Is Rory right to declare now he feels “more British then Irish”
Rory McIlroy certainly got it right when acknowledging his words would “upset a lot of people”.
I suspect, however, that he was well off the mark when hoping that “the vast majority will understand”.
If and when he opts to represent Britain in the Olympic Games in 2016, among those most disappointed will be the many people in the Golfing Union of Ireland who assisted him throughout his amateur career and helped imbue in him the qualities on and off the golf course that have made him one of the most popular and likeable players in the game.
It will also hurt his caddie, J P Fitzgerald, and Conor Ridge and Colin Morrissey and the other members of his management company, Horizon Sport, all from the southern end of the country, not to mention his former colleagues from a succession of Irish amateur teams and the many thousands who support and applaud him every time he tees up his golf ball.
They fully appreciate Rory must some day make one of the most difficult decisions of his life. And they should also understand he has been placed in this dilemma through no fault of his own — like many other sportsmen and women in our divided island over the years. It’s just that most manage to keep their views on the issue as private as they possibly can.
By and large, he has demonstrated commendable wisdom and intelligence in dealing with the media and general public since first hitting the headlines when only just into his teens. And that’s what makes some of his comments since the announcement in 2009 that golf was to be restored as an Olympic sport more than a little regrettable.
He was much too quickly out of the blocks when declaring: “I’d probably play for Britain because I have a British passport.”
There have been similar comments from time to time that have made for more dramatic headlines — if not quite as spectacular as the one greeting his remark at the weekend that: “I’ve always felt more British than Irish.”
It’s a pity religion has been brought into the equation, with many expecting McIlroy to declare for Ireland simply because he comes from a Catholic family and had a great-uncle shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in 1972.
Interestingly, however, Graeme McDowell’s father is Protestant and his mother Catholic and he showed how to handle the situation when neatly sidestepping the Olympic question at last month’s US PGA Championship.
“I’ll play for whoever takes me, I just want to be an Olympian,” he stated. Rory, take note.
It is disappointing Rory should now fall for a clearly loaded question referring to an event that won’t take place for another four years. Who knows what his status will be in the game in 2016? A little over a decade ago, David Duval was, like Rory at present, golf’s number one player. Today, you need to go down all the way to 854th to find his name.
Nobody, least of all this writer who has grown to know, like and admire Rory McIlroy since the days when he was a three-time Irish Examiner Junior Sports Star of the Year, wants or expects to see a similar fate befall such a rare talent.
I just wish though, that he would keep his thoughts on this emotive subject close to his chest until he needs to make a decision one way or the other.
After all, with so many great things looming over the next few weeks, he has enough to keep him occupied.
Rory McIlroy should be applauded for putting his head above the parapet and indicating he will opt to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland rather than Ireland at the 2016 Olympics.
Ever since golf, along with rugby sevens, successfully bid in 2009 to be included on the International Olympic Committee’s roster of sports for the Rio 2016 Games, the issue of where the Holywood youngster’s allegiances lay has been the elephant in the room, and it is easy to see why.
It is an invidious choice to impose on any potential Olympian from Northern Ireland, whatever sport they play, and when the IOC voted golf into its family three years ago, it became McIlroy’s problem too.
His feelings on the matter were sign-posted from the start when, aged 20, and in the wake of the August 2009 IOC vote, he said: “I’d probably play for Great Britain. I have a British passport. It’s a bit of an awkward question still.”
That landed McIlroy in hot water and it was a valuable lesson for the young sportsman from the Belfast suburbs to learn. By last year, his response to the question had evolved into a more diplomatic one.
“Basically, if I’m going to be honest like I usually am, whatever I say it’s going to upset someone. So I may as well say ‘I don’t know’ and wait until four or five years’ time when I have to make a decision.”
This weekend, McIlroy, 23, is quoted describing the “awful position to be in”.
“But the fact is, I’ve always felt more British than Irish... I just hope the vast majority will understand.”
It is still only an indication, of course, and he is under no obligation to make a firm commitment to either country for another four years.
Yet McIlroy, on top of the golfing world after winning three of his last four events including a second career major at the PGA last month, has revealed his current thinking and shown that when it comes to difficult issues, it is often our heart that takes the casting vote when the riot of ideas in our mind can’t resolve them. There should be no comeback for that.
Ireland’s golfing community will naturally be disappointed if McIlroy marches into the Olympic Stadium in Rio in a GB uniform but they will understand. He has spent too much time already in his young life trying not to upset anyone on this matter, avoiding both the Tricolour and the Union Flag.
Sure, those ties with the GUI are long ones and he has represented golf’s all-Ireland governing body with the pride Ulster men do showing just as much commitment as their brethren from Munster, Leinster and Connacht.
But that, alas, is the difference here. The GUI’s flag is not a Tricolour but instead, like rugby’s IRFU, represents all four provinces on the island of Ireland. If only it were able to fly over an Olympic golf course.
Will McIlroy’s words stop Irish golf fans cheering him on every time he tees it up? Hardly.
Are we discounting the two majors he has won for the island of Ireland? We will not. They were rightly celebrated in both Britain and Ireland and any future success, even a gold medal draped in red, white and blue, should also be considered a victory for Irish golf.
If this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics reminded us of anything it is that the crest on the uniform does not matter a jot. Sporting excellence should be celebrated, whatever the shape, size, colour or allegiance of the athlete. McIlroy’s excellence is unquestionable. He deserves our appreciation, whatever flag he plays under.
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