When the Republic of Ireland were a coming force in the last 80s and early 90s, a number of 'granny rulers' played a large part in their success.
During his time in charge, Jack Charlton did his best to unearth Irish-eligible players and bring them into the international setup. The likes of John Alrdidge, Ray Houghton, and Tony Cascarino were just of the footballers he brought on board that went on to have stellar careers in green.
While many of those who declared for Ireland had strong links to the country, others were less in touch with their Irish roots.
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Jason McAteer recalls bizarre story of his first Ireland call-up
Jason McAteer earned 52 caps for Ireland during a fantastic international career, one that saw him play in two World Cups. However, his route into the Irish setup is a rather strange one.
Speaking on the Under The Cosh Podcast, the former Liverpool midfielder has recalled how his love of the Irish team during Italia 90 was a driving factor in turning down an England 'B' call-up and saying he wanted to play for Ireland while he was at Bolton Wanderers.
This was despite the fact that he wasn't actually sure if he was eligible to do so. Here's how he recalled the incident in question.
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.
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.
When I was in the pub working in 1990, the Italia World Cup finals was 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.
I was thinking, this team is brilliant, they were having a great time, good footballers as well. So I’d become a big Ireland fan, wasn’t interested in England. I was never really patriotic, being from the north of England...
Flip forward to my career and Jimmy Armfield says we’d like you to represent England, there’s a B international and we’d like you and Alan Stubbs to play.
So he leaves and I said 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 done really well in the World Cup, they’ve got loads of Liverpool players playing for them and I’m not really arsed about England...
I didn’t really get it. So he (Rioch) then said to me, is there anyone in your family who’s Irish. I said, I’ll have to go home and ask my mum and dad.
So I went home and I said to my mum, England want me to play for them. She said, that’s nice.
I asked my dad if we had any Irish in the family. His granddad, apparently, was born in County Down. No one really knew. They moved to England, the story goes.
While Jason McAteer was not all that certain on his Irish routes, it did not take Jack Charlton to get wind that he was interested in playing for Ireland.
He turned up at a Bolton game soon after and offered him a place in the squad for a game against Russia that following week. That was the job done.
However, an issue soon arose when it came to getting an Irish passport.
With the player not certain on the origin of his Irish eligibility, the FAI was tasked with unearthing this supposed great-grandfather from Down. They managed to get so far, but in the end, McAteer was just told to pick a random name off a list to complete the process.
Do you remember when Russia split up and all the countries disbanded, FIFA and UEFA turned around and said if you play for a country, you have to hold a passport for that country.
So I was playing on an English passport, I didn’t have an Irish passport.
The girl from the FAI rings me one morning and goes, listen, we are trying to sort the passport out for you. We’ve come across three McAteers from County Down and we can’t be bothered looking any further, do you just want to pick one as your granddad?
Alright, what are my options? You’ve got him and him and him. I went, whatever you think. So some random fella, like Sean or Paddy McAteer from County Down was picked.
The next game I go to, I had to go to court. There were four people in the courtroom. ‘I pledge my allegiance to Ireland…’ and that was it.
I went from the court back to the hotel, I go in and my passport was on the bed. It was done. I was in.
So Stubbsy went and played for England, I think he got one B international cap, and I had 12 years with Ireland and went to two World Cups. So I think I picked the right one, didn’t I?
It is a brilliant story, one that would probably not quite as straightforward in the current era.
Still, Jason McAteer certainly enjoyed every moment of his time in an Ireland shirt. He has one of three random McAteers from a Down registry to thank for that.
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