PADRAIG HARRINGTON CLAIMS to have found a simple solution to Rory McIlroy’s Olympic dilemma — he should declare for Great Britain and free up space for other Irish players to compete.
In an interview which will air on Setanta Ireland this Saturday, Harrington said that the decision facing McIlroy and his fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell was really a “no brainer”.
Golf makes its debut as an official Olympic sport in 2016 and there has been much debate over who McIlroy, the current world number 2, and McDowell, world number 11, will represent. In all Olympic disciplines, athletes from Northern Ireland are eligible to declare for either Ireland or Great Britain.
Only 60 players will tee off at the Olympics in 2016. To ensure a spread of different nationalities, entries will be limited to two players per country based on their standings in the world rankings, although the world’s top 15 players will all be guaranteed automatic entry.
As Harrington explained to former pro Gary Murphy, if McIlroy and McDowell are both guaranteed automatic spots and declare for Team GB, it will free up places for two Irish players further down the rankings — including himself, possibly.
“I’m fascinated with all this conversation about who we declare for. If Rory and Graham declare for Great Britain, it means we get two more Irish guys into it,” said Harrington.
As in myself and Darren Clarke get to play. You see the system works if you’re in the top fifteen, you can have more than two from the country. So if somebody wants Rory to be as Irish as he can be, he better declare for GB and we get two more guys in.When it comes down to it, it will be a complete no brainer because nobody is losing out, you’re actually just gaining a couple of more spots for Irish guys.
Harrington’s hour-long interview is the first in a new series called The Cut Line which will premiere on Setanta Ireland this Saturday, 4 February, at 10pm.
So basically, Harrington is trying to guilt McIlroy into declaring for GB so that he (PH) can gain a place on the Irish Olympic team.
Well played Padraig
Padraig is an absolute legend of a man but would it not be better if Rory and McD declared for Ireland and actually WON us a medal instead of simply having as many Irish golfers ‘competing’ ?
Ok I’m a bit dense when it comes to sport ’cause I don’t really care about it but I’m just curious; I thought only amateurs were allowed to compete in the Olympics? Is himself not a pro golfer?
They can play, but they won’t be getting paid for it. They won’t be able to wear any clothes that bear their sponsors name etc. So, in effect, they’ll play as amateurs during the Olympics. I’m almost certain that is how it works Louise…
I think for all sports at the olympics you’re allowed have a certain number of pro’s, and since there’s only two per country I’d say they can just both be professionals. Golf is different to most sports anyway. If you’re good enough you can realistically turn pro at any age really. So if every country was to send amateurs it’d be probably a pretty dire event.
Cool, cheers guys for clearing that up :)
Padraigs logic is way off. If Rory plays for Britain he will win medals for Britain – not Ireland.
If Rory thinks hes Irish he should declare for Ireland, if he thinks hes British he should declare for Britain, simple as that.
I think G mac will declare for Ireland and now Padraig is scurrying to try to get Rory to declare for GB so he gets the spot… I dont like that at all, Padraig should want the best result for his country
Nice touch takes pressure off Mc Ilroy. Less chance of medal for ROI though. Good Mac will declare for Ireland, Rory completely persuaded by then!
G Mac. Ugh hate smart phones.
Padraig : the queen? ya did not,
Rory : yea, I did so I did.
Padraig: I won two majors back to back and then decided to change my swing
Rory: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Rory will declare for GB, it would be rude not to after he accepted his mbe or whatever it was!! So will the other bloke, they are Irish when it suits!
Just shows what farce it is to claim internationally-recognised British territory as Irish.
Its not a case of being Irish when it suits. The governing body for Golf, like the IRFU covers the 32 counties. However when it comes to Olympics and commonwealth games its the country of your birth (or where you have been naturalised) that decides who you compete for.
Rory Mc Ilroy is always very careful not to wrap the Irish Flag or the Union Flag around him at competitions – you generally only see him with the Ulster flag.
Niall, That picture would be a great caption competition
Yes like Rory- you should really get a perm
I agree with Val on this. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how many Irish players are in the event. Having the best possible players is what matters. The Olympics is about winning medals and if Rory declares for GB and wins gold, silver or bronze it will be for the U.K. No amount of Irish media coverage can turn it into a result for Ireland so forget about ‘freeing up spots’ for Irish players for the sake of it. Just let it be a personal choice for the player.
Did Rory and g mac not both play for Ireland in a world cup tournament recently???
Plus it’s 4 years away, we might have new players to choose from or Harrington might rediscover his form by then and by first choice.
4 months away you plonker
@ Richard. Did you even read the article? “Golf makes its official Olympic debut in 2016″. You plonker!
Richard is some plonker….
ah lay off him – he can’t read!!
Ha ha, four months…. muppet.
Pádraig’s logic on this is simply based on his own hopes of playing in the Olympics. Fair enough but if any of the two northern golfers consider themselves Irish then it would be very difficult to represent a foreign nation and play under a foreign flag. Éire Abú!
Will someone please stop calling them British. They are from Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom but not part of Great Britain. Full name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland ( and various other territories).
Well said Brendan, the amount of people who don’t know this is staggering.
Yet they are entitled to British passports………. if you had a British passport would you not be British ????
I think youre a little confused there Brendan. NI is, as you say, not a part of Britain but the UK. However the nationality of the entire UK IS British. In other words the term Britain does not apply to Northern Ireland but British does.
I’m speaking semantically here of course, not politically. Im in no way branding everyone in Northern Ireland as British or anything like that, i’m merely referring to the setup.
When somebody says “no brainer”, Harrington always springs to mind!
“I’m winning but I’ll change my swing, for a laugh”
Surely Ireland would want to have the best golfers possible representing us at the olympics? If he declared for GB we wouldn’t really be “getting two more Irish lads in” as he says, because if Rory won anything it would be for GB.
In a side note, how many does GB get to send? Is it two or do they get two per acquired territory plus England?
On the Olympics there is one GB team representing the England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The IOC doesn’t separate them out.
So GB only has two entrants? Which by what he’s saying means Ireland can have 4 entrants technically, but if the 2 GB ones are Harrington and McIroy GB will only have 2 but technically none because they 2 that declared for GB are actually representing Ireland…very complicated…but I’m down with it if we get 2 and GB gets none!
Absolutely right Padraig. Let’s now see where people’s true loyalties lie – is it for the player they enjoy watching or the country they choose to play for? It will probably be a bit like the way that English Premiership players are love-bombed when they play for “our” teams of Liverpool and Manchester United, but despised from on high when wearing the England jersey. Fun, fun, fun!!
It should be left to him who he plays for, I’m disappointed and surprised that Padraig commented at all on who Rory plays for……..
You’re absolutely right
I love Harrington, but this time I have to disagree with his reasoning. If Rory and G mac play for GB then that is their decision, but they shouldn’t make that decision based on opening up space for other Irish players. No Irish person is going to cheer on a player representing GB no matter where that player was born. What Harrington has effectively done now is given Rory a perfect excuse to play for GB. When asked by Irish media why he declared for GB (if he actually does), all he now has to say is what Harrington has advised. With any sport, we want to see our best players representing our country…This is just a normal… I wish they would just get it over with and declare for one of the two. This conversation is getting old and the event is still 4 years years away..
Rocks and hard places spring to mind.
No Padraig…
Last word to good old wikipedia
Citizenship and identity
People from Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, are British citizens. They are also entitled to Irish citizenship by birth under the 1998 Belfast Agreement between the British and Irish governments, which provides that: it is the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly [the two governments] confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland.
Point taken and conceded.
Brendan Cunnigham, My guess and it’s only a guess…………………if you hold a British passport (which is the title of the passport we are talking about) then you are in fact a British citizen. Check out the title of the passport it is a british passport for ………………………………….. Brits :) the information page on the Home office website is useful
If he’s thinking about it the decision should be uk end of…
John Johnson. The cover of a “British” passport has on it the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, so despite being referred to as British it’s actually a UK passport. It just annoys me that people from the North are referred to as Brits when in fact they are Northern Irish citizens of the UK. Some choose the Irish passport, some the UK one and I say best of luck to both.
From the UK Border agency, should clear it up for you Brendan ;) no need to thank me :)
Who is a British subject?
Other British nationalityRepublic of Ireland citizens
Children
Stateless people
This page explains what a British subject is and what that status means.
In some circumstances, British subjects are able to register as British citizens.
The rules about British subject status changed in 1949 and again in 1983, so those dates are important when deciding if someone is a British subject.
Until 1949, nearly everyone with a close connection to the United Kingdom was called a British subject. And all citizens of Commonwealth countries were British subjects until January 1983. Since that date, very few categories of people have qualified as British subjects.
You became a British subject on 1 January 1983 if, up to that date, you were:
a British subject without citizenship, which means you were a British subject on 31 December 1948 who did not become a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies, a citizen of a Commonwealth country, a citizen of Pakistan, or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland;
a person who had been a citizen of Eire and a British subject on 31 December 1948 and had made a claim to remain a British subject; or
a woman who had registered as a British subject on the basis of your marriage to a man who was in one of the two categories above.
If you are a citizen of the Republic of Ireland who was born before 1 January 1949 and you did not make a claim to remain a British subject, as above, you may do so in certain circumstances.
British subjects normally cannot pass on that status to their children if the children were born after 1 January 1983. But a child may be a British subject in certain circumstances.
A person who is stateless may be able to register as a British subject in certain circumstances.
Since 1 January 1983, a person who gains citizenship of any other country can no longer be a British subject. However, this does not apply to a citizen of the Republic of Ireland who has made a claim to remain a British subject as explained above.
If you are not sure of your position or need more information, contact us.
If Rory Mcilroy is from Holywood in county down he is British.
He is British if he wishes to be, He is Irish if he wishes to be
Joe….
Thants not the Ulster Flag that Rory wraps around himself. Its the English Flag with a crown on it.