Who he represents is decided by the passport he holds. Since he is eligible for both an Irish & British passport he can choose.
Just the way the Olympic rules are.
Personally I don’t think it’s anyone’s business but his.

This is is a difficult one for Rory. His Great uncle (his fathers uncle) was killed by the UVF.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008249/PSNI-reinvestigating-murder-Rory-McIlroys-great-uncle-Joe-gang-UVF-killers.html

He is a Catholic who refuses to defined by his religion. That is a very brave stance and in that I have to commend him.

he irish

Spot on
It’s none of our business

Eh…No…

But it’s his sponsors etc that call the shots. Any negativity has to be cleared up

2nd that emotion, who cares, NEXT.

You really are talking through Uranus!

As Fr. Jack would say….Feck off Rory

He’s so far up his ass, he’s coming out of his mouth again! Give me 5 minutes with him and he’ll be brought down to earth, the real world.

The comment section on the Journal does not rule on what should be considered news and what doesn’t.

Maybe in the south it doesn’t matter. Not sure about how it would go down north of the border.

Stephen
Why would his PR team tell him to raise it again as an issue when It was a nine hour wonder at the time.
Young Neven Spence who was buried today played at underage for Ireland but I ca guarantee you nobody in these islands felt more British than he did.
Just take his explanation at face value and let it go

He’s worth more as an Irishman in America at least! It’s true.

Correct!
http://sites.duke.edu/belfast2011/files/2011/06/McIlroy-Tricolor.jpg

Yes but those teams are picked on the basis that they were GUI members not on their nationality.
The Olympic selection procedure is different.
Not McIlroys fault.

There is no money involved in golf at the Olympics

Bang on Steve ,if they want golf in the Olympics it should only be for amateurs

Like the tennis Paul?

well said.the damage is done now.

No damage done among golf supporters who understand how these things work
Nobody else’s opinion really matters
Harsh but true

enlighten me as to how it works then?

Rory is both British & Irish, just like English, Scots & Welsh.
It is nothing to do with geography more a state of mind like how many Americans feel Irish
What has come as a shock to people is that being a Catholic he could feel like this. I live “up North” for 10 years & met others like him, but it is not well recognised “down South”
As to representing Ireland, in most representative competitions you represent the country your golfing union is part of. The GUI is a cross border body founded in the North & funded from both sides
The Olympics is different as you represent the country you hold a passport for. In McIlroy’s case he is eligible to hold both & therefore can choose.
I hope this helps

he cant be both irish & british.if he was british he would have to be from england,scotland or wales.his club is situated in ireland & he is from ireland so whats his problem unless of course hes chasing money.this has damaged his reputation among irish fans whether you think so or not.

I agree. I think this has hit him in the pocket with the US sponsors hence the back peddaling. .

First thing that Jumped to my mind when I read the headline to this article!

First thing that Jumped to my mind when I read the headline to this article! :)

I wouldn’t blame him if he did

Feel sorry for the guy, he obviously has some serious identity issues!

Rory McIlroy is a British subject and entitled to consider himself as British whether you like it or not.

Politically, Great Britain and the United Kingdom are one and the same.

There’s no such nationality as “United Kingdom-ish”.

@Steve politically maybe, geographically it’s not where he’s from. sport is sport. politics is politics.

Steve. Great Britain comprises England, Scotland and Wales. United Kingdom then also includes Northern Ireland. The olympic team is called GB & NI. Why they don’t call it team UK I don’t know. Can anyone enlighten me?

if sport was separate from politics the Olympics wouldn’t exist.

It is political boundaries that shape the competing nations.

Thanks for that bit of bile Niall.
A real contribution to peace & understanding on the island.

I’m just saying it like I see it Justin! And for the record a lot of my best friends are British and I’ve said the same to them about Rory Mac!

I’m just saying it like I see it

I don’t think so. The Olympics are 4 years away & as the best player in the world he can have his pick.
McIlroy calls the tune & if the sponsors don’t like it there is a queue at the door.

I don’t think so. Any sponsor that dropped would be immediately replaced by many others wiling to pay massive amounts to get his endorsement. The guy is a walking money machine at the moment. Do you really think these world corporations give a fiddlers about our tiny little market? Or even the UK for that matter? Asia and the U.S. is where it’s at for these companies.

American fans love Him as the see him as an Irish Lad. He would lose a lot of them if he chose’s the UK ticket. The reaction from the states was pretty negative when He issued his statement recently. Thats why he’s back peddling now as he probably intends to concentrate on the PGA tour. Bad for business!

Paddy, are you a saint.

nope, just an honest publican like yourself Richard ; -)

Three boxers and a horse… Great name for a band, right there.

Paul McGrath was born in England. Eamon De Valera was born in the USA etc etc etc.

I honestly think you could get a more sophisticated and enlightened take on nationality and cultural identity in Northern Ireland from a trained chimpanzee than you would from the average Journal.ie commenter.

The green thumb-approved ignorance and simple-mindedness here just beggars belief.

well said

It’s the Olympics it’s either TeamGB or the Irish team.

Actually I take that back, this years Olympics had people taking part that weren’t doing so for any nation, so he could still compete for a medal without choosing, but to late now we all know he’s not one of us :)

Speak for yourself JP
Since when were you appointed to speak for the rest of us?

The smily face at the end didn’t tip you off that I was joking? Uptight much??

Way too subtle for me

Whatever he does there’ll be some bigoted amadans from both “sides” offloading their bit of negativity. He’s the best golfer in the world and works hard to be there. I for one will cheer him on whoever he plays for as long as its not against Ireland. Some fools on this side should remember that the Irish flag is 1/3 orange. Rory obviously represents the white part of the flag very well. The bigots only bring shame to the green side. It’s about time the flag was reclaimed from the Provos and the criminal thugs.

Whatever he does there’ll be some bigoted amadans from both “sides” offloading their bit of negativity. He’s the best golfer in the world and works hard to be there. I for one will cheer him on whoever he plays for as long as its not against Ireland. Some fools on this side should remember that the Irish flag is 1/3 orange. Rory obviously represents the white part of the flag very well. The bigots only bring shame to the green side. It’s about time the flag was reclaimed from the Provos and the criminal thugs.

that means ones in dublin to

He hasn’t “shunned” anyone.
All he did was express an opinion

I think you’ll find most ‘irish’ people dont want english born players playing for ireland, neither kerr or staunton played many of them its foreign managers who do like charlton mcarthy and trap

I did not cheer on tiger woods at his peak!..Why would I now cheer on mcilroy the brit?..He is not Irish anymore goodluck to him.

Hard to beat a bit of bigotry now and again.

Great posts Justin. Sums up how a lot of people from NI feel about being British, including McIlroy it seems. It’s surprising how most people from the South can’t seem to grasp this concept.

A lot of people in the south haven’t got the first idea of the nuances & complexities of life in Northern Ireland.
A diet of Shinner talk allied to poor efforts at communication from unionists leaves people here with a very black & white view of how things are.
Don’t see it changing anytime soon.

Rory is the product of a protestant primary school education in the north of Ireland,been the only R.C in school he learmed to toe the line.@ justin …how do you know if Nevins Spence felt irish or british.Its a remark you should of left for another day,

I lived near Hillsborough where the Spences lived for 10 years & my wife’s people come from there & know the family so I have some knowledge on the subject.
A lot more I think than you do about Rory having to keep his head down, a comment bred from the lack of knowledge I spoke of above.
As for sensitivity towards young Neven Spence, fair enough, but sensitivity towards young Norther Irish sportsmen seems to be selectively applied here.
Some of the bigotry, bile & enmity shown to Mcilroy here wouldn’t look out of order at any Orange march.

So justin just because you lived somewhere and married someone who knew someone that knew the spence family your going to assume the all felt british.Thats a silly remark ,anyway back to the point,you see most people down here and around the world would of assume that Rory would play for Ireland,the country of his golf union. Just look how we were surprised by his remak,so the moral is “dont assume anything even in NI” and by the way the majority of people posting like myself dont seem to care where he plays….

Part British ? I don’t think so.

Your an idiot Frank C.

Team GB is thus called as it represents athletes from Britain only and not Northern Ireland. It is for this reason that it is not called Team UK. The reason why Team UK doesn’t exist for the Olympics is due to the historical fact that every sports body/association in Ireland operates on a 32 county platform apart from soccer. Taking this in to account you shouldn’t really have somebody coming from an Irish sporting body representing team GB even though they may have a British passport. The prime example of this is Wayne McCullough, however there are exceptions to this rule due to politics such as Mary Peters.

No

No

I do live in Ireland, and proud to be Irish at that- partition never physically divided the country!

Jesus Frank, it’s hard to know where to start with a comment like that