Giggs: never eligible for England

[Scotty]

Since I often read posts about Giggs choosing Wales over England, I wanted to provide this story where Giggsy himself clears up the confusion.

I'd feel stupid playing for England: Giggs (http://www.soccernet.com/england/news/2002/1004/20021014walesgiggs.html)

[Gar7]

He 's Welsh through and through! When he's done in Manchester he can come home and settle in the Valleys!

[Samarkand]

Originally posted by Gar7
He 's Welsh through and through! When he's done in Manchester he can come home and buy the Valleys!
Fixed your post. :)

[england4eva]

Originally posted by Scotty
Since I often read posts about Giggs choosing Wales over England, I wanted to provide this story where Giggsy himself clears up the confusion.

I'd feel stupid playing for England: Giggs (http://www.soccernet.com/england/news/2002/1004/20021014walesgiggs.html)

it's funny how i seem to be the only person in england that understands this.

well, giggs has been my no.1 idol for over 10 years, so i've learnt quite a bit about the man.

football will never be the same again for me when he retires :(

[crummy]

It's really quite straightforward.

Giggs played for England schoolboys - the selection criteria for schoolboy internationals is that to represent a country the kid must go to school in that country - Giggs, although born in Wales, went to school in England.

So as an example - if a 15 year old came over to England from the US and was good enough he could play for England schoolboys.

He couldn't however, play for England at representative level unless he has at least 1 grandparent who was born in England.

That is why somebody like Owen Hargreaves can play full internationals for England - but couldn't have played for England schoolboys.

Confused ???

[soccernutter]

Ah, the plot thickens.

[sinner78]

Giggs could play for england under residency rules.
He has lived here for most of his life so he could've played for us.
Just like various other players played for countries under residency rules...

Asamoah and various others for germany..
Branko strupar for belguim..
John barnes for england.
etc, etc...

[england4eva]

Originally posted by sinner_ronald_monk
Giggs could play for england under residency rules.
He has lived here for most of his life so he could've played for us.
Just like various other players played for countries under residency rules...

Asamoah and various others for germany..
Branko strupar for belguim..
John barnes for england.
etc, etc...

i don't think England works like that now. he wouldn't change anyway IMHO!

[crummy]

The residency rule does apply in England - it is applicable worldwide - all countries in FIFA competition have to use the same selection criteria.

I forgot about it to be honest.

Barnes was eligible to play for England as he was the holder of a British passport.

He could have played for any of the home nations.

[SJFC4ever]

I could be wrong, but I am fairly sure that Giggs could NOT qualify to play for England under residency either. This is because there is only one passport for all British citizens. (unlike players like Olisadebe or Asamoah)

There is some sort of "gentleman's agreement" between all the home nations. If the FIFA rules strictly applied, any "British" player could play for any of the home nations. This would mean (normally) that Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland could pick any of the English players who cannot get a game for England, even if they have no link with that 2nd country. The agreement negates this, and places an emphasis on birthplace(s).

The point of the agreement is that if you have a direct blood link to one of the home nations, you can't play for another home nation - unless you also have a direct link with that second country. Giggs has that direct blood link to one of the home nations (Wales, through himself) but doesn't have that link with England.

[crummy]

You're probably right.

confused ??

You bet !!!

[sinner78]

Originally posted by SJFC4ever
I could be wrong, but I am fairly sure that Giggs could NOT qualify to play for England under residency either. This is because there is only one passport for all British citizens. (unlike players like Olisadebe or Asamoah)

There is some sort of "gentleman's agreement" between all the home nations. If the FIFA rules strictly applied, any "British" player could play for any of the home nations. This would mean (normally) that Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland could pick any of the English players who cannot get a game for England, even if they have no link with that 2nd country. The agreement negates this, and places an emphasis on birthplace(s).

The point of the agreement is that if you have a direct blood link to one of the home nations, you can't play for another home nation - unless you also have a direct link with that second country. Giggs has that direct blood link to one of the home nations (Wales, through himself) but doesn't have that link with England.


Look like Vogts forgot about the so-called gentlemans agreement .
He's seem hell-bent on filling his team up with english players...
i read in the paper this mornng that he wants Gilchrist from West Brom...
Add him to stockdale ,dobie ,devlin and all the others like elliot ,sullivan ,etc....
The scottish FA is becoming like the Irish FA .
They're spending all their time researching the backgrounds of english players to see if any of them have got scottish grandparents or any other family..
This is getting beyond a joke...

[Parkhead_Faithful]

Originally posted by sinner_ronald_monk


Add him to stockdale ,dobie ,devlin and all the others like elliot ,sullivan ,etc....


Aye cos all these are important first team regulars arent they.

[sinner78]

Originally posted by Parkhead_Faithful


Aye cos all these are important first team regulars arent they.

Have you actually got any players good enough to be called "important first team players"???
Its doesn;t look like it does it??

Vogts comes down to england every time he needs a new player .He usually picks some journeyman like Devlin or graham alexander from preston .Players that spent their entire careers in the lower divisons ...Alexander spent most of his career at teams like luton and scunthorpe..

Scotland have got the same team selection policy as ireland and jamaica..
the policy which goes along the lines of "why bother producing our own players when we can go to england and get an english born player with some distant link to our country??"...

what a ********in' joke...
You're getting worse than ireland for poaching players...

[Clan]

Originally posted by sinner_ronald_monk


Have you actually got any players good enough to be called "important first team players"???
Its doesn;t look like it does it??

Vogts comes down to england every time he needs a new player .He usually picks some journeyman like Devlin or graham alexander from preston .Players that spent their entire careers in the lower divisons ...Alexander spent most of his career at teams like luton and scunthorpe..

Scotland have got the same team selection policy as ireland and jamaica..
the policy which goes along the lines of "why bother producing our own players when we can go to england and get an english born player with some distant link to our country??"...

what a ********in' joke...
You're getting worse than ireland for poaching players...

Quite true.
But, aren't a lot of this current crop actually born in Ireland?

[sinner78]

Yeah ,im not saying their whole team is like that..
But they've got plenty of players with dubious heritage ..I'll never understand how they got clinton morrison.

[SJFC4ever]

Originally posted by sinner_ronald_monk



Look like Vogts forgot about the so-called gentlemans agreement .
He's seem hell-bent on filling his team up with english players...
i read in the paper this mornng that he wants Gilchrist from West Brom...
Add him to stockdale ,dobie ,devlin and all the others like elliot ,sullivan ,etc....


None of those players broke the gentleman's agreement since Stockdale, Elliott, Sullivan and Dobie all have a Scottish grandparent. Devlin's father was born in Coatbridge.

And yes, I think some of these call ups are a joke since there are plenty good young Scottish players (outside of the ones that have already been used).

[e_k1]

Originally posted by sinner_ronald_monk
But they've got plenty of players with dubious heritage ..I'll never understand how they got clinton morrison.

Simple. Clinton was eligible to play for about 5 countries and chose Ireland.

[Parkhead_Faithful]

Originally posted by SJFC4ever

Devlin's father was born in Coatbridge.


Poor git :D

Originally posted by SJFC4ever

And yes, I think some of these call ups are a joke since there are plenty good young Scottish players (outside of the ones that have already been used).

I agree, I reckon hes just trying players out though, its better to get them capped in the event we could unearth a gem eligible for another country and lose them, rumour has it Sven was trying to get Shaun Maloney into the England youth set up after he broke into the team in his first old firm game for exactly that reason, and they did do it to a certain canadian as well.