The nationality debate started last year by the possibility of Spanish-born Nacho Novo playing football for Scotland reared its head again this week with discussion this time centred on English-born but Scottish-educated Andrew Driver.
I’ve been alarmed and uncomfortable at the tenor of the discussion in football circles on this issue, and has once again demonstrated how the sport sometimes thinks itself above normal life. Some of the talk has ruled these men out of because of their “bloodline”, and radio phone-ins even questioned whether the players would be “loyal” to Scotland.
Reality check. People born outside this country, but who have citizenship, can run for political office and even become Prime Minister or First Minister. They can join the army, fight – and die – for this country. It is absurd to argue that someone saying they are Scottish should be ruled out of playing football for the country just because they were born elsewhere.
All that is required to be Scottish is to feel Scottish. It is quite some situation given how difficult it is to get a passport that the Home Office tests for nationality should be harder than that of the Scottish Football Association.
Let’s also face it, over the years there are have been examples of Scottish born players like Kris Boyd who have given up playing for their country after some setbacks. Studies have shown ‘New Scots’ to be more patriotic than ‘Old Scots’. Given the state of the game, we should be welcoming people declaring their desire to play for Scotland.
But are Nacho Novo or Andrew Driver actually any good? That’s the real question surely.
PS Novo means 'new' in Portuguese and not Spanish, which was disappointing for the purposes of the headline above, but I decided to use it anyway!
UPDATE: I'm reliably informed that: "Novo is from Galicia and in Galician 'Novo' does indeed mean 'New' so your headline stands"
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