Should immigrant Britons be banned from representing GB in all sports?

[sp1814]

Someone recently asserted on AB that rather than hold athletes in high esteem who win for 'Team GB' but were born abroad, we should have them banned from representing Great Britain in all sporting events.

Is this a popularly held belief? In the US, you can only be elected President if you were born in America - should we introduce a similar ban on athletes, footballers, cricketers etc?

Or is this just the product of a particularly virulent form of right wing prejudice?

[joeluke]

They probably became 'eligible' to play for Wales because their Grandmothers postmans girlfriend once spent a week holidaying in a caravan in Llandudno

[pa___ul3]

OK Joeluke, what do you think of the situation around Emmanuel Frimpong, born in Ghana, moved to London at a young age, learned to play football here, trained by Arsenal and went on to represent England at U16 & U18 level, thus further training and support, but he's now elected to play for Ghana at full international level. Is that fair?

[ichkeria]

And I'd like to ask joeluke which country he proposes Mo Farah should run for if not Britain?
Born in Somalia, raised in Djibouti as a small child, British-born father, British resident since the age of 8?
And me? Born in N. Ireland, resident in England, Rep of ireland-born dad, NI born mum, English gran. Which British Islesl country should I play for? (tho' God knows no one is that desperate, not even N. Ireland)

[emmie]

perhaps there should be a country called mongrel, then we could all belong.
Mo runs for Britain, i'm glad, he's a great athlete.

[Brenden]

Does he have a dual passport ichkeria where he can choose?

[anotheoldgit]

Kromovaracun

/// No, in the context of this website, it was a news item previously. SP was picking up on an assertion made by an ABer which was in response to the Mo Farah post, and is just a revisiting of the issues raised during that thread which weren't carried out fully.///

Perhaps then SP should have provided a link to the original question, so as to save any confusion.

Was the original question in the news section, or does one have to search AB for the question?

I find your understanding of what's inappropriate to query, quite strange.

[joeluke]

pa__ul3.......it's obvious, Frimpong was born in Ghana so should represent that country....he ain't English is he?

ichkeria.......it's obvious, Farah was born in Somalia so should represent that country....he ain't English is he?

[Kromovaracun]

"Perhaps then SP should have provided a link to the original question, so as to save any confusion. "

He provides quotes from it to make the context clear and a reference on page 1. I'd never encountered the other question before (which, yes, is in the News section) - I managed to work it out. As did everyone else in the thread.

"I find your understanding of what's inappropriate to query, quite strange"

I don't understand this comment.

[ichkeria]

"Does he have a dual passport ichkeria where he can choose?"

No, he doesn't as far as I know. He has a British Passport. Because (and because of that) he is British. My question wasn't really a serious one.

"ichkeria.......it's obvious, Farah was born in Somalia so should represent that country....he ain't English is he?"

Dai Greene isn't English either, so maybe he should not run for Team GB (&NI) either?
I wish I inhabited your simple world :-)

[joeluke]

ichkeria......Greene is Welsh and therefore qualifies to represent Team GB

He also represents Wales (Hey there's a novelty, someone representing a country of his birth!!!)