Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that footballers should only be able to play for the city they're from?

150 replies

BrownTrowsers · 10/07/2018 18:46

I know it would never happen but it would stop football being all about money. It would stop teams like Man Utd dominating the premier league simply because they have money. It would stop the ridiculous £5m a week type wages, it would make cities invest more in young people (currently, why would Hull City bother when they know that anyone decent will bugger off to the premier league once they have the opportunity) - it wouldn't make football be about community, talent, pride and football rather than money.

I mean, how does Man Utd represent Manchester when most of their players (if not not all) are from various parts of the world?

OP posts:
Lizzie48 · 11/07/2018 10:07

It would have to say the place you were born on your birth certificate

Lol, my DB was born in West Africa, he left there when he was 8 months old. Grin

bellinisurge · 11/07/2018 10:23

Maybe the op needs to do a bit more research.

AlliKaneErikson · 11/07/2018 14:52

Absolutely, Game. I genuinely think that some people on this thread don’t understand the difference between club and country. It always amuses me, as a massive football fan from the age of about 9 (so almost 35 years) that come the World Cup, or any large occasion, everyone’s suddenly an expert. It’s so funny reading the things some people say on Facebook. NB club and country are actually pretty closely linked at the moment as a Spurs supporter- the final could see both captains from the same team (Kane and Lloris).

Underhisi · 11/07/2018 14:56

Does that apply for every job?

Where I live now is home although I wasn't born here.

ReservoirDogs · 11/07/2018 14:57

Yes everyone should only work in the town they are born whatever their job. Means either me or my DH has a massive commute every day!!

GameOfMinges · 11/07/2018 16:02

In terms of sudden expertise from people who don't know much allikane there's been a lot of that on the football threads in the last week or two. There was a thread the other day about someone banning any talk of the England v Sweden game at their wedding. So many posters stepping in to tell us that England never usually qualify for knock out stages, or giving their view on whether the couple would've known about the world cup when they booked without having bothered to google when the dates were set or when the draw made! I mean, why? Use the device you're accessing MN with to google a few things!

Goth237 · 12/07/2018 19:05

It's like people complaining that foreigners are stealing our jobs! Completely untrue. You get chosen for the job you're best for, so anyone who is the best at the sport will be chosen for it.

MikeUniformMike · 12/07/2018 19:14

Yes but for some reason around here, the ability to speak Polish is an advantage if you want to work in a warehouse or in a coffee bar.

FairfaxAikman · 12/07/2018 19:23

Not quite the same but one Scottish team has recently decreed that all players must live within a certain distance of the ground. It's to prove their dedication to the team and foster better relations with team mates.

I think that's reasonable, but not limiting the team to local people only.

ralphi · 13/07/2018 17:38

I guess Op does not have any dcs who play football at a higher level. even for youth teams you may have to or want to change teams because you dont get onwith the coach ....because your style is not the one prevalnt at the club...or because the coaching or conditions are not ideal. Some clubs have a reputation for goalkeeper coaching excellence and so on. According to your theory no child could ever change club to better his chances. (quite apart from the fact that it would likely be a breach of their human rights)

GameOfMinges · 13/07/2018 18:00

I think OP is missing quite a lot of things...

TypicallyNorthern · 13/07/2018 18:37

No, but I think that you should only be allowed a certain % of foreign player on your team. I heard last week on the TV that only 33% of UK players are British and that is one of the reasons why we struggle to get a good national team. They don't have enough experience.

PinkCrystal · 13/07/2018 18:41

I have always thought along similar lines. It would be a bit like my DC playing for another schools team. It's just about money now. Do players who chop and change have genuine passion for the club and it's area? Or are they just going where pays best. Seems silly.

AlphaBravo · 13/07/2018 18:51

OP for what its worth a % of every team now has to be home grown players from the UK. It's not city specific but they do have to now push home grown talent rather than international stars. This is why England/Scotland/Wales have a much better chance as national teams in the future too. But it takes time for them to come through the ranks. An example is Pickford (was the England goalie at every youth stage) and he had a lot put in to him from his other clubs from a very very young age.

CountFosco · 13/07/2018 19:04

Imagine if you were from the Hebrides or Orkney!! ? No fitba fer ye , Hamish. Off you go to your croft and stop getting ideas above your station.

Ignoring the stock 'Scottish' accent there and the fact that someone from Orkney is more likely to be called Magnus than Hamish I thought I should share this from The Giddy Limit

GameOfMinges · 13/07/2018 19:07

It would be look your DC playing for another school team if they moved school pinkcrystal. Or like you getting a job somewhere other than the immediate area you were born in.

Re foreign players making the national teams less successful by hampering home grown talent, that's been said a couple of times on this thread but honestly, England's problem in the last couple of decades has not been a lack of sufficiently talented individuals (Scotland and in particular Wales and NI are a very different picture to England in respect of both club and country football). It's been the failure of those very talented individuals to gel, and in some instances poor management and decision making, eg Sven's striker selection for the 2006 world cup. Which is something quite different.

That's not to say more talent isn't always nice, and it's certainly possible to identify certain English teams with a weakness in certain positions. But if you compare for example the 2016 world cup team with the 1998 world cup team, or 2002, the earlier teams are so much better as a collection of individuals than 2018. Yet they did nowhere near as well.

Or google Lampard and Gerrard. Two of the best midfielders on the planet at the time of the 2010 world cup, but they never played well together. There's been reams written on it. It wasn't because they weren't talented enough either, and they both played brilliantly and won loads for their clubs. They just didn't gel.

This argument also ignores that the very best English players have been mostly playing in the Premiership alongside some of the best global talent, less so now than perhaps a decade ago admittedly, and this has honed their talent too. Ie the argument that Wayne Rooney learned more from playing alongside Ronaldo than he would've done from the not as good homegrown player who'd have got the gig if Ronaldo's nationality ruled him out. That it makes the best better, and those are the ones who make national teams.

There are obviously UK players who would be playing in the Premiership if the competition was less but aren't able to compete with the best foreign talent at the moment. But if you can't get onto a Premiership team because of foreign players, why if they all left would you then be good enough to get into a world cup squad comprising only 25? It's really not as simple as it's being made out to be.

TypicallyNorthern · 13/07/2018 19:42

On a similar note to what the OP is saying though, I get annoyed at people who bang on about supporting when they have no connection to that team.

I have had loads of people in London tell me they support my home team and as many when I lived overseas. If I asked that person where the city was on a map or if they had ever been to a match there the would say no. I don't class them as real supporters when I know that people in my home town would walk over coals for their local club and their support goes back generations.

AlliKaneErikson · 14/07/2018 13:25

So I can’t support Spurs because I’m from Wales, typicallyNorthern? For what it’s worth I’ve supported them since I was 9 (I’m now 43) and my Children are now massive supporters. We go to watch as often as we can afford to. Does that make me less ‘worthy’ of supporting them than someone from North London? (NB as a child I went to watch my local team , Newport County, until they dropped out of the football league as that was the team the rest of my family supported).

GameOfMinges · 14/07/2018 13:57

I know a number of Irish people who support Liverpool or Manchester United and expend a lot of time, money and energy to get to games. Multigenerationally, sometimes, because both of those clubs have associations with Ireland going back decades. The idea that they're not real supporters is laughable.

PinkCrystal · 14/07/2018 20:40

I think it seems you are just choosing a place and ground to support as the players change often and it's all about money now. The lower clubs can't compete.

Hedwig86 · 14/07/2018 21:24

I do think it would be preferable if people supported their local clubs (and communities by extension) but it’s hardly the most pressing social issue.

PinkCrystal · 15/07/2018 22:43

I was thinking earlier if you play for any team because you have moved there then why still play for different national team?

littlebillie · 15/07/2018 23:00

Man City Man Utd who gets dibs on players 🤔

littlebillie · 15/07/2018 23:00

Man City Man Utd who gets dibs on players 🤔

Greggers2017 · 15/07/2018 23:07

You do realise Man Utd don't dominate anymore don't you?
You also know that united are also famous for their academy, lots of their players have come through who are from the local area. Team games are different to international ones

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread