McIlroy’s right to choose who he represents should be respected

AS Rory McIlory walked from the 18th green on Sunday evening to the scoring room to present his card for the final round of his victorious US Open golf tournament somebody from the crowd threw a tricolour at him.

Our national flag hit him but was swatted away by one of the security men accompanying him, out of sight of the television cameras, but presumably onto the ground. I didn’t get the impression that McIlroy saw what had been thrown at him and I’m glad of that: the thrower had tried to put McIlroy in a difficult position, presumably unintentionally. Why in his personal moment of glory should McIlroy have been asked by some stranger to make a declaration of national identity by carrying the flag of the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland? What would the majority of people in Northern Ireland have made of that? How would people in the south have felt if McIlroy grabbed and displayed a red hand of Ulster flag?

There has been some nonsense this past week as to whether or not McIlroy is Irish or not, or whether he is British. Some people get worked up when British television channels describe his as British or, when things go badly, as they did at the closing holes of the Masters earlier this year, he is suddenly returned to the Irish moniker. Fortunately, such talk in recent times has been muted; most people have gone beyond it.

McIlroy is whatever nationality he chooses to be. He was born north of the border, which makes him a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 gives him the right to dual citizenship with the Republic should he so chose to exercise this right. But whatever his personal choice it should be respected, if he chooses to call himself an Ulsterman, Northern Irish, British or indeed Irish.

McIlroy didn’t win the US Open for Ulster, Ireland, Northern Ireland or for Britain. He won it for himself. Others can share in his glory: his family, most obviously, his friends and those who decide to offer their support, from wherever. But it is still his personal achievement.

There may be some fuss next year when golf is played as a demonstration sport in the Olympic Games in London. The word is that McIlroy is likely to represent Great Britain. That is disappointing for Ireland as McIlory will be a serious gold medal contender. It is noticeable too that amateur golf in Ireland is organised on a 32-county basis, like most major sports, with the obvious sad exception of soccer. McIlroy has played golf all over Ireland. He will be here at the end of next month in Killarney for the Irish Open where is certain to get a magnificent reception. So why shouldn’t McIlroy, as a professional, compete in an Irish jersey?

Well, that comes down to his personal choice, something that should be respected. There has been a long tradition of people from the six counties of the North choosing to compete for either Ireland or Britain come Olympic time. That Mary Peters competed for Britain in the 1972 Olympics does not deny her status as one of the most important Irish athletes of the 20th century. And it should be remembered that others choose to compete for Ireland when they could go elsewhere. Katie Taylor, possibly our best medal hope for 2012, for example, has an English father and could have chosen to fight for Britain, despite being born and bred in Ireland. That would be as valid as of the foreign soccer players of Irish descent who have played for our country in recent decades, some of whom never even set foot in the country before their first appearances for Ireland. We have had no difficulty in recent years in taking players from Scotland and the North, even if for some it seems to have been a decision of convenience.

Yet, we have a strange attitude to those Irishmen who chose to play for other countries, while at the same time embracing those who often have limited connections to us. But it has changed over the years. Former English rugby scrum-half Kyran Bracken was born in Swords and lived there until the age of 12 before emigrating. In a famous game at Lansdowne Road in 1993, which Ireland won 17-3, the Irish pack trampled over him and one Irish player shouted “welcome home”. But when Leinster cricketers Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan chose to play test cricket for England, having qualified on grounds of residency, the decision was understood (and Joyce has come back since). Our most famous boxer of recent decades was Barry McGuigan, a Monaghan man who won the British title on his way to become world champion. That wasn’t and shouldn’t have been an issue. Our captain in the Irish cricket team at the breakthrough 2007 Cricket World Cup was Australian Trent Johnston who married here and became resident and thus qualified to play for us. The Irish team that beat England in this year’s Cricket World Cup was wrongly described in the British media as full of mercenaries, but it had more Irish-born players than England had English-born players. The Irish rugby team after the world cup is likely to include the South African hooker Richard Strauss once he passes the sport’s three-year residency rule. Much regret in Irish rugby has been expressed about Isa Nacewa’s one cap for Fiji, Paul Warwick’s sevens appearance for Australia and Lifiemi Mafi’s for New Zealand. Had those not happened they would be celebrated in Irish rugby jerseys.

MUCH of this was put into my mind last week by news of a new formal ceremony in which every new citizen has to swear an oath of “fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the state”.

Shatter said he had “substantial concerns” about the existing arrangements whereby applicants to become citizens take an oath before a District Court judge during court business and receive their certificate by post. A pilot citizenship ceremony involving 75 people takes place at Dublin Castle today under the watchful eye of retired High Court judge Bryan McMahon.

A citizenship ceremony has happened for many years in the US and Britain, where people takes oaths of fidelity. The Immigrant Council of Ireland had complained about the old system where people swore an oath at the District Court where there was no sense of ceremony.

It is good news that the Government has no immediate plans to introduce citizenship tests and here’s my reason: how well would many natural born citizens fare were such tests to be introduced? How much knowledge do they have of the country’s history or the functioning of its civic administration? You hear plenty of people claim their rights — which they often assume without checking — but they are often the ones who pay scant regard to their responsibilities. They are often the first to start waving flags, taking refuge in nationalism rather than participating in active citizenship.

There’s a time and place for flags and national celebration of identity. Rory McIlory’s victory was not one, given the sensitivity that should be employed in making northern Irishmen feel welcome both from the south and from Britain. Let’s not wreck the buzz for all of us Irish — and British — by foisting national identities onto his personal achievements.

The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.