James O’ Connel investigates whether sportsmen should represent their country before their club
By James O’ Connell 8W
ormer England rugby flanker Lawrence Dallaglio believes that if you move to a country abroad you should lose the privilege to play for your native team. He famously spoke about Jonny Wilkinson, saying he shouldn’ t be able to play for England after his big-money move to French side Toulon. So, is the only incentive nowadays money, rather than nationality?
Football, where money really is the only incentive, is now a global sport, where many nationalities can play for the same team. Since rugby isn ' t as global, with mostly single nationality teams, could the authorities ban players moving abroad in an attempt to stop this game also becoming changed by money?
If you look at boxing, once a person has turned professional they can’ t compete in the Olympics, yet most would still agree that is the pinnacle of anyone’ s career. However, in football, if you are professional, you can still play in the Olympics.
There is another side on the scale, the one that puts the international before the club career. An example of this is New Zealand rugby captain Richie McCaw. He has been capped well-over one hundred times for the All Blacks and this season decided to take a sabbatical off rugby because he wants to be able to play in the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and not get injured or tired before then.
Arsenal’ s manager Arsene Wenger is always moaning about his players, especially Jack Wilshere who is prone to injury, going on international duty unfit or coming back injured. This must be a stressful time for him because he wants his best players available every week, but getting injured or losing self-esteem is part of sport.
If you look at David Beckham, he has had a more topsy-turvy career than anyone else, but his best moments have come in that red and white jersey. Being sent-off in a World Cup mustn’ t be a great experience but he came back from that and tried to redeem himself. He was no way near one of the greatest by ability, but he never gave up and evidence of that is his 115 caps for England.
For many countries, including England, international football is a painful experience, especially the penalty shoot-outs, but many would agree that representing your country is a massive honour. In football, the World Cup is the thing everyone wants to win because it is still the biggest trophy and tournament in the world no matter how many millions European clubs splash out to get into the Champions League, it will never compete.
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