Message #3146

[AndyHB]

Eli, I think that ecu is getting at the way in which various Home Nations and GB teams have 'begun' to include people who aren't 'British/English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish'.  I find it a wee bit disingenuous with ecu's comment that "they are all popping up out of the pipework", since K.S Ranjitsinhji - Indian King - played for the English cricket team back at the end of the 19th century.   Some, more up-to-date examples, are Kevin Pieterson and Jonathan Trott, England cricketers who were both born, and grew up in S. Africa, and the England Rugby international, Riki Flutey, a New Zealand Maori who represented the All Blacks at every level below full international.

However, I'm not sure whether ecu, by talking about 'indigenous' people, is also referring to the way in which national/GB teams have included people who aren't ethnically 'British', such as the long-distance runner Mo Farah or triple jumper Phillips Idowu.