Don't be an idiot, Jack

[Southampton Gull]

So white and foreign is ok, but black and English is not? A bit racist isn't it?

That is one hell of an accusation to throw at someone with absolutely no basis for it at all.

[EmetEdadsBeard]

I'll put my twopenneth in for what it's worth. This goes for all sports by the way, and is how I think the rules should be set.
If either of your parents are English you are entitled to play for England no matter where you are born (Owen Hargreaves was mentioned, his parents are English and Welsh, so he fits the bill, and KPs mother is English). I would even consider extending this to grandparents, but beyond this is really stretching the point.
If you are born within these shores you qualify as technically you were born in England so are English.
I don't think other people should qualify. The residency rule is an absolute farce, at one point one of the Indian cricketers (Dravid maybe?) was being considered as he had lived over here for five years!
IMHO

[ferrarilover]

Ahaha, yaaay, the racism misunderstanding pointing at someone other than me for a change.

**** sake, you white people are all the same, racist to the core.

Matt.

[happytorq]

Yet, carry gun's (As do most people over there), are vastly over weight and know nothing outside of America.

kids do not carry guns. (The American educational system is quite good at teaching when to use apostrophes, though.). most adults do not carry guns either.

the thing about overweight americans is another urban myth. Yes, there are lot of large yanks but I guarantee you'll find a lot more kids and young adults who in really good shape. Because sport at school is considered something worthwhile rather than just an inconvenient impediment to the selling off of school playing fields.

third point is probably the most true, although again, it's a matter of degrees. And, as we've established, people in England aren't exactly cognisant of stuff overseas most of the time either.

[AustrianAndyGull]

kids do not carry guns. (The American educational system is quite good at teaching when to use apostrophes, though.). most adults do not carry guns either.

the thing about overweight americans is another urban myth. Yes, there are lot of large yanks but I guarantee you'll find a lot more kids and young adults who in really good shape. Because sport at school is considered something worthwhile rather than just an inconvenient impediment to the selling off of school playing fields.

third point is probably the most true, although again, it's a matter of degrees. And, as we've established,

I'm not being funny here Happy but does 'cognisant' mean sort of 'aware of'? If you are trying to say that many English people are very insular and totally unaware of the wider world then I 100% agree. It p*sses me off when I chat to folk and you get talking about holidays and you ask them where they are going this year and they say Corfu or Ibiza or the Costa Del Sol and so on and so forth. Now there is nothing wrong with these places I don't suppose but when these people go to the same places every year there becomes nothing to talk about and I lose interest. Why can't one just say, "Oh we're going to Svalbard this year" . REALLY? THAT IS SO INTERESTING AND I'M BEING GENUINE!

A lot of English people have such a limited knowledge of anything outside Britain and I find it embarrassing. I myself didn't go abroad until I was 20, little over 15 years ago and my interest in Europe especially was compounded because of this and when I went abroad for the first time it was on a coach holiday to Austria. I was so excited I nearly ejaculated !! I remember going on the ferry , driving through France and staying in a French hotel for the night before moving onto Austria. We stayed in a pension in a village just outside Vienna and it was just so amazing. Foreign money, foreign food, foreign people for the first time and I will remember it forever.

I wouldn't class myself a great traveller as I haven't been out of Europe yet. I've been to Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Holland and Europe is enough for me. My parents had no money and so I went to Filey every year and once we went to Ilfracombe. They did the best with what they had but as the world has become so small in such a short space of time I think I have been left behind because of my inexperience of foreign travel early in life. I go abroad now but i'm a bit over cautious for no reason.

Nowadays I feel that we need to teaching our kids about what is out there and taking them abroad early in life just so they can get some experience and comprehension of what other countries and cultures are like. It doesn't have to be an expensive holiday to Italy or whatever it can be a weekend in France or a ferry cruise to Denmark or whatever. I'm certainly going to try that with my daughter whenever I have any spare money. She already knows the flags of most countries around the world, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Marshall Islands, UAE, everywhere. I draw them, she colours them in and I tell her which country it is and she repeats. I then get all the little flag pictures together and place a milkybar button on each flag and if she gets it right when I ask her she gets to eat it. She's bigger than me now and i'm 17 f*cking stone!!

[usagullmichigan]

I'm not being funny here Happy but does 'cognisant' mean sort of 'aware of'? If you are trying to say that many English people are very insular and totally unaware of the wider world then I 100% agree. It p*sses me off when I chat to folk and you get talking about holidays and you ask them where they are going this year and they say Corfu or Ibiza or the Costa Del Sol and so on and so forth. Now there is nothing wrong with these places I don't suppose but when these people go to the same places every year there becomes nothing to talk about and I lose interest. Why can't one just say, "Oh we're going to Svalbard this year" . REALLY? THAT IS SO INTERESTING AND I'M BEING GENUINE!

A lot of English people have such a limited knowledge of anything outside Britain and I find it embarrassing. I myself didn't go abroad until I was 20, little over 15 years ago and my interest in Europe especially was compounded because of this and when I went abroad for the first time it was on a coach holiday to Austria. I was so excited I nearly ejaculated !! I remember going on the ferry , driving through France and staying in a French hotel for the night before moving onto Austria. We stayed in a pension in a village just outside Vienna and it was just so amazing. Foreign money, foreign food, foreign people for the first time and I will remember it forever.

I wouldn't class myself a great traveller as I haven't been out of Europe yet. I've been to Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Holland and Europe is enough for me. My parents had no money and so I went to Filey every year and once we went to Ilfracombe. They did the best with what they had but as the world has become so small in such a short space of time I think I have been left behind because of my inexperience of foreign travel early in life. I go abroad now but i'm a bit over cautious for no reason.

Nowadays I feel that we need to teaching our kids about what is out there and taking them abroad early in life just so they can get some experience and comprehension of what other countries and cultures are like. It doesn't have to be an expensive holiday to Italy or whatever it can be a weekend in France or a ferry cruise to Denmark or whatever. I'm certainly going to try that with my daughter whenever I have any spare money. She already knows the flags of most countries around the world, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Marshall Islands, UAE, everywhere. I draw them, she colours them in and I tell her which country it is and she repeats. I then get all the little flag pictures together and place a milkybar button on each flag and if she gets it right when I ask her she gets to eat it. She's bigger than me now and i'm 17 f*cking stone!!

Foreign people????? You bloody racist!

[usagullmichigan]

Ahaha, yaaay, the racism misunderstanding pointing at someone other than me for a change.

f**k sake, you white people are all the same, racist to the core.

Matt.

Yes I am officially racist Matt

[usagullmichigan]

That is one hell of an accusation to throw at someone with absolutely no basis for it at all.

Thanks Dave. The support is needed what with being a yank and all that :~D

[ferrarilover]

Yes I am officially racist Matt

Thank Christ for that, I was getting lonely being the only one :}

Matt.

[Dave]

The residency rule is an absolute farce, really ? How do we all stand on some one like say John Barnes, a player born in Kingston, Jamaica, who father played for the Jamaican national team, John Barnes did not move to England until he was 13 yet went on to play in the W/C semi-final for England.

Think we need to stop being so god damn precious here, drop the stiff upper lip nonsense, most countires would not give a toss where a player was born if he quailfied for them, they would take the player no questions asked.

Home is where the heart is, if this lad wants to take up residency here, contribute to our country ( not like half these dole tourists we let in) Then lets have him in our team.

[EmetEdadsBeard]

The residency rule is an absolute farce, really ? How do we all stand on some one like say John Barnes, a player born in Kingston, Jamaica, who father played for the Jamaican national team, John Barnes did not move to England until he was 13 yet went on to play in the W/C semi-final for England.

Think we need to stop being so god damn precious here, drop the stiff upper lip nonsense, most countires would not give a toss where a player was born if he quailfied for them, they would take the player no questions asked.

Home is where the heart is, if this lad wants to take up residency here, contribute to our country ( not like half these dole tourists we let in) Then lets have him in our team.

Errrrr no! He's not English even by your wildish stretch of the imagination.

[Gullscorer]

Don't care if an England footballer is English or Martian. If he wins the World Cup for us, as far as I'm concerned he will be God. And, as we all know, God is an Englishman..

[Dave]

I'll put my twopenneth in for what it's worth. This goes for all sports by the way, and is how I think the rules should be set.
If either of your parents are English you are entitled to play for England no matter where you are born (Owen Hargreaves was mentioned, his parents are English and Welsh, so he fits the bill, and KPs mother is English). I would even consider extending this to grandparents, but beyond this is really stretching the point.
If you are born within these shores you qualify as technically you were born in England so are English.
I don't think other people should qualify. The residency rule is an absolute farce, at one point one of the Indian cricketers (Dravid maybe?) was being considered as he had lived over here for five years!
IMHO

Emet,ok so John Barnes isn't English,by your reckoning above, Lewis Holtby, born in Germany, German through and through, played for their national team, is more English than John Barnes, after all Holtby has an English father.

Or what about Simone Perotta, Italian international, Italian parents, but wait, he was born in England, so according to you, he is ok, and more English than John Barnes.

Think you have taken your argument 100mph down a blind alley and crashed it into a wall,even by my imagination, which is indeed vivid and colourful, packed full of rainbow monkeys doing the floral dance, and riding of into the sunset on the funky moped.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Emet,ok so John Barnes isn't English,by your reckoning above, Lewis Holtby, born in Germany, German through and through, played for their national team, is more English than John Barnes, after all Holtby has an English father.

Or what about Simone Perotta, Italian international, Italian parents, but wait, he was born in England, so according to you, he is ok, and more English than John Barnes.

Think you have taken your argument 100mph down a blind alley and crashed it into a wall,even by my imagination, which is indeed vivid and colourful, packed full of rainbow monkeys doing the floral dance, and riding of into the sunset on the funky moped.

For Gods sakes don't tell Matt about these whatever they are, he'll want one! :na:

[Gulliball]

He phrased it badly, but the underlying point is fair enough. Januzaj is not eligible to play for England, and will not be for another 5 years, so the only way he can play for England is because Man Utd enticed him to England with big money from where he grew up. In essence, it is club football and money that would make him able to play for England. You already have Club football, where players can move freely for money and the best players play for the biggest and richest teams, what is the point in making International football the same? As loathsome as most nationalists are, this is nothing to do with racism or any other issue, but about sporting integrity. If you want to watch Januzaj play, you can watch Man Utd or whoever he moves to. England should focus on other methods to improve the national team.

Would anyone want to watch Qatar host the World Cup in 2022 with a team of 11 Brazilians they imported aged 20 in 2016 and paid money to stay for 5 years to qualify to play for Qatar? That's not the point of International football at all.