Haroon Khan

[Sam Slater]

What about all the English footballers that's gone and played for the Republic of Ireland due to some Irish Grandmother? Some years the Irish team was half full of cockneys!

[Jonone]

What's distinctive about it ?

[andy at handiwork]

'ANYONE who gives their service to others against their fellow countrymen is a traitor and should be treated accordingly.'

Bit extreme linking sport with treason.

[Deuce Bigolo]

It happens all the time...most of the time its the parents pushing the athelete or the athelete thinking I've been overlooked by my adopted country I only have a finite window of opportunity to be on the world stage

?imunić was educated at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), but he decided not to play for Australia, instead play his international football for the country of his parents' birth, heritage and dual citizenship of Croatia in October 2001....was quite satisfying to see Australia draw with Croatia in 2006 World Cup and see them eliminated with him playing a role



Going the other way...a samoan junior who applied to play for republic or ireland ends up being an Australian legend

Cant tell me the international eligibility rules for most sports arent a joke

Tim Cahill

Cahill made his d?but for the Australian national team in 2004.[citation needed] Having represented Samoa at under-17 level at the age of 14,[3] he was not eligible to play for Australia under FIFA rules then in place.[citation needed] In 2002, Cahill unsuccessfully sought to play for the Republic of Ireland at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.[27] FIFA changed its eligibility rules in 2004, allowing players capped at junior levels to switch international allegiance, meaning that Cahill was then able to play for the country of his birth

[Deuce Bigolo]

Good call Samwise...Italy 1990

Trust Jack Charlton to pick the English

I'm almost certain on a head count the English born beat the Irish

[alicia_fan_uk]

I'm not suggesting it's a race issue - happy to clear that up. And thanks for suggesting another analogy re elderly people, too (presumably you would leave it to other elderly people to sort it out).

Your defence (albeit you phrased it as a question!?) of not knocking Kevin Pietersen is because you suggest it is up to the group/country/party being "wronged" (in this case South Africans) to complain, and certainly not anyone else.

However when it happens to you, you seem fucking livid.

It's a shame some people only get enraged about injustice when they are the ones losing out.

alicia_fan_uk

[Sam Slater]

Yep. I'd like to hear what bogwort thinks of the English/Scottish/Welsh players in that ROI team, and whether they should have their British passports taken away.