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29th August 2018
10:04am BST
On Tuesday night, as Martin O'Neill's bombshell left the country spitting feathers and arguing over a decision that hasn't even been made yet, Declan Rice gave his season a much-needed kick-start.
After being hauled off at half time during West Ham's first Premier League game, the 19-year-old was then dropped but recalled this week for the trip to Wimbledon in the League Cup. 90 minutes in midfield alongside Obiang and a 3-1 away win put both him and his club back on track.
Relief for the teenager looking to pick up from where he left off in the last campaign but, after briefly switching his Twitter account to private after the shitstorm on Monday, he might wish he had stuck with that stance because a tweet about the win only drew in the masses and their 92 cents on Rice's international career.
https://twitter.com/_DeclanRice/status/1034556272241254400
And since Declan Rice decided to take a little more time to weigh up a decision that will copper-fasten his allegiance for the rest of his playing days, there has been no shortage of men weighing in with nonsense.
Kevin Kilbane said he'd rather never qualify for a tournament again than have someone who needs to think about whether he wants to play for Ireland.
Paul McGrath chimed in by boasting that he'd swim across the Irish Sea to represent his people.
James McClean came out and agreed with Kilbane. He said it should be an honour to play for your country.
Very good, lads. You're Irish. Declan Rice has grandparents who are Irish.
He might well feel a connection with the nation, he might genuinely feel both Irish and English, but he's from England, his parents are from England and he can play for England if he wants to. He'd actually be crazy if he didn't think about it.
But the tone and the aggression towards Rice - in media outlets, on forums, in reply to his tweet about West Ham - smacks of pure hypocrisy.
We have no problem here lifting players out of the Northern Ireland underage system when they're primed and ready. We do that because the players we're talking about are Irish. We tell the north to quit their whinging, that these guys were always going to represent Ireland if they got the choice and, although it's tough on them, it's largely the IFA's fault for taking the risk with men who had a natural allegiance for a different nation. The FAI don't help, of course, delaying the moves for these players and bringing nothing but controversy on them when they do end up switching.
Northern Ireland will keep losing players though as long as they recruit Irish men and, to be honest, they should keep losing them because a lot of people grow up in the six counties as Irish and Northern Ireland is not who or what they identify with. They are Irish citizens with Irish passports and they support the Republic. They want to play for Ireland when they grow up. If they don't get the offer, then Northern Ireland can benefit like they did with Paddy McCourt, Niall McGinn and Shane Ferguson. The same way Ireland have always benefitted from English players who didn't make the cut.
By contrast though, whilst we tell Northern Ireland to cop on and defend our right to take Irish players from the north regardless of what underage system they're playing in, the understanding doesn't work in the other direction.
Jack Grealish was driven out of town. England are called all sorts for sniffing around English players. The system is bullshit, the players are traitors and the only reason given for that anger is that Ireland were the ones who had them first.
Yeah, it's tough. It's annoying. But you're going to get burnt every once in a while if you keep playing with fire and Ireland run that risk every time they bring an English player through the ranks. Getting them in at 15 doesn't change the fact that they were born, raised and still live in England. It doesn't make them any less English.
Declan Rice might also be Irish. Maybe the career prospects of playing for England make way more sense anyway - and they do - but the fact is that he's an English native with a choice. He has the choice and the only way to avoid that in future is to invest more in players in this country. Players who are Irish and who want to play for Ireland no matter what else comes up.
So just like we'd show no sympathy for Northern Ireland when they lose an Irish man, this time we're the ones who are going to have to just suck it up.Explore more on these topics:
