I was just wondering the other day if anyone born in Ireland or with Irish parentage had won the World Cup playing for another country. I guess its most possible with one of the 1966 England players, but one of the Italian guys in 2006 had been born in England so I guess anything is possible. Anyone know?
i think the chances of seeing me play for england are higher than a proper irishman donning the three lions
Well I think 3 or even all 4 of Wayne Rooney's grandparents are Irish, his younger brother John who plays for Macclesfield Town has said he wants to play for the Rebpublic and I think a cousin who's currrently on Wigan's youth team has also said he wants to play for the Republic. What consitutes a 'proper Irishman' is debatable
From Jack Charlton's wikipedia entry: Personal honours awarded to him include the OBE and, in 1996, that of honorary Irish citizenship. The honour amounts to full Irish citizenship; it is the highest honour the Irish state gives and is rarely granted. Therefore Jack Charlton is a real Irishman. If you want Irish surnames here are some from the England 1966 WC winning squad: John Connelly (born St Helens*) Gerry Bryne (born Liverpool) Ian Callaghan (born Liverpool) Wikipedia says this about Liverpool: The city is also known for its large Irish and Welsh populations.[66] In 1813, 10 per cent of Liverpool's population was Welsh, leading to the city becoming known as "the capital of North Wales".[66] Following the start of the Great Irish Famine, two million Irish people migrated to Liverpool in the space of one decade, many of them subsequently departing for the United States.[67] By 1851, more than 20 per cent of the population of Liverpool was Irish.[68] At the 2001 Census, 1.17 per cent of the population were Welsh-born and 0.75 per cent were born in the Republic of Ireland, while 0.54 per cent were born in Northern Ireland,[69] but many more Liverpudlians are of Welsh or Irish ancestry. *St Helens is 13.1 miles from Liverpool
Jack Charlton wasn't given honourary Irish citizenship until many years after he won the World Cup and of course came from the famous Milburn footballing family which as far as I now has no connection with Ireland other than Jack Charlton's spell as manager of the national team. I'd guess though it's quite likely that at least one of the England '66 team had an Irish grandparent or great grandparent, especially as a fair number came from the North West. There are a lot of people with at kleast the odd irish ancestor in Britain.
good on ya m8. i learned something here. i remember when he was the manager for ROI but I didn't know he was given honorary citizenship. i think Teddy Kennedy got it. That's the only person I ever heard of getting it. That's interesting and good to know, cheers It is relatively well known that John Lennon was a decendant of the Irish although he was never considered anything other than Irish. Same for the Gallagher brothers of Oasis (well documented Celtic supporters!). Very interesting to learn that about Jack Charlton
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonEbYXPa5k"]YouTube- Noel Gallagher on Celtic FC Ireland and Irishness[/ame] http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-19177573.html
As a catholic (Northern) Irish Unionist I do find all this talk of what constitutes "Irishness" to various Dublin bigots amusing. In answer to the original question: Jose Luis Brown of the 1986 Argentina squad, and scorer in the final, was of Irish, welsh and english stock. So there's one at least. Also, seeing as there were two famous footballing Charltons to one famous footballing Milburn, surely the attribution should be "wor jackie" was linked to the Charltons not the other way round. And the Gallagher's "love" of Celtic is new to me. I know the links to Ireland come through their dad, but they hate the fella and haven't talked to him in years. As other posters have said finding ROI supporters in the North-West of England is not too difficult.
The Milburns came first and there were actually 5 of them to the 2 footballing Charltons (the only otherr famous Charlton I knwo of is Suzanne Charlton daughetr of Bobby whon is a weather forecaster workign for the BBC. All 4 of the Charlton brothers' maternal uncles were professional footballers as was the legendary "Wor Jackie" who was the cousin of those maternal uncles. With 7 members the Milburn footballing clan is the largest footballing clan I can think of off the top of my head. Both of the Gallaghers' parents were Irish, so it really doesn't suprise me. When Noel Gallagher talks about his uncles I assume he means his maternal uncles being a lot closer to that side of the family.
And here was me thinking I was a freak for being a protestant republican! The Gallaghers have close links with Duleek. Duleek have a huge Celtic Supporters club. It's a small (ish) village.
Great little town! My cousin lives there. Was walking home from the pub one night and I overheard portuguese being spoken between two guys across the street. Weird!
Living and working in Sunnyvale, CA half the year. For those who don't know the area, Sunnyvale is a town about 20 miles north of SJ and a quick train ride away from Buck Shaw. I've always been a "support your local team" guy. (I have little interest in Hockey but all my mates are Sharks nuts, so I'll cheer them on when they're on the telly). I've little to no interest in the Champions League or EPL nowadays. I also find it's a fun atmosphere at MLS games. I'm 35 now and I can do without some of the raucousness of supporting you feel when you're 18 or 19. Now I can enjoy a beer and a song on a sunny Summer's evening cheering on a team of limited but honest pros. And occasionally we even WIN! Although I can only make around 5 or 6 games a season, I've fallen for the Quakes deep enough to spend most weekends back in Manchester waiting up til 5am on a Sunday to catch a Quakes game on JTV or the like. Cheers. A Tribe Called Quakes.
Not football but Eoin Morgan from Dublin plays cricket for England and this year was part of the 20/20 World Cup winning team. Definitely more Irish than some yank.
