Irish or English: the case of footballer Declan Rice

On the 13th of February, 2019, football player Declan Rice publicly announced on his Instagram page (@declanrice) that he would be changing his international allegiance from the Republic of Ireland to England. This sparked enormous controversy, both in traditional media and on social media. But why?

This academic article will discuss the case of this young football player, and the discourse surrounding his decision.

Declan Rice: A short but strong career

To understand the situation, some background knowledge is required. Declan Rice was born on the 14th of January, 1999, in London, England. He spent his entire life living in the city. He is therefore eligible for the English nationality. However, his paternal grandparents were from Cork, Ireland, thus making him qualif to be a citizen of the Republic of Ireland as well. 

Rice played for the Republic of Ireland’s youth teams  Under 16’s unptil the Under 21’s between 2015 and 2018. Along the way, he received the Player of the Year award for the Under 17’s in 2017 and for the Under 19’s in 2018, as well as the Young Irish Player of the Year for that same year. It’s thus safe to say that he was regarded as one of the best young players the Republic of Ireland had to offer. (Wikipedia)

This resulted in a call up for the senior national team in 2018. In that year, Rice played three friendly matches for the Republic of Ireland. However, on August 27th he was left out of the squad for a competitive match against Wales. According to the Republic of Ireland coach O’Neill, Rice had been approached by England, and declined his call up for the Irish to think about this. How is this possible? Well, FIFA regulations state that a player can still switch international registration as long as they have not played in an official competitive game for a nation. 

This is exactly what Rice did at the start of 2019. In the end, he opted for England. At the time of writing, Rice has amassed 13 caps for England since making his debut in March 2019, at the age of 22. (English FA)

Sky Sports: The Debate

Following his omission from the Republic of Ireland squad, Sky Sports discussed the topic in one of their talk shows, in an item titled “The Debate”. In it, the Sky presenter speaks with ex-West Ham player Jack Collison, former Scotland national team manager Gordon Strachan and erstwhile football player Clinton Morrison. It’s a great emblematic piece of data, as the next few paragraphs will show.

There are several interesting factors connected to this piece of discourse. First of all, the name of the segment: “The Debate”. In the English language, there is a plethora of words t. Words like discussion, conversation and chat. Each of these with its own connotation about its content, e.g. a chat tends to be more lighthearted, whereas a debate can get quite heated. Calling something a debate indicates that it will concern a topic on which opinions are divided, and people will try to discuss it and convince people of their point of view. (Cameron, 2001, p.8)

And that label rings true, as there are two main points of view discussed in a debate. - the commentator agrees - you take lightheartedlybest seen as constructing this national identity Strachan puts great emphasis on asking yourself as a player, “how do you feel?”. To him, it’s about feeling either Irish or Scottish. And Morrison agrees with him, saying that when he first played for Ireland, he really felt it. He also mentions that according to him, once you decide to play at senior level for your country, that is it. the choice for ass thus inmeans of

Collison takes a more nuanced approach. He highlights how it’s a big decision, and that he hopes Rice really chooses based on his own feelings and thoughts. He marks out Rice as a “down to earth lad”, and that he was truly proud to make his Republic of Ireland debut. And he is backed up by Seamus Coleman, captain of the Irish team. In a fragment of an interview shown in the segment, he mentions:"He was genuinely proud to play for Ireland."  As well as saying: "It’s not as straightforward as “you know what you are”. "

It is thus fair to say that the main discourse was split between these two camps; Those who say that he should have felt which nationality he associated himself with, and those who understand his struggle, and take a more nuanced approach,which is.

Lastly, there are the guests themselves. All three are there, because Sky has asked them to be, as the medium thinks they can add something to the discussion on this particular topic. A they all add a different angle: Collison as someone who knows Rice personally; Strachan as a former national team coach; and Morrison as a player who also had the choice out of different national teams to play for. In other words, they are ‘experts’ on those topics.

And, as Cameron mentions in her work when discussing Foucault, experts have the authority to give definitions, and their words have power. That is why Sky opted to invite these experts, rather than just poll public opinion on the issue. Although these experts are speaking in their own words, each of them is representing a social group. In this case, these social groups are those who have similar angles to the ones mentioned in the previous paragraphs. They thus have a duty to properly represent these social groups, as they also contribute to shaping the public opinion on the matter.

Nationalism and Deviance

So what does it mean to BE Irish, or English, or any nationality for that matter? Well first of all, we must remember that nationality is a social construct. centuries, its importance has increased, and is now considered to be a part of someone’s identity. One of the first things asked when meeting someone from a different country, is “where are you from?”. It is part of everyday life.

This is where the term banal nationalism comes in, introduced by Michael Billig . He argues that regular nationalism is only applied when talking about . However, even when not in any conflict, countries such as The United States of America and France still exist as states nations. (Billig, 1995)

People are reminded that they are part of nations everyday, for example by national flags hanging outside government buildings or inside schools. Billig goes on to say that “aving a national identity also involves being situated physically, legally, socially, as well as emotionally” (p.8). also this

The YouTube Comments

Irish football fans felt betrayed by Rice, and voiced that opinion loudly across social media. We will take a look at a post-match interview with Rice in 2018, where such voicing of opinion is very prevalent.

Posted on the YouTube channel Off The Ball on the 3rd of June, the video shows  being interviewed after he played in the Republic of Ireland’s victory over the USA. He’s being asked about comments made by the then West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini, who said he would try to make Rice into an England international. In the interview, Rice claims to be focussed on the Republic of Ireland at that moment in time. Of course, as we now know, he would later turn his back on that same nation when switching to England.

The comments under this video show how discontent the Irish fans were (and still are) about the whole situation. Figure 2 and 3 show screenshots of the comment section underneath the video, taken on 03-12-2020. There are two prevalent criticisms present in these comments first critique is people Rice is not Irish anymore, or even never was. This argument focuses on two things, namely nationalism and deviance.second sentiment is people calling him out for being a ‘snake’. We’ll take a closer look at both these arguments respectively.

The first critique is people saying something about how Rice is not Irish anymore, or even never was. This argument focuses on two things, namely nationalism and deviance.

The second sentiment is people calling him out for being a ‘snake’. We’ll take a closer look at both these arguments respectively.

In the case of Rice, he has lived his entire life in England. This would mean that at least physically and legally he was situated as English, with a majority of his social situation also being English. et, in his statement on his social media, Rice says he considers himself to be “of mixed nationality”, proud to be an Englishman while being equally proud of his Irish roots and affinity to the country. It is thus emotionally that he regards himself as Irish as it is through his familial ties that he feels connected to the Republic of Ireland.

The commenters, and most Irish fans in general, see this differently. .eing Irish as also staying loyal to th nation and its football team. The football team is part of their everyday lives. Since Rice has not been , they no longer consider him Irish.

This is best illustrated in the comment from “Tuggernaut Express” (Figure 2). His comment consists of three lines, in italics and with music notes in front of them, to indicate that it’s a short song, saying that Declan Rice is not Irish anymore.

It’s interesting to note that before he was omitted from the squad in August, Rice was considered to be an Irishman by his Republic of Ireland teammates and the Irish fans. After all, in the space of just half a year he went from hero to villain in the eyes of in particular the fans. Let’s take a look at how Rice made himself an outsider, with help of the similarly titled book by Howard S. Becker. (Becker, 1963)

According to Becker, someone becomes an outsider when they break a rule. Now, Rice did not break any laws. He acted well within the FIFA regulations. By the standards of a football player, he is acting properly. Be that as it may, he did break a different kind of rule, namely the rules of a social group: the rule of being loyal to one's people and territory. In this case, the social group is the Irish. 

We saw how Rice and the fans have different ideas about what it means to be Irish. By not sticking to their ideal, he became an outsider, a deviant who broke the rules of the social group. This is why many fans consider him not to be Irish anymore, just as the lovely song by “Tuggernaut Express” indicated. 

Now let’s look at the comment by “Shaun Bonner” (Figure 3). He says that “By listening to this snake you'd think he had the same commitment to the Irish Jersey as proper Irish men such as Coleman mcclean”. We are going to assume  that he means Seamus Coleman and James McClean. It makes sense that this commenter sees these two players as examples of ‘proper Irishmen”. Coleman, the current team captain, with 56 caps to his name, and McClean, with 72 caps to his name at the time of writing.

They are experienced players who have stayed loyal to the Irish football team, and therefore fit within the banal nationalistic rules of the Irish fans social group. That Coleman had publicly defe Rice, apparently was not enough for this commenter to forgive Rice.  

Snakes and history

Figure 3 shows several comments filled with green snake emojis. A snake is someone who is two faced. In this context that means that they dislike him for pretending to be an Irishman as it were, only for him to then later show his other side and declare to be an Englishman. 

This view of Rice’s nationality switch as betrayal, might also be rooted in the history of the two countries. After all, England invaded and conquered Ireland in the Middle Ages, and ruled over the country for centuries. This understandably has led to the Irish people seeing the English as their former oppressors. In terms of footballing history, the English national team is considerably more decorated and has consistantly performed at a higher level than their Irish counterparts, which also might put some extra salt in the figurative wounds of the Irish supporters.

So in the eyes of the Irish fans, Declan Rice has not only constructed himself as an outsider to the Irish nation. He has also joined the biggest oppressor in Irish history. Of course, nowadays the Republic of Ireland is an independent country. But the scars of such events run deep, and make this “betrayal”, by one of the brightest footballing prospects their country had seen in years, all the more painful.

This is Declan Rice

Declan Rice is, was, and will be a lot of things. He was a bright footballing prospect in his youth. He was a Republic of Ireland international, and is now an England international. He was, is, and will be a player frequently seen or discussed in traditional media. Some are of the opinion he is a ‘snake’. Others will say he was just confused. He himself says he is of mixed nationality. He is an outsider and a deviant from the Irish football fan. Maybe above all of this, he is two more things; he is a world class football player, and at the end of the day, he is just a human being.

References

Wikipedia contributors. Declan Rice. Wikipedia. Accessed 29-11-2020

declanrice, Instagram. Accessed 29-11-2020

. (2020). England Player Profile: Declan Rice.  Accessed 1-12-2020

Rosser, J. (2018, 27 augustus). West Ham’s Declan Rice left out of Ireland squad as he considers England approach. Evening Standard. Accessed 1-12-2020

Sky Sports Football. (2018, 6 september). How should footballers choose which country to represent? | The Debate. YouTube. Accessed 3-12-2020

Off The Ball. (2018, 3 juni). Declan Rice focused on Ireland. YouTube. Accessed 3-12-2020

Premier League. (2020, 27 januari). Declan Rice on his FIRST EVER FIFA rating! | Uncut | AD. YouTube. Accessed 4-12-2020

The FAI. (2021). Player Profile Seamus Coleman Accessed 18-01-2021

The FAI. (2021). Player Profile James McClean Accessed 18-01-2021