Should Driver play for Scotland

Europe

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Here is a player who was born in England, but has lived in Scotland since he was 11. You can only play for Scotland if you were born there or have a grandparent who is Scottish. Part of me says yes, since he lived there since he was a child. But then he could also play for England. The problem is there are rules where you can play for many countries. They should write the rules so that you have no option to play for more than one country. I shouldn't be allowed to play for Italy even though my grandfather was born there over 100 years ago. This is how all these Argentinians get into Italy. It's only going to get worse with all these Europeans moving around Europe now. Couple that with the Third World invasion of Europe and it's going to be a mess in 20 years.
The funny thing is a player like Giggs who was born in the UK in Wales, but I believe lived in England since he was 4, can't play for England, but an African who was born in Nigeria and moved to England at 4, can play for England. It doesn't make sense.
In the future there could be a player with Polish born parents who was born in England, but moved to Spain when he was 3 and lived there for 20 years. Is he Polish, English or Spanish? I assume he could play for all 3 countries.
 
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I'm against Driver playing for Scotland. Why? Because he's English. Somebody doesn't just change their nationality like that. Born in England of English parents, he's English, despite the fact that he might possibly have acquired a bit or a brogue.

If this is allowed, then we'll have Brazilians, Argentinians, and whatnots turning up all over the place.

I think the player is just aiming for a Scotland cap because he thinks the talent threshold is lower than England. If he loves Scotland, as his ambition suggests, he won't muddy the waters of national identity, which are already muddied enough.

The rule should be core identity, and that is connected to blood and culture rather than where the global economy plunked you or your parents down.
 

Europe

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Karl Baxter said:
I'm against Driver playing for Scotland. Why? Because he's English. Somebody doesn't just change their nationality like that. Born in England of English parents, he's English, despite the fact that he might possibly have acquired a bit or a brogue.

If this is allowed, then we'll have Brazilians, Argentinians, and whatnots turning up all over the place.

I think the player is just aiming for a Scotland cap because he thinks the talent threshold is lower than England. If he loves Scotland, as his ambition suggests, he won't muddy the waters of national identity, which are already muddied enough.

The rule should be core identity, and that is connected to blood and culture rather than where the global economy plunked you or your parents down.

Good points.There are already Brazilians all over the place-Eduardo, Senna, Deco. There are also Argentinians on the Italian national team which I don't like. Not coming from the Uk it's hard for me to understand how the different "countries" within it interact.

What if a player had a Scottish parent, but was born in England and never lived in Scotland? Should he qualify?

Should all Scottish players play in the Scottish leagues and not the English leagues?What about Northern Irish?
Should George Best have been allowed to play at Man United? I don't live there so I don't know how people feel about it.

What if a person was born in the U.S. of a Scottish born father, but never lived in Scotland? Should he be allowed to play for Scotland? Should he even be allowed to play in the SPL? I would say no. His father left. Why should he be allowed to play for Scotland and the U.S..But,if he moved to Wales or England instead, he didn't leave the country, the UK. The UK is more complicated than other countries because of the 4 National Teams within a country.

I don't like the fact that an American can get a passport and play in Europe just because a parent or grandparent was born there. That gives them more "rights" or opportunities than an American who can't do that. It also takes away a spot from a European.

Either FIFA is going to clamp down on all the foreign players, or national teams and even leagues will be a joke.The Brazilians especially must be stopped from taking over every league. I would include the Argentinians in that, even if they have Italian blood.

The European Union seems to be the death of the various countries within it.
 

Matra1

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I don't have a problem with Driver playing for Scotland but it is an awkward one. I always thought the Irish team of the late 80s early 90s was a joke. All those guys with English accents who'd never lived in the country. It is important to maintain the integrity of internationals and not let the kind of deracination that's occurred elsewhere in football. In the case of Driver he's lived there since childhood and he plays in Scotland and he's also a real Brit so I don't think it makes a mockery of the international game for Scotland to accept him.

Of course, if in the very unlikely event he was offered a place in the England team what would he do? I suspect he'd prefer to play for his native England.
 
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