Guardian under fire for branding some Welsh internationals ‘non-Welsh’
The Guardian has come under fire for branding some Welsh international footballers “non-Welsh”.
The liberal London-based newspaper made the claim in an article about how players born outside Wales were assimilated into the Euro 2020 squad.
These players included goalkeeper Adam Davies, who was born in Germany, striker Kieffer Moore, who was born in Torquay, and midfielder Ethan Ampadu, who was born in Exeter.
The article described how they were taught the Welsh national anthem and were told the “importance” of playing for Wales.
The original headline said: “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau: How Wales are assimilating their non-Welsh players”.
Following an online backlash, it was later amended to: “Anthem lessons: how Wales bed in their players born outside the country”.
Hedd Gwynfor said: “Non-Welsh? WTF @guardian? They are ALL Welsh! Ychafi!”
Ceri Gwen said: “I’ve seen some pathetic headlines but this takes the cake”.
Kyle Jones said: “I don’t even get mad at this stuff anymore, it’s desperate and pathetic. Absolutely laughable”.
Vaughan Jones said: “If you belong to the diaspora; you belong”.
Jason Lewis said: “This praises the FAW but has a poor headline. It does re-enforce though the ‘they’re all English really’ school of thought.
“Many sports people qualify for multiple countries. Will the term ‘non British’ be used for members of Team GB at the Olympics?”
Matthew Leslie said: “I must have missed the Guardian’s article on how England has ‘assimilated’ those two Irish players.”
‘In theory’
The article said: “In theory, Robert Page could name a Euro 2020 lineup comprising players who were born outside Wales, from Adam Davies, the third-choice goalkeeper who was born in Germany, to the Torquay-born Kieffer Moore in attack.
“After Wales sealed their place in the knockout stages, Uefa posted the customary congratulatory tweet – the word ‘qualified’ plastered across a stock image – but the photo was not of Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey but of Moore, a brute force and figurehead who, less than two years on from his debut, it is hard to imagine Wales without.
“Of the Wales players who sealed passage to the last 16 in Italy on Sunday, five were born in England. It is thought Moore could even have played for China.
“So how does Page, who was born in the Rhondda valley and won 41 Wales caps, go about inculcating what it means to play for the nation to those born in, in Chris Mepham’s case, Hammersmith, or, in Ethan Ampadu’s case, Exeter?”
It also quoted Wales manager Robert Page, who said: “We made sure that IG [Ian Gwyn Hughes, the Football Association of Wales’s head of public affairs] gave a speech about the anthem.
“We translated it [the anthem] into English, what the meaning of it is, and it is very powerful. I [also] delivered that to the players in the first meeting before the tournament started.
“It was quite an emotional meeting but it makes the players understand the importance of playing for Wales.”
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Errr.Rahem Sterling.Born in Jamaica .So should he be playing for Jamaica?
Rahim Sterling and John Barnes born in Jamaica.Owen Hargreaves born in Canada.Michael Owen who was raised and learnt his early football in Hawarden I’m sure there must be more cases.
Raheem Sterling moved to England when he two because his father was shot.
Maybe you should go on twitter and question his credentials.
Copy @yescymru in while you are on.
See how far you get.
Dont do Twitter. But I’m sure you could let me in on his”credentials”.
And why are you bringing skin color into it?I mentioned Stirling because hes a member of the current squad.You automatically mentioned black.Could be purple as far as I’m concerned.
His “credentials” are that he went to England as a two year old when his father was shot.
Not, again, that he lived in Jamaica until he found a dead English grandparent.
No because he has lived in England since he was two.
Probably worried in case we go further than England….” You are Welsh if you choose to be”… Dafydd Wigley. I wish that Secretary of State Hart would choose to be.
This is one of the more important comments I’ve seen on this site. Parch or gwerth ucha’ i ti
And, DW’s grandfather had moved here from Derby!
Diolch CJPh.
Well said 😊
Diolch Stephen.
Croeso 😊
So if all the settlers and holiday home owners decide to identify as Welsh we have sold one huge problem then no?
Remember Michael Owen. He and his parents lived in Deeside, Wales. When his mother gave birth she had to travel to England as the Maternity unit responsible was based in Chester, England. I’m sure there are many other such examples.
England did, at one time maybe they still do, give caps to those who had dual eligibility. After one cap their England career was over and they could no longer qualify for their alternative country. How sneaky is that?
Prime example is Matt le Tisseua(excuse spelling).Because he was born in channel islands he could have played for anyone but England weren’t interested. As soon as we became interested they capped him to stop him playing for us.
The Michael Owen whose father was an English footballer?
Yeah, I remember him.
The entire English cricket team are not English
There is no English cricket team! There is an England & Wales cricket team who ignorantly call themselves England! They even abbreviate “England & Wales Cricket Board” to ECB just to ensure Wales are put in their place.
Didn’t mention that they tried getting Bale to play for England as he qualified due to an
English grandparent. Or Giggs, even though he was Cardiff born.
One of the best ever England goals, scored against Brazil by Jamaican, John Barnes (whose father co-started the bobsleigh team made famous in the film Cool Runnings) who only moved to England when he was 12! Even Terry Venables was Wales qualified!
How about the Englishman with the great English name.Emlyn Hughes.
Emlyn Hughes insisted he was English through and through. His father, Fred, was from Llanelli and a Welsh rugby international who went north to play rugby league. I remember either Hughes’s father or uncle being interviewed on radio Cymru before an England Wales game and his diplomatic answer was that he hoped Wales won but for Emlyn to have a good game. I don’t think Emlyn Hughes would have chosen Wales and went out of his way to emphasise his allegiance to England. Though I suppose he did end his career at Swansea City so, perhaps he did have a… Read more »
They can’t stand Welsh success – of any description – so they try and find any way of bringing us down. Pathetic, jealous c***s.
Guardianistas typically espouse every trendy left ideology,but have to get their fix of English superiority, traditionally they do it with Wales,not unusual just typical!
If they feel Welsh they are Welsh, it is great they are playing for Wales 🏴
Guardian is now a typical “lifestyle leftie” rag with only a veneer of decency but a huge depth of Anglo Brit supremacist under that surface. It’s the good old “we own everything” attitude which is very akin to Boris’ world view. Best consign it to the same bin as the Daily Mail, Sun, Telegraph and all the other jingoistic rags.
The guardian is all about the status quo. It masquerades as a ‘left-leaning’ paper but it’s perfectly happy with the UK being made up of four ‘great’ nations, a two-party system and a plethora of other establishment policies and
positions. It sneers at the Daily Mail and the rest but it isn’t all that much better really.
Double standards again; the Guardian wouldn’t dare to question the presence in the England team of players who have Jamaican parents or grandparents. Yet again, I find myself asking, “Why pick on Wales?” There probably is something in the “envy and resentment” argument.
Did anyone read the article?
It was a positive piece about assimilation of players into the Welsh side. It wasn’t a critcism.
OK. You all brought up two black players.
John Barnes : moved to England when he was eleven
Raheem Sterling : moved to England when he was 2 because his father was shot!
It is a bit different to them living in Jamaica until they were adults then playing for England on the strength of a grandparent.
That’s not the point. Once again English media is having a dig at Wales because we are doing well at something. They’re implying our success isn’t valid to make themselves feel better. Saying Non-Welsh is an insult to the players labeled as such. It’s the usual English ignorance and discomfort veiled in a cloak of, supposedly, complimentary analysis. I am and many others are sick of it!!
Why are you singling two players out for the colour of their skin?
Also, the question of xenophobia is something you need to bring up with the Guardian, since it is they who have adopted an anti-Welsh position. If members of the Welsh diaspora have a Welsh grandparent, they have a right to play for Wales, in line with FIFA rulings.
The first two players you all questioned happened to be black and you also questioned they weren’t playing for Jamaica.
You could quite easily have questioned Eric Dier’s Portuguese credentials but you brought up the black ones.
The Guardian did nothing, but highlight that a number of players had to be taught the national anthem and educated in playing for Wales.
Which in fairness hardly suggests a life lived immersed in Royston Jones’ works.
Again. It is the repulsion of having to watch players who are culturally English that affects you so much.
No, Wales wants these players to represent them. It’s the Guardian that is questioning their Welsh credentials. I’ve never heard of Eric Dier, sorry. What have Royston Jones’ works got to do with the Guardian’s complaint?.
Éric Dier is a white England player who could play for Portugal (possibly).
You only brought up the Jamaican one.
The Guardian wasn’t complaining about anything
It was merely being complementary about how the English born players are given a speech and translation if the national anthfm to help them assimilate.
Which isn’t untrue is it?
Naivety is often based on something that’s not completely untrue.
Yes if they feel Welsh they are Welsh 🏴
Actually Hedd you brought black into the conversation,everyone else said Jamaican.
I guess Fleet Street has noticed England are playing Germany in the last 16 and Wales are playing Denmark. Non-Welsh 🙄 I hope a Journalist asks England about their Non-English players at the next available opportunity.
Better refer to the Guardian they didn’t appear to have a problem identifying players they considered “non Welsh” should be easy to apply the same criteria to players representing England.
Not really, because there are no English players who are in the team because they found an English grandparent as a their only route to international football.
The Guardian article was not about Fifa’s grandparent qualification rule, in general or specifically how it effects the composition of the Wales team. It was about players representing Cymru who in the author of the article’s view were, for a variety of reasons “non-Welsh”.
The Guardian? The newspaper which portrays itself as being left wing whilst actually being a foghorn of hippy academics who like to tell people who are actually left wing what the left wing should think and do?
There’s only one left wing newspaper in the “UK” and it ain’t the Tory-lite Guardian.
I’d say the main issue with the Grauniads article is that, it paints the picture that Wales wouldn’t be in the last 16 without all these ‘foreigners’ in the team. That our success is not based off home-grown talent.
Ignoring the fact Bale and Ramsey would have never played for anyone else internationally.
The amount of idiocy in both this article and the comments is astounding. People desperately looking for an excuse to be outraged at the English – it’s pathetic. Why is Welsh Nationalism so fragile?! If we gain independence, might as well call ourselves the Snowflake Nation.
It is not for the Guardian to decide who is and who is not Welsh, if these players feel Welsh then they are Welsh. It is great to have them in the team 🏴
Same old tired narrative that Adrian Durham from TalkSport (and the daily fail), has been pushing for the last few years.