Part 1: And did these feet in ancient times…..
Should England be for the English?
Jack Wilshire has stirred the jingoistic hornets’ nest with his recent comments:
“The only people who should play for England are English people, if you live in England for five years it doesn’t make you English. If I went to Spain and lived there for five years I am not going to play for Spain. We have to remember what we are. We are English. We tackle hard, are tough on the pitch and are hard to beat.”
Kevin Pietersen then waded into the debate:
“Interested to know how you define foreigner, would that include me, Strauss, Trott, Prior, Justin Rose, Froome, Mo Farah?”
Following an evening of Twitter banter, Jack finished with:
“To be clear, never said ‘born in England’ – I said English people should play for England.
Great respect for people like Kevin Pietersen, Mo Farah and Wilf Zaha – they make the country proud. My view on football – going to a new country when you’re an adult, and because you can get a passport u play for that national team – I disagree. Just saying my opinion, everyone is entitled to theirs.”
Jacks comments are obviously pointed towards players who choose a country based on a ‘flag of convenience’ because they are not good enough to play for their own country (The ludicrous calls for Manuel Almunia to play for England a few years ago springs to mind) and not some Daily Mail ‘keep England for the English’ rally call as some of the press would have you believe.
When it comes to sport, I’m a proud Englishman. I was born in England, I live in Australia, I hold both an English (British) and Australian passport, but I will always be English. My three-year-old daughter was born in Sydney, she holds also has both passports, if, fingers crossed, she is good enough to get the call, should she be limited on her choice due to her birthplace or should she be able to represent the country she calls her home, be it England or Australia?
Home is where your heart is, if you are fortunate enough to be good enough and you are called to represent ‘your’ country at any sport, you should accept the responsibility with humble heart and great gusto. ‘Your’ country, is your definition, it’s where ‘you’ call home. There are many reasons why many people call England home. Politics, birth, marriage aside, as long as you are proud to call yourself English, then if you are granted the honour, you should be able to represent your home.
As long as you truly believe the following when pulling on the shirt, then you should be able to pull on the shirt.
Part 2: Solution opportunities
So, if no more injuries jump up and bite us on the Arse during this latest and annoying inter-lull, the next time The Arsenal trot out onto the hallowed turf (1am Sunday 20th October – Australian Eastern Daylight Time), there could be/maybe/nearly be a full roll call.
Serge Gnabry, Ryo Miyaichi, Chuba Akpom, Lukasz Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny, Emiliano Viviano, Nicklas Bendtner, Nacho Monreal, Gedion Zelalem, Emmanuel Frimpong, Aaron Ramsey, Ju Young Park, Yaya Sanogo, Olivier Giroud, Per Mertesacker, Abou Diaby, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mathieu Flamini, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Arsene Wenger, Mikel Arteta, Laurent Koscielny, Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla.
Just who do you play as the front six and who misses out totally? Decisions, decisions, decisions?
Well here are some possible lineups.
I am not offering any answers here, as an old boss of mine used to say, just some solution opportunities, for you to mull over.
Option 1: Tora Tora Tora
Option 2: Safety first
Option 3: Just a little kooky
Ok maybe not the third one, but it would be interesting!
TheSundayMorningGooner: waiting for the real football to start, again!
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Steve Wellman
English by birth, Australian by choice. Traffic Engineer, Arsenal ST Holder, Sun DreamTeam Winner, Writer on @GunnersTown, Depeche Mode, Welcome to my world…
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