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Ravel and co: International Brits

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    Ravel and co: International Brits

    Ravel Morrison, formerly one of the great hopes of English football and former U21 international, made his debut for Jamaica on Saturday.

    In light of that event I thought it might be interesting to keep track of UK-born players appearing for countries outside the British Isles. With UK academies increasing their output of high quality players we might see a logjam of well-coached players may look elsewhere for international opportunities. There's a story on the BBC this afternoon about Reading's Ovie Ejaria, a winner of the U20 World Cup with England in 2017, seeking to play for Nigeria.

    There's also the interesting case of non-league players being called-up by smaller nations. The latest Saint Lucia squad listed on Wikipedia (Nov 2019) contains Kieran Monlouis of Horsham (seventh tier). And the curious cases - yes, Simone Perrotta, Italian World Cup winner in 2006, was born in Ashton-under-Lyne (but returned to Italy when he was five).

    For the record, Jamaica also gave a debut in that match to Greg Leigh, born in Manchester and currently at Aberdeen, while Adrian Mariappa, Michael Hector (both London) and Bobby Decordova-Reid (Bristol) were also in the initial squad. Meanwhile Erling Haaland's (b. Leeds - although he left the UK at the age of three) international break was curtailed when Norway's government prevented their squad from travelling to a friendly with Austria.

    #2
    Although both were born in Finland, Finnish internationals Glenn Kamara and Robert Taylor grew up in England. Robert O'Shaughnessy has an Irish passport..

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      #3
      Hallam Hope, Manchester-born, formerly of Carlisle (and others, notably Bury) but now of Swindon. Short answer Barbados. Longer answer:

      Hope represented England at under-16 (two goals in seven games), under-17 (12 goals in 17 games), under-18 (two goals in two games) and under-19 level (two goals in six games).[4] He was in England's squads for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship.

      He was also eligible to represent Barbados through his father, Russell, who emigrated to England before Hope was born. His paternal grandfather hails from Trinidad and Tobago. He accepted a call up from Barbados and made his senior international debut on 5 September 2018, scoring both his nation's goals in a 2–2 draw with Guyana in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifying game. In December 2018, CONCACAF declared Hope ineligible to represent Barbados, wiping his two appearances and two goals. However, Hope returned to international duty and on 19 November 2019 he scored twice in a 3–0 victory over the Cayman Islands to secure promotion for Barbados into League B of the CONCACAF Nations League.

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        #4
        There must be dozens, maybe hundreds over the years. Joey Gudjonsson's son Isak Johannesson, born Sutton Coldfield, made his debut for Iceland last night. Chris Birchall, born in Stafford, Port Vale and Trinidad & Tobago. And many more...

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          #5
          Dubliner Aymen Ben Mohamed received a call up for Tunisia while with Bohemians, and has since gained 12 international caps. He also moved to Esperance de Tunis, and became a quiz question as the most recent Irishman to win the Champions League with them ( although Caoimhin Kelleher has since taken that honour).

          Under age Ireland international Eamonn Zayed gained a couple of caps for Libya but has since retired.

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            #6
            Leytonstone's own Colin Kazim-Richards has won plenty of caps for Turkey.

            Scott Arfield was born in a small town just outside Edinburgh and is now a Canadian international.

            Going back a bit, roughly one-third of Jamaica's 1998 world cup squad was born in England.

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              #7
              FAI = find another Irishman...............

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                #8
                Originally posted by fatbear View Post
                FAI = find another Irishman...............
                That didn't take long, you're getting your revenge now.

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                  #9
                  You mean that as only 6 of the 1990 Ireland world cup squad were born in the Republic of Ireland now you have to select 14 ?

                  At least all 23 of England's current squad were born in the country.............

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                    #10
                    You want to penalize the Irish for the fact that their ancestors had to come to England for work due to the exploitation of the homeland?

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                      #11
                      No, by getting your revenge I mean that Ireland brought two of the current England squads best players through the underage system, one of them played at every level up to and including senior level ,only for England to pick them when they were ready. That's football, in the same way that Ireland capping the likes of Lawrenson and Aldridge, who would have got a lot of England caps otherwise.

                      Under the constitution of Ireland, if you are a son or grandson of an Irish citizen, then you are entitled to Irish citizenship yourself, every player we've ever picked, including the 1990 World Cup squad fulfil that criteria.

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                        #12
                        Personally I think Rice should not have been allowed to switch nations after playing in a full international for Ireland but unfortunately the rules allow it.........

                        I'm not too keen on underage players changing nations either but I understand why someone shouldn't be stuck with a decision made when they were young ( amd maybe didn't even make the decision themselves ), or when it is clear that they are never going to represent their first nation at the full international level and then can represent someone else if the opportunity arises.

                        By the way, my mum is Welsh ( and lives in Wales ) and having fallen out of love with the England team at around the South Africa World Cup, I now support Wales in football, who had only 11 players born in Wales in their last squad. I am not against any of the Irish selections, the joke could also easily be adapted for the FAW !

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                          #13
                          Giovanni Reyna was born in Sunderland but like his father is a U.S international.

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                            #14
                            I'm probably missing loads of obvious examples, but are there other countries that have the complexities of the UK and Ireland regarding eligibility. I would assume that the countries that made up Yugoslavia could be tricky, or the USSR but then again, maybe that was a case of a single ethnicity/nationality trying to get out from a conglomerated whole, whereas the UK and Ireland feels like the other way around.

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                              #15
                              Dom Dwyer! Ex-Kings Lynn played 4 times for the USA National Team since 2017

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                                #16
                                Albanian-speakers born in Kosovo and Macedonia playing for Switzerland https://www.dailysabah.com/football/...against-serbia
                                Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 20-11-2020, 20:39.

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                                  #17
                                  That article mistakenly says that Granit Xhaka was born in Kosovo. He and his (Albanian international) brother are both Swiss born, their father was a political prisoner and then refugee who arrived in Switzerland in 1990, before the wars really got going.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by elguapo4 View Post
                                    No, by getting your revenge I mean that Ireland brought two of the current England squads best players through the underage system, one of them played at every level up to and including senior level ,only for England to pick them when they were ready. That's football, in the same way that Ireland capping the likes of Lawrenson and Aldridge, who would have got a lot of England caps otherwise.

                                    Under the constitution of Ireland, if you are a son or grandson of an Irish citizen, then you are entitled to Irish citizenship yourself, every player we've ever picked, including the 1990 World Cup squad fulfil that criteria.
                                    Wasn't there some dispute over Tony Cascarino?

                                    I agree with the point made above though, that once you've represented a country at full international level that should be it, regardless of whether you played in a friendly or a competitive match. Though it becomes more complicated when 'new' nations come into being, such as Kosovo.

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                                      #19
                                      Cascarino was because his mother was adopted, he said he wasn't qualified because he didn't have "Irish blood " .However, under the law ,he was still qualified for Irish citizenship because his adoptive grandparents were Irish.

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                                        #20
                                        I think Cascarino wanted to sell a few more copies of his (actually quite good) autobiography, and made it into a bigger story than it was to drum up a bit of publicity.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by fatbear View Post
                                          Although both were born in Finland, Finnish internationals Glenn Kamara and Robert Taylor grew up in England. Robert O'Shaughnessy has an Irish passport..
                                          Robert Taylor, moved to Nottingham from Finland at the age of 13 and stayed there for a year. Returned two years later to Lincoln City. Not sure if spending 3-4 out of 26 years translates as "growing up in England." If that is the case, then you can add 26-year-old Finland defender Daniel O'Shaughnessy to that list. His dad might hail the West coast of Ireland, but Daniel was born and brought up in Finland and later spent four years in England as a footballer. Tampere-born Glenn Kamara was 12 when he relocated with his mum from Espoo in Greater Helsinki to England.


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                                            #22
                                            It seems like Jamaica are on a bit of a recruitment drive for UK-born players. The JFF President Michael Ricketts said in an interview they were working on or have acquired Jamaican passports for:

                                            Max Aarons (21, Norwich, last call-up - England U21, November, withdrew injured)
                                            Michail Antonio (nearly 31, West Ham)
                                            Andre Gray (29, Watford)
                                            Demarai Gray (24, Bayer Leverkusen, last cap - England U21, 2019)
                                            Isaac Hayden (nearly 26, Newcastle, last cap England U21, 2016)
                                            Mason Holgate (24, Everton, last cap England U21, 2018)
                                            Liam Moore (28, Reading, last cap England U21, 2015)
                                            Nathan Redmond (nearly 27, Southampton, last/only cap England, 2017)
                                            Kemar Roofe (28, Rangers)
                                            Ivan Toney (nearly 25, Brentford)

                                            I'd be surprised if they got Aarons especially (indeed, in the interview his name is a top of the list of players presented to Ricketts and he is the only player he doesn't go on to mention, I'm not sure if he was leaving him out deliberately) and perhaps Demarai Gray and Toney, but the rest seem conceivable.

                                            I'd read more about the JFF policy on the Jamaican diaspora over the years - there's been times when I've looked at their squad lists and the omission of some/all their UK-based players seems rather strange. To use my club an example, Adrian Mariappa, having accumulated some caps, played only once in the calendar years of 2017 and 2018 while being a semi-regular presence for a Premier League side. I'd guess there'll be times when the nature of the opposition/the competition means it's practical to not bother calling-up the Europe-based players, while in the interview Ricketts is questioned about pay issues, which are a perennial problem for smaller FAs.

                                            Links: Liverpool Echo write-up or the original seven-minute interview with Ricketts is on YouTube (the presenter says before it commences that Jamaica are also going to call up Blair Turgott, 26, Ostersunds, last cap England U19, 2013/England C, 2016).
                                            Last edited by JM Footzee; 04-03-2021, 15:53.

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                                              #23
                                              Philip Younghusband, Philippines record cap holder and scorer, and his younger brother Jamie, were born in Ashford. I remember from a WSC article that the Philippines only found out that they were eligible when someone playing Championship Manager saw that they were and alerted the local FA

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                                                #24
                                                Thinking about it, you'd have thought it was something the PFA could do. Ask upon registration about eligibility (or the possibility of it), then distribute lists to the various FAs. Although I'm not sure how far down the pyramid the PFA goes - would the non-league players who have represented various smaller Caribbean islands have any interaction with them?

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                                                  #25
                                                  Isn't Michael Ricketts the protege of Horace Burrell, the Jamaican FA president for much of the 1990s and the first guy to recruit a load of English-born players with Jamican heritage?

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