Why Arsenal star Declan Rice is booed by Republic of Ireland fans
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice will be prepared for a hostile environment on Saturday evening when he represents England in the Nations League against the Republic of Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
Rice is one of the more popular players for the Gunners and England thanks to his elite performances in the centre of midfield. However, the former West Ham United man is extremely unpopular over the Irish Sea due to his decision to switch allegiances.
Throughout his youth career, Rice represented Ireland at international level. He made his debut for the U16s in February 2015 before representing the U17s, U18s, U19s and U21s.
At the age of 19, he was handed his debut by Martin O’Neill for the Irish senior team playing in three friendlies in 2018 against Turkey, France and the United States of America. Despite this, Rice handed a request to FIFA in 2019 to change his allegiance from Ireland to England and in March of that year, he made his debut for the Three Lions.
Since then he has represented England at two European Championships and a World Cup, making 58 appearances along the way. Rice has kept relatively quiet about his reasons for switching to England but did offer this opinion when asked in March 2019: “It is the toughest decision I have had to make so far in my career.
“Being so young, I didn’t think I would ever be in a position to make that call but it’s one that I have made and one that I am looking forward to in the future.” Rice will not be alone in receiving heat from the Ireland supporters this weekend.
