ForumGarden

Good for you son!

This is something that has sort of bugged me for along time. Not that it has anything to do with me, even though my father was born in England.

So like what makes you English or Scottish or Irish or Welsh or British? Being born in another country and then spending five unbroken years playing cricket, football or rugby in say England qualifies you to represent your “adopted” country. I don’t think that makes you British.

So what about the kid whose parents, grand parents & great grand parents lived, worked and fought for England who is an average sports person? He/she must take a back seat in the queue because an earthling born for instance in South Africa who is a better cricketer/rugby player gets first chucks? Bullshit!

Take the English cricket team … go on take them cos I sure as hell don’t want them!

Andrew Strauss …okay he’s retired, Matt Prior, Jonathon Trott and KP. All born in South Africa. Surely somewhere in England there must be cricketers who, if not as good as these dudes, can at least hold a bat? Or else why have a cricket Championship? Why not just round up all the guys/girls who qualify and sort out their ancestry? Who cares where they were born as long as the grandparents were English or whatever.

I believe that citizen Wilshere has articulated something that has irked people for some time but at least he has had the guts to say so.

But the left will crucify him for this and I betcha that pretty soon he will be forced to retract his statement.

The horses left that barn decades ago.

There is no going back to a day when athletes were required to represent the country/region/state they were native to.

LarsMac;1437704 wrote: The horses left that barn decades ago.

There is no going back to a day when athletes were required to represent the country/region/state they were native to.


But why is that?

jones jones;1437705 wrote: But why is that?


I can only offer my personal hypothesis.

but it boils down to money.

There's big money in sports, these days. I would imagine even in Cricket.

So if you can get the hot player from across the line, and he wins games, winning games sell tickets, tickets pay your salary, and the more you sell, the more money EVERYBODY makes.