Former Ireland captain John O’Shea has said that Declan Rice’s allegiance switch should not be allowed to happen again in the future.
Rice, capped three times by the Republic of Ireland, declared his intention to switch his international allegiance to England last week despite kissing the Irish badge during an underage international game.
It was a big blow for Mick McCarthy and his Irish team and former Ireland skipper O’Shea called for a rule change to prevent similar situations arising in the future with a player currently still eligible to change their allegiance until they’ve played a competitive international for the national senior team.
"The situation shouldn't be allowed to happen" – John O'Shea
Should Declan Rice be able to play for England after playing for the Republic of Ireland?
O'Shea says the rules need to change.#bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/roSlhQdnw8
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) February 18, 2019
“The way Declan spoke and how he kind of… He’s a great lad,” O’Shea said on BBC Radio’s 5 Live.
“He’s a great player. I was just thinking, obviously I knew my time was up with the Irish team and I see this lad involved with training, settling in with everyone. I thought ‘wow.’ Obviously, England came calling and different things happened and his mind was changed.
“People were confident that he was still going to choose Ireland. A few people behind the scenes were hopeful that he was going to pick Ireland but it wasn’t to be. It’s done with now and you move on. You can avoid all this questioning if you change the rule.”
