Entertainment desk
< March 16	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	March 18 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

March 17

UK athletes - how are they assigned?

In many sporting competitions (football perhaps being the most prominent), the four constituent parts of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) have seperate national teams.

My question is: given that there's no such thing as "Scottish citizenship" or "Welsh citizenship", how is eligibility decided, about who is eligible for which of the four teams? On what basis can a given athlete be deemed "English", as opposed to "Welsh" or "Scottish" (or vice versa)? Eliyohub (talk) 08:35, 17 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

As for football, FIFA_eligibility_rules#Home_nations_agreement should be exhaustive (and exhausting). --Wrongfilter (talk) 08:48, 17 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that, much appreciated. What about the Commonwealth games, Rugby League, or Rugby Union? Eliyohub (talk) 09:29, 17 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

In Rugby Union, you have to have lived in that country for just 3 years to qualify, [1] a rule which has been followed by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2018, a reduction from the previous 7 years requirement. [2] Alansplodge (talk) 22:33, 18 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Swim England seems a bit more picky until you reach the last clause: "Anyone wishing to swim for England shall be a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man and have been born in England, or have had at least one parent who was English by birth or be a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom and have been continuously resident in England for a period of at least twelve months". [3] Alansplodge (talk) 22:38, 18 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]