Pet Hate No. 19

I'm on a roll - my second post of the day. This time, it's the differing rules for qualifying to play sport for your Nation. In the old days, it was simple - born in Scotland, play for Scotland. Then they introduced - quite rightly - the parental rule, whereby if your parents were born in a country and then moved and you were born elsewhere, you had the option to play for either country.

Slightly more contentious was when they introduced the Grandparents rule, but at least there is still a bloodline there. The one I have a real problem with is the residency rule, which, in football (soccer) means that after 5 years of staying in a country, you become eligible to represent that Nation. Other sports - rugby and cricket, in particular - have even shorter periods of qualification - 3 or 4 years - under the residency criterion.

This is now being widely abused by virtually all nations. Passports of convenience. What is the point of having Nation v Nation if everyone can freely migrate from country to country, many of them representing more than one country during their sporting career? Surely club sport satisfies this need - national sport should surely be different?

In cricket, Kevin Pietersen's recent experiences with the England team have hit the headlines, and a current hot topic in Scotland is Australian Scott Johnson's status as Head Coach - and soon to be Director - of Scottish Rugby. He has surrounded himself with fellow non-nationals too.

The Times had a very considered piece on this very topic recently. Under a seemingly, semi-nationalistic headline, it gave a very considered view of the history of sporting migration in the context of the ever-changing world map of Nations:

(click on image to enlarge)

I believe there has to be some kind of bloodline or place of birth to automatically qualify to represent a country and the residency rule should only be used once long-term residency has been clearly established - e.g. Mo Farah, who has lived in the UK since he was 8. Furthermore, the criteria for selection for the Managers, coaches etc should be identical to that of the players.

There - I've said it now. That one's been bugging me for a while.