Jason McAteer explains why he chose Ireland over England
Former Ireland international Jason McAteer detailed why he chose Ireland despite being born in the UK.
McAteer spent a decade in the Irish team, receiving 52 international caps from 1994 to 2004. During this time he played club football in England for Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland.
His first game for the national team was a friendly against Russia under the management of Jack Charlton. McAteer scored a famously pivotal goal against the Netherlands in 2001, helping Ireland qualify for the 2002 World Cup.
Born in Birkenhead, McAteer explained why he chose Ireland over the country of his birth.
“So I get called into the Bolton gaffer’s office after training one morning, and Jimmy Armfield’s in there. He was scouting for England," he began when speaking on the Undr The Cosh podcast.
“So he’s in there and I’m thinking, ‘what’s going on here?’ The gaffer, Bruce Rioch says to me, ‘Jimmy Armfield wants you to play for England.’” McAteer said.
“When I was in the pub working in 1990, the Italia World Cup finals were on. I’m a big Liverpool fan; you had Ronnie Whelan, Ray Houghton, Steve Staunton and John Aldridge playing for Ireland.
“I’m working in the pub watching all these games, and of course Liverpool’s got a big Irish connection, so when the Ireland games were on and they were doing really well with Romania and all that, the games were massive and the pub was full.”
McAteer continues by describing the conversation between himself and Bolton manager Bruce Rioch after Armfield left.
“So he leaves and I say to Bruce Rioch, ‘I don’t want to play for England; I want to play for Ireland.’ So he’s like ‘Why?’ I went; ‘They did really well in the World Cup; they’ve got loads of Liverpool players playing for them; and I’m not really arsed about England.”