England’s “traitor” Declan Rice deserves the hostile reaction of the Dublin crowd after the Irish defection
The midfielder played three times in the first division for the Republic before deciding that a change of team would be better for his career.
On 22 March 2019, Declan Rice came on as a substitute for England in their Euro 2020 qualifier against the Czech Republic at Wembley. It was a memorable moment for the midfielder, his second senior international debut.
He made his first international appearance for Ireland the previous year in a friendly match against Turkey and made two more appearances for “The Boys in Green” before being unavailable for competitive matches in the second half of 2018.
Nevertheless, Rice, then still a teenager, made such a positive first (second and third) impression that he was voted Ireland’s Young Player of the Year. Unfortunately, by the time the annual awards were presented on 17 March 2019, he had controversially defected to England.
The FAI was nevertheless forced to “honour the integrity of the electoral process” by confirming Rice as the winner. Although it wished him “all the best for the future”, it announced that he would not be in Dublin to collect his award. Rice will, however, be in the Irish capital on Saturday evening – and can expect a belated and bitter reaction to his betrayal.
