|
Post by stillnotbonehead on Mar 1, 2006 19:10:44 GMT
You can only play for your country of origin, and since Giggs was born in Cardiff, to a Welsh Mother and Father, than logically he had as much chance of playing for England as he did for the Cameroon. I think you can go back as far as grandparents.... definately having a parent from another country is enough to play for them... I can't think of any off hand, but there are a lot of players playing for international teams who were not born in the country.... I did hear of one player who didn't even speak the same language as his international teamates.... I'm sure someone will enlighten me with his name! Ireland is famous/infamous for using a grandparent's nationality to claim full internationals. But for an accident of birth (being 100% English back to all 4 grandparents) I could now be an ex-international for the Splice Islands - population 11
|
|
|
Post by Col ISIHAC. on Mar 1, 2006 19:17:00 GMT
Am qualified to play for Scotland, me! Egg-chasing OR football. Clearly, nobody informed the relevant authorities. The call never came
|
|
|
Post by medibot on Mar 1, 2006 23:09:42 GMT
Could play for Scotland too if i wanted too through my Scottish grandma. Wales all the way for me though There have been quite a few people who have played for Wales via parents despite being born in England and Ben Thatcher had one Welsh granny and still played for Wales. btw, did anybody ever see the Reebok ad Ryan Giggs did "i am what i am" or something like that, they had one of them up on the bus stop outside the Securicor head office in Sutton. It covers Mr Giggs standpoint quite well. Also, here's the same man playing for Wales in a friendly a few hours ago...
|
|
|
Post by medibot on Mar 1, 2006 23:12:02 GMT
Also note there is no bugger there (12,000 odd), mainly cos tickets were £20 outside the family stand and i was quite tempted to go, unfortunately work got in the way It was 0-0 so i didn't miss much
|
|
|
Post by coops on Mar 2, 2006 13:44:44 GMT
btw, did anybody ever see the Reebok ad Ryan Giggs did "i am what i am" or something like that, they had one of them up on the bus stop outside the Securicor head office in Sutton. It covers Mr Giggs standpoint quite well. One could be cynical and say that it more likely covers the standpoint of the ad agency that paid for his services!
|
|
|
Post by medibot on Mar 2, 2006 13:51:37 GMT
He's been with Reebok for years, plus if everytime you played for your country and everytime England realised they've no left sided player you got mentioned, you'd want to clear the air if offered the chance?
Or maybe i'm being too obvious to think a Welshman might actually want to play for Wales?
I only ever saw one other person do the "i am what i am" ads, some basketball bloke talking about how he was from the ghetto or whatever.
|
|
pies
Stale bacon bap
Super Sexy Sutton
Posts: 230
|
Post by pies on Mar 2, 2006 16:14:03 GMT
Giggs has always made a big point of the fact that he's Welsh. Another point to consider when you look at Giggs' lack of international caps is injury, he has been injured quite a lot in his career. Wales, also, haven't been very good meaning that most of their international games have been quite meaningless. If you were Sir Alex Ferguson, would you want one of your teams star performers, whom your club has invested quite a bit in, who is prone to injury, playing in a pointless game, where he could endanger his health, in mid-season?
|
|
|
Post by coops on Mar 2, 2006 20:59:56 GMT
I only ever saw one other person do the "i am what i am" ads, some basketball bloke talking about how he was from the ghetto or whatever. Kelly Holmes and Mike Skinner (aka The Streets) are another two.
|
|
|
Post by Col ISIHAC. on Mar 2, 2006 21:05:23 GMT
Giggs has always made a big point of the fact that he's Welsh. Another point to consider when you look at Giggs' lack of international caps is injury, he has been injured quite a lot in his career. Wales, also, haven't been very good meaning that most of their international games have been quite meaningless. If you were Sir Alex Ferguson, would you want one of your teams star performers, whom your club has invested quite a bit in, who is prone to injury, playing in a pointless game, where he could endanger his health, in mid-season? Not the point. If you are selected to represent your country, then surely you should turn up! Regardless of whether your daytime boss is a bit of a tyrant, you don't go "Oh! We're crap. I think I'll stay home and play on me PS2 instead, Look you . Boyo!" Or somesuch, do you? No. You get out there and play for your country.
|
|
pies
Stale bacon bap
Super Sexy Sutton
Posts: 230
|
Post by pies on Mar 3, 2006 10:33:23 GMT
I disagree, your club pay your wages, they invest heavily in you as a player, and they are playing more meaningful games than for example a mid-season friendly. Of course playing for your country is a great honour, but i think it's a bit tyrannical of FIFA to expect clubs to risk their best players getting injured in a pointless exercise when they need them fit for vital matches. However i think at the end of the day it should be up to the player. And let's not forget Giggs (for the purposes of this example) has been a Manchester United fan for most of his life.
|
|
|
Post by bonehead on Mar 5, 2006 14:49:10 GMT
I can appreciate NFI's attitude but, if you were a footie player, wouldn't you want to play for your country every chance you got? How often has Giggs been ill or injured when international games are upcoming? He only seems to be interested in playing for Wales if they have a chance of going to the Euros or World Cup.
Fair enough your club pays your wages, but not many players nowadays are concerned about who they play for as long as they play and get their pay cheque. The best test of your ability or lack of it is at international level. I'd willingly sell my soul to the devil for the chance to play football for England - unless KTFC had a game on the same day.
|
|
|
Post by Sultan of Cannock- SRFC on Mar 6, 2006 19:44:51 GMT
Regarding the point some people have made about qualification / nationality, I was amused to hear about a certain Terry Mancini, thingyney* ???hard-man of Orient, Millwall and QPR.
As the man with the italian-sounding name and upside-down head (bald, beard) lined up for his first game with Eire, he turned to the player next to him and said " Fack me! This bleedin' Polish national anthem goes on a bit, dinnit?" to which the Eire player replied " Shut the f**k up! It's ours!"
* thingyney as in Londoner born within hearing distance of Bow Bells! This is ludicrous! COCKCOCKCOCKCOCK!!!!!!
|
|
|
Post by medibot on Mar 6, 2006 22:30:17 GMT
I remember somebody once saying in a newspaper article that during that time you only had to be seen with a pint of Guinness to be asked to play for Ireland!
|
|
|
Post by ambersalamander on Mar 7, 2006 15:56:14 GMT
Oh, practically everyone claims to be Irish, and most English people with one parent from somewhere else claim to be from that place, wherever it is. What's wrong with being English, anyway?
|
|
|
Post by medibot on Mar 7, 2006 22:42:38 GMT
I've noticed "being English" is a love-hate thing, people either are rightfully proud of their heritage and nation or seem to think being English associates them with things they don't approve of or worse, is something to be embarassed about. In any other country it would be ridiculous to even have to consider that being from there was an embarassment. What sort of country has a bigger party on St Partricks day then the day of their own patron saint? Very odd. All that cosdswallop about showing the cross of St George openly on flags and whatnot as being racist too, madness Granted i am coming from the point of view of somebody born in England who claims to be Welsh but my family has very little roots in England. My dads side is totally Welsh and i'm part of the first generation of it to be born outside Wales. My mums family is only English on my Granpy's side, my Grandma being a mad Scottish lass Hence my own lack of feeling English, i associate myself more with Wales because there's not much English history going on
|
|