I’ve often wondered what might have happened over the years had all sports been allowed to develop on the same level playing field.

We all know, for instance, that you can play for England at cricket no matter where you were born. Manipulate the rules a little, be nice to the right people, spend four years adapting to the English way of life and, hey Presto - or Pietersen - you can just about guarantee an international cap. So why don’t the same rules apply to football?

Why is it, for instance, that if you happen to be a footballer and you are born in, say, Wales, of Welsh parentage, you seem to be stuck with it for life. Caps for Wales or no caps at all!

'Wouldn’t a whole herd of England managers have given up half their FA pension to have had Ryan on the left wing and David Beckham on the right?'


Can you see where I’m going with this? No? Here’s another clue. What would have happened on November 29, 1973, had Danny Wilson and his lovely partner Lynne not gone home again to Cardiff but instead slipped over the border into England to have baby Ryan Joseph? Now you’ve got it. What would have happened if Ryan Joseph Wilson (later to become better known as Ryan Giggs) had been born English and not Welsh, with pride in the Three Lions and not the Red Dragon.

For one thing, you can be certain that he would have had to double the size of the cabinet that holds his 64 Welsh caps. It’s reasonably safe to assume that he would have become the most-capped England player of all time. His dynamic skills were never displayed in any World Cup finals or European Championships. What a tragic waste of talent on par with another United great - George Best.

(Come to think of it, why would anybody want to play football for Wales? There’s more passion and fire in Puff The Magic Dragon. And it strikes me that any old Tom, Gav or Charlotte can become a Welsh icon. All you need is a decent pair of . . . lungs. What about rugby, I hear you cry. OK, I’ll give you that one, but it’s still an odd-shaped BALL). I digress.

At least Ryan’s mum had the good sense to move her family to Pendlebury in Manchester, where Manchester United were quickly alerted to the tricky and talented schoolboy on their doorstep. From then on it’s Roy of The Rovers stuff and Giggsy’s fabulous career with United has already filled a couple of books.

He was able to play for the England schoolboy team because he was attending a school in England. Seems the English Schools FA aren’t quite bogged down by the same dogmatic and draconian rules as those of FIFA, UEFA and any other FA you care to mention. But it’s the thought of Giggs in the England No.11 shirt that is truly fascinating.

Wouldn’t a whole herd of England managers – Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Howard Wilkinson, Kevin Keegan, Peter Taylor, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren – have given up half their FA pension to have had Ryan on the left wing and David Beckham on the right?

Wouldn’t we have reached a final or even lifted a trophy from one of the three World Cup Finals and three European Championships that Giggs might have played in? With England international status on his pedigree, wouldn’t he have become an even bigger megastar at the Theatre of Dreams than he already is?

(Come to think of it, would we have had to put up with Tony Daley, Steve McManaman, Steve Stone, Darren Anderton, Emile Heskey, Nicky Barmby, Aaron Lennon, Stewart Downing and probably a few more I can’t recall, trying to fill that problematic left-wing spot? OK you Chelsea fans, I accept Joe Cole). Again, I digress.

Nothing can change for Giggsy now. We can only be thankful that he chose to parade his special brand of showmanship to an English audience and was never tempted to take the gold brick road into Europe.

Welsh footballers with no English blood are allowed to manage English clubs and would no doubt, welcome the chance to manage England if they were asked. So why aren’t they allowed to play for them? Isn’t there a human-rights question here? What about discrimination or restraint of trade? If cricket can accommodate a player’s desire to play for the country in which he lives, why not the same rules for football?

How about a level playing field!