What on earth has this got to do with Wilshere's comments?

Cos it seems to have opened up a can of worms

this is preposterous!!

c'mon hot head you are one of the original 606 posters often with informative posts.

wilshere tried to impress the media and England fans by making his comments but at best he is misguided and at worst plain stupid.

a racist.....doubt it

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

I make Wilshere right. I do not want a future England team made up from players who have simply lived here for 5 years.

For once, well said Wilshere...

Jack Wilshere, Legend

I think hothead is saying that wilshere's comments have been overblown by the media...
________________________________________

faith restored

The question they asked him was 'Should foreigners be able to play for England?'.

If he'd have said yes, would everyone have given him a round of applause? Would everyone have agreed with him? Or would it have caused more controversy than what he said originally?

it's xenophobia not racism

and his comments were misstated and what he said was perfectly sensible

Not aimed at the OP.

The bigger picture and wider debate regarding 'racism in football' (& society in general), xenophobia, tolerance etc, is something that should be on the agenda, tackled and spoke about.

But this bizarre compulsion by anyone with a half-functional brain who has an interest in football/sport to relentlessly pursue Wilshere's earnest comments and make it 'NEWS' almost makes me want to give up.

Be it mischief making sports writers or random sportmen (like Kevin Pieterson) looking for an extra 5-minutes of fame, you generally fear for good old common-sense and sports journalism as a professionalism.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

^^^^ Spot on! I bet nobody in his list of "offended foreign sports people" have kicked up a fuss. Maybe because they all have more than two braincells to rub together!

Wilshere is not racist, he is stupid. He would be better getting himself some nicorette before commenting on these kind of issues. While those characteristics often share common ground, they are certainly not the same.

I'm not even sure what he said was that stupid.
He said you should be English if you're going to represent England, he didn't say you had to be born here, that's just how it's been spun as he left it open to interpretation.

The stupid thing is Januzaj is not eligible to play for England and never will be, this is a non-story to fill a dead football news week.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

There is nothing stupid about wanting the England national team to consist of individuals who are English through and through - and not just with individuals who happened to be signed by an English employer 5 years ago.

I dont even know why an individual who was born in another country, grew up in another country, whose first language is their country of birth, and who has simply lived abroad for 5 years, would even want to represent the country of their employer.

Now that is "stupid".

Wilshere is not racist, he is stupid. He would be better getting himself some nicorette before commenting on these kind of issues. While those characteristics often share common ground, they are certainly not the same.
----------------------------------
How in Gods name does this make him stupid? More like you are stupid for writing a stupid comment!

Op, according to your comment most of the world is racist. America, Australia dont llet just anyone i. for example. This countey is already overcrowded so we ahould be kicking people out who arent entitled to be here whether theyre white, black, or any other colour. Doesnt maake ke racist or xenophobic saying that,, just that I think we're overcrowded and paying too much tax as a result.

But what I really hate is people who use the excuse off racist, sexist, ageist or whatever because someone has a different opinion to someone else.

hes right in saying an adult (over 16) shouldnt be able to move here and be able to play in 5 years

imo you should only be allowed to play for england if you are either born in england or you have lived here for a much of your life from a young age

Wilshere loves his country. His opinion that only English born players should wear the jersey is nowhere near racism.
Unfortunately for him, he did not realise that a lot of other sports have been adopting non English born stars all these years...a la Froome
Time for him to catch up I guess.
But racism? Give me a break.

How in Gods name does this make him stupid? More like you are stupid for writing a stupid comment!

--

I didnt say that his comment made him stupid, I said that he was stupid. and I'm now trying to think of stupid ways of getting the word stupid into my stupid response so that I can say stupid more times in my stupid comment than you used the word stupid in your stupid comment, stupid.

I dont think he was being racist a few choice words by the media and that's what it sounds like.

He is just saying you shouldn't play for England if you aren't born in this country. Which I believe is a noble view but for the fact that people born in other countries represent England in pretty much every sport.

@Bridge, I don't think he said that - what he was saying is that you shouldn't be able to come as an adult and then play for England because you claimed residency after 5 years.

"He is just saying you shouldn't play for England if you aren't born in this country."

He did not say anything about where people are born.