Foreign players on national teams - good or bad?

[Gaps]

The most important criteria in regards to international eligibility should in my opinion should be the development years of your career. The least important ; your name.

What would you consider to be the development years? What if you lived in one country until your early teens and then moved to the country where your parents are originally from and continued to play hockey there? Should a player like this represent the country they grew up in or the home country of their parents (which they will likely end up representing in this case)? This is something that applies to many 2nd generation players.

 

[Siamese Dream]

So why would Stastny feel any connection to Slovakia when he grew up in NA then?

Because he is one exception.

... yet not one of them would turn down England/Britain to play for Poland instead.

There are dozens of star athletes who represented Britain/England while originating from somewhere else. There also have been many football players from France who represented other countries, but not one of them chose that country over France.

So the notion that immigrants are less likely to fit in Europe than in NA, or are more likely to want to play for the country of their parents, or that there is even a culture clash with this issue, is hogwash. Indeed I'm from Europe and adopted what you allege is a US point of view while the other poster is from NA and adopted the alleged European point of view.

Only because they are the better team.

But most of them (Mo Farah, Kevin Pietersen and co.) actually grew up here, they are not like the hockey players who lived their whole life in Canada until coming over to play in Europe in their mid-twenties, nor are they like the kid Jack Wilshere was referring to, who is only in the country because Manchester United poached him to play for their youth academy.

Again more exceptions. It's hard to talk about this without going into politics, but immigrants in Europe are certainly much much less assimilated into culture and society than those in USA, but it is getting better in the UK as it's been a while since the mass immigration in the 50's

 

[jekoh]

I don't mind Hull, but Canadians didn't call him The Golden Bratt for nothing. They (most of us) were livid.

I understand that, but he fits your definition better than Stastny.

But most of them (Mo Farah, Kevin Pietersen and co.) actually grew up here, they are not like the hockey players who lived their whole life in Canada until coming over to play in Europe in their mid-twenties,

Well yes, that's my point: growing up in the country like Mo Farah (and Brett Hull who did live in the USA as a child) is a lot more of a connection than merely having a parent from there (Stastny and Canadian-Italians).

 

[jekoh]

Because these guys have no connection to Italy apart from the fact they live there for 9 months of the year to play hockey

And the other guy has no connection to Italy apart from the fact they have a great-grand-parent who they don't know from Adam that might have been from there or thereabouts.

The Italian national team actively approaches these guys in their pro league to try to get them to play, It's not like the one guy who plays for Japan because he really wants to

I agree with you that the Italian national team should stick to their own players and not actively recruit Canadians, but their name or ancestry makes no difference.

I find it quite funny that you insist descendants of immigrants in NA simply feel "American" or "Canadian" regardless of where their parents were from (in stark contrast to Europe according to you), yet you expect that merely having or not having an Italian last name will make all the difference when it comes to being an "actual" Italian.

It's not like most Italian hockey players from Italy even have an Italian surname themselves, btw.

 

[Siamese Dream]

And the other guy has no connection to Italy apart from the fact they have a great-grand-parent who they don't know from Adam that might have been from there or thereabouts.


I agree with you that the Italian national team should stick to their own players and not actively recruit Canadians, but their name or ancestry makes no difference.

I find it quite funny that you insist descendants of immigrants in NA simply feel "American" or "Canadian" regardless of where their parents were from (in stark contrast to Europe according to you), yet you expect that merely having or not having an Italian last name will make all the difference when it comes to being an "actual" Italian.

It's not like most Italian hockey players from Italy even have an Italian surname themselves, btw.

I wasn't saying that it makes all the difference, all I did was point out that some of the players they use appear to have no Italian ancestry. As I told J17, the guy with the Italian heritage is at least more Italian than the guy who doesn't have it, but still it doesn't really matter, this argument has blown it way out of proportion

 

[Sokil]

but immigrants in Europe are certainly much much less assimilated into culture and society than those in USA, but it is getting better in the UK as it's been a while since the mass immigration in the 50's

Not true at all IMO

 

[Siamese Dream]

Not true at all IMO

That's fine, it's an argument for the politics section anyway, not here

 

[robwangjing]

Thanks for all the answers, it's really interesting to read your opinions!

I think it really depends on the context. To use your country and hockey for example, let's say Brock Radunske, born in Canada, played in Canada and drafted by an NHL team has his pro opportunities in North America and Europe go belly up but, instead of taking his talent to Halla in the Asia Ice Hockey League, goes to the China Dragons.

He lives there like he did in South Korea, plays for years, makes an effort to learn the language and gains citizenship. His family lives there and it's pretty much home. He never played at any high level for Canada in international play. I'd have no problem with him representing China at hockey, and he seems basically no different that any immigrant going to a country. Once they get citizenship, they should have the same rights as anyone else there, including representing that country.

Now if Brock bounced between China and Canada in the offseason, made no effort to learn the language or culture, and seemed to be only taking the job because he couldn't cut it in Canada and there was no sense of national pride for his new country, that'd be a different story for me.

As far as having roots goes, sure it looks weird when you see a bunch of Canadian names on Italian jerseys (and it'd look even weirder to have a bunch of white guys suiting up for China and barking plays/calling for passes in English) but I think it's kinda xenophobic to treat someone differently because they originated from a different country. It should be about citizenship and if there's an attempt at becoming part of the culture.

I agree with you to 100%, this is exactly my point.

Who the hell wants to play for China? Not even people from Tibet would. The only ones that would want to play for china are the chinaman. And Team USA does this all the time so it's nothing new.

Are you trying to be funny or rude? Either way I did not like it.