Last week it was announced that talented Manchester United youngster Adnan Januzaj may be eligible to play for England once he has fulfilled the five-year residency criteria in 2018. In reaction, Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere declared: “The only people who should play for England are English people.”
He dug himself in deeper when asked specifically about Januzaj and whether foreign players based in England should be allowed to play for the national team on residency grounds, saying: “The question was should foreign players be allowed to play for England, and in my opinion I don’t think they should!”
Trying to extricate himself he later tweeted: “To be clear, I never said ‘born in England’ I said English people should play for England. Great respect for people like KP (Kevin Pietersen), Mo Farah and Wilf Zaha they make the country proud.”
Januzaj, who is 18, scored twice in his full Premier League debut, was born in Belgium so could represent Belgium, Albania through his parentage, Turkey because of his grandparents, and Serbia due to the disputed status of his parents’ homeland, Kosovo.
However, FIFA allows players to link up with an adopted nation once they have lived in that country for five years from the age of 18. But that would break the Home Nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) agreement, struck in 1993, not to select “naturalised” players.
Instead, the Home Nations can pick players who have had five years of schooling in the relevant nation, which, for example, enables Blackburn striker Jordan Rhodes to be eligible for Scotland.
Scotland Under-21 manager Billy Stark fears international football will become a laughing stock if Januzaj does eventually plays for England: “You live in a country for a few years so end up playing for that country. This might just be me coming from an older generation, but to me that’s just not right.
“The five-year schooling rule is valid because the players are brought up in that country and can feel a sense of identity with that country.
“Maybe we’re a bit dogmatic sticking to our agreement but till it changes we should continue with it.”
Peter Nicol, who was born in Aberdeenshire, initially represented Scotland in international squash but switched his representation to England in 2001, claiming that he felt he was not receiving sufficient support from Scottish Squash.
It’s the same with rugby. Scotland’s Dutch player Tim Visser has no blood connection but now plays for us because he’s lived and worked in Edinburgh for three years. The Scottish Rugby Union’s recruitment drive has targeted South African and Australian players. South Africans WP Nel and Josh Strauss will be Scotland qualified in two years.
Then there’s Tommy Allan. Capped 16 times for Scotland’s under-20 team including against Italy, the land of his birth but has now been called up by the Italians.
His uncle John Allan, the former Scotland and South African hooker, is urging one of the Scottish professional sides to offer Tommy a contract to commit his international future to the country.
Tommy knew when he was growing up in Vicenza that he would have options over which country he could represent. Speaking last year he said: “My dad played a lot of rugby in Italy as did my mother, while my uncle earned caps for Scotland and South Africa so I knew I had ties to three countries.”
When it comes to cricket, if you’re a Scot and want to play at the highest level you play for England. “English” cricketers have played for Scotland or Ireland, then played for England, and there are South Africans in the team who qualify under their residency rules. The qualification period for cricketers born abroad to play for England increased last year from four years to seven.
Under the previous four-year rule, the ECB selected a number of overseas players. They include South Africa-born Kevin Pietersen, who starred during the 2005 Ashes five years after beginning his county career with Nottinghamshire. Scot Gavin Hamilton played one Test for England and has appeared in a number of One Day Internationals for Scotland. Mike Denness, who died earlier this year, was a Scottish cricketer who played for England, Scotland, Kent and Essex. He was the fifth player born in Scotland to play for England but remains the only England captain to be born in Scotland.
According to the Olympic Charter, any competitor in the Olympic Games must be a national of the country of the National Olympic Committee which is entering the competitor. If a competitor is a national of two or more countries at the same time he/she can represent one of them once at least three years have passed since the competitor last represented his former country.
International track and field athlete Mo Farah was born in Somalia but moved to Britain when he was eight to join his British father who was born in England. And, as Wilshere said, he did indeed make us proud.