Perhaps I can ease it forward, not Speed related but on eligibility for the four home nations, does residency ever count for players born inside the UK?
It certainly didn't used to. Whether he would have chosen to play for England or not, and he is quoted as saying he wouldn't, Ryan Giggs was never eligible for England despite moving to the North-West at the age of 6 and playing for England schoolboys, which was possible because the only criteria for schools football is the location of the school the player attends.
Are there examples of mothers giving birth deliberately in a country for sporting reasons?
I've known at least two fathers making their wives have their children in Yorkshire so they'd be eligible to play cricket for the county. All four children born this way were girls...
I'm waiting for this thread to hit page 11. Whenever I open it, it reads "Gary Speed" and then "what a cunt"... Very disconcerting.
Perhaps I can ease it forward, not Speed related but on eligibility for the four home nations, does residency ever count for players born inside the UK?
Scotland gave a debut to Jordan Rhodes earlier this year. He has no Scottish 'blood' in him at all but his father, English goalkeeper Andy Rhodes, played in Scotland for most of the 90s and so Rhodes jnr went to school here.
Only the first few years of his schooling too - he moved back to England in 1998 aged 8. I'm probably more Scottish than Rhodes, but the lad really wanted to play for them, so good luck to the lad.
nathan blake, the welsh star of the early 90's, drove his heavily pregnant wife back to wales from sheffield (he was playing with united) for that reason
Sean of the Shed wrote:
It certainly didn't used to. Whether he would have chosen to play for England or not, and he is quoted as saying he wouldn't, Ryan Giggs was never eligible for England despite moving to the North-West at the age of 6 and playing for England schoolboys, which was possible because the only criteria for schools football is the location of the school the player attends.[/quote]
Correct me if Im wrong but I beleive Ryan Giggs has an English Mother....
And as such he would have been eligible for England.....?
I know from personal experience that some coroners go out of their way to avoid giving suicide verdicts on deaths that plainly are suicides (often, but not always, the motivation is to try to spare the family extra pain; sometimes this is misguided). This looks like another such case.
Gary Speed has been named in the Barry Bennell court case as one of four people who took their own lives who had been coached by Bennell. This wasn't presented as a coincidence by the witness who claims he was abused by Bennell.
Something that was already horrific has somehow got much worse.
Gary Speed has been named in the Barry Bennell court case as one of four people who took their own lives as a result of Bennell's activities.
I cannot process this terrible new information or begin to have the words to react to it - like so much to do with Speed’s death even after the intervening years.
To echo Ray, and for the benefit of those not reading the article, the unnamed witness said that Speed was one of four he knew who were coached by Bennell and later committed suicide. He was careful to say that he didn’t know if abuse by Bennell was the direct cause.
That said, it is of course highly suggestive and I’m really upset at the possibility. It’s sickening to think that players that I’ve admired and been entertained by were only in a position to do so having first been through that, to the point that some might have been driven to suicide.
And the idea that these evil arseholes were enabled by a conspiracy of silence within football...I mean, shit, my enjoyment of a silly and futile game should not have come at this fucking price.
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