this as/than Ireland. To play for Ireland is to qualify for Irish nationality - no laws have been changed to accomodate more footballers; in fact laws have been changed to make it more difficult.
As for half the 'current' Irish team being 'English', total tosh. I doubt it ever was - to use Pablo's qualification of Irishness - although there were certainly players who used the green shirt merely as a career move, not as a point of national pride.
