Nation Unto Nation

A few weeks ago, I was watching the BBC’s excellent Match of the Day programme late on a Saturday night in the company of my good friend Jack Daniels. After the brief highlights of Everton’s game the topic turned to whether the Goodison midfielder Mikel Arteta should be considered for England. I damn near choked on my Tennessee whisky when I heard the smirking Gary Lineker bring it up in conversation - surely, Arteta is as Spanish as paella. At the time of the broadcast there was speculation the former Rangers player qualified for playing for any of the home countries as he had been resident in the United Kingdom for more than five years and as he hadn’t represented Spain yet, it was widely believed he could pull on the three lions of England in the not too distant future. However, FIFA weren’t slow in amending their original rule and have now decreed that a player can only play for a country if he has been educated for a minimum of five years under the age of 18 “in the territory of the relevant association”.


FIFA come in for a lot of criticism but this time they’ve seen some sense at least. Surely merely being resident in a country shouldn’t entitle you to represent that country at sport? However, it got me thinking about other players who have gone down this road – pre the new FIFA ruling.

The former Chelsea player Deco was born in Brazil but opted to play for Portugal. Fair enough, there are historical ties between Portugal and Brazil so that’s not completely a surprise. The ex Arsenal player Eduardo was also born in Brazil and brought up in Rio de Janeiro but opted for Croatian nationality in 2002 and has represented that country ever since. However, if you think this is a relatively recent trait, then you would be mistaken.

More than forty years ago, the most famous footballer in the world was Alfredo di Stefano. Born to a family of Italian immigrants in the capital of Argentina - Buenos Aires - di Stefano played six times for Argentina - missing the World Cup in neighbouring Uruguay in 1950 as the Argentines refused to participate. He then played for Colombia before acquiring Spanish citizenship in 1956. Di Stefano was part of the legendary Real Madrid team who won the European Cup six years in succession and he went on to play for his adopted country more than thirty times.

In recent years, there has been a measure of controversy about players having tenuous links with the countries they represent, most notably the Republic of Ireland. Scotland, it has to be said, hasn’t been slow to get in on the act. Recently, manager Craig Levein has been sounding out the possibility of Newcastle United striker Andy Carroll pulling on the dark blue jersey. "I've heard I'm wanted by Scotland but I'm obviously doing well with the England Under-21s at the moment and I will see what is happening there," Carroll was quoted as saying, speaking as if it were his contract at St. James Park that was about to come to an end. Carroll, who has a Scottish grandmother added “I would be lying if I said that the Scotland thing wasn't in the back of my mind. It's nice to know I'm wanted. But England is where I am from, it is my country and that is who I want to play for really”. Hmm. England is my country and that’s who I want to play for. That will go down well with the Tartan Army if Carroll is ignored by Fabio Capello and trots out at Hampden wearing dark blue…

I have to say I belong to the old school when it comes to playing for one’s country. I’ve never been comfortable with players representing Scotland because they’ve suddenly discovered a long lost granny in Wick. However, other countries do it so the Scots are merely following suit. Indeed, Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen could have played for Denmark as his grandfather came from there. Nevertheless, there’s a difference between having a family link to a country and having the right to play international sport just because you’ve lived there for a few years. In my view, this makes a mockery of what used to be an honour of playing for your country.

This isn’t being racist, nationalistic or jingoistic. We live in a multi-cultural society where respect for all creeds is the foundation of an equal and fair society. It’s just that when it comes to watching our country I want to see players who are Scottish or have a family link to our nation. Somewhat belatedly – but correctly - the suits at FIFA appear to have had second thoughts about what defines ‘international’ competition…