Warring neighbours have became eternally entwined

England meet the Republic of Ireland today, reigniting a rivalry that has shades of grey between the white and green

- MIGUEL DELANEY

For some around the Irish squad, it's still strange to be preparing for a match against Lee Carsley's England. Ireland made a strong push for the admired coach, since he has 40 caps for the country. A solid Ireland midfielder is now the most important figure in English football culture, and will have a tricolour by his name if he takes England to the World Cup.

Carsley was born in Birmingham but qualified for Ireland through his Cork grandmother, and spoke last week of naturally feeling both nationalities. The same applies to many for today’s game in Dublin, most notably Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who make up at least nine England regulars over the last half-decade that could have also represented Ireland. It is almost an inevitable inversion of the fixture’s history, when it was Ireland that most benefited from the country’s diaspora to Britain.

That history has been driven by one of the most complicated relationships in international football – at least on the Irish side. Among those complications are “800 years” of British occupation; a century of post-colonialism; decades of the English top flight serving as one of Ireland’s primary cultural influences as well as hundreds of players. One line frequently uttered in Irish academia is that “England is a huge part of Irish history but Ireland a tiny part of English history”. That is perfectly illustrated by football.

For England, Ireland don’t really register, other than an occasionally romantic story at tournaments. For Ireland, England are the football culture they constantly cast themselves against. Before their opening meeting at Euro 88, Irish physio Mick Byrne turned to fans and growled: “We’ll do them for yiz today!”