Understandably, however, there has been dissent in Australia. “This is not a personal attack (on Sonia),” said Raelene Boyle, who won seven Commonwealth medals for Australia, “but I do have issues with the cross-boundary laws that exist in sport and it has to be addressed.”
Kyle Vander-Kuyp, a hurdler on the Australian team, took exception to the prospect of O’Sullivan switching back into a green singlet once the Games were over. “I think if you are named as an Aussie, you are an Aussie and it should stay that way,” he said. “I’m part Irish but I haven’t run for Ireland.”
Most significantly of all Mike Hooper, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, came out strongly in Wednesday’s Daily Mail voicing his serious concern. “The case is clearly a farce and makes a mockery of the Games,” he said. “We will be looking at it at the very first opportunity. A loophole that allows an athlete to compete for country A in an international meet and country B two weeks later is a farce.”
The second international meet that Hooper was referring to is the world cross-country championships in Japan which, contrary to Hooper’s information, is unlikely to involve O’Sullivan. No matter: Hooper has raised an important issue and we ought to give it some consideration.
Debate here has been stifled by a combination of affection for O’Sullivan and a general carelessness about the Commonwealth Games. She wants to do it; it’s not doing us any harm; let her off. How would we feel, though, if Alistair Cragg announced that he wanted to compete for South Africa — the place where he was born and reared — on a one-off basis, while retaining his right to run for Ireland at all the major championships? Wouldn’ t we be inclined to think that he was taking a liberty? Cragg, you will remember, ran for Ireland at the Athens Olympics having only visited this island twice in his life before that and one of those visits was to compete on a South African junior team. We let that slide. What does that say about us? In the modern world issues of nationality and belonging have never been so complex and sports bodies are struggling for balance and fairness. The biggest problem is that it is not always about the heart anymore, it is about entitlement, convenience, opportunity: what do the rules say? Is there an opening? So Fiona May, the British athlete, competes for Italy and Emanuel Olisadebe, born and reared in Nigeria, can be top scorer for Poland in the World Cup qualifiers. Does any of that feel right? The golfer Mark McNulty from Zimbabwe started having passport difficulties in his home country so he invoked his Irish grandparent and on the Champions Tour in the US he is listed now as an Irish player. Does he feel Irish? Did he come here to compete in the low-key, low-budget Irish Seniors Open, to help validate his new “identity” and express his gratitude? No, he didn’t.
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Our tricolour is his flag of convenience. All of this is even more important now as the Irish soccer management embarks on a granny search. The time has come for higher standards, more restraint, less expediency and more old-fashioned patriotism.
Thankfully, Stephen Finn of the Irish Sun has proven conclusively that Gary McSheffrey of Coventry is inelgible for Ireland, having made competitive appearances for England at youth level. The point, however, is that McSheffrey should have been struck off the list the moment he suggested that he hadn’t ruled out playing for Scotland either.
O’Sullivan spends half of the year in Australia, she has Australian citizenship, an Australian partner, an attachment to the country. She qualified, they picked her: fine. But it is good that her selection has prompted debate in Australia and it is high time for a wider debate here.