Balotelli, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko - the latest in a long, illustrious line of foreign stars at cosmopolitan Manchester City
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By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 24 October 2011 Manchester City’s evisceration of Manchester United on Sunday was orchestrated by foreign stars, with the six goals split between imports Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Edin Dzeko. It’s not unusual these days for Premier League sides to be full of international players from all corners of the world. But it wasn’t always this way. Foreign professionals were banned from the English game between 1931 and 1978 by an insular - and at times, xenophobic - Football Association. English football’s institutions were stuffy, arrogant - and scared of foreigners. In that period, the only foreign imports who were allowed to play in the main divisions were amateurs (for no pay), refugees, some applicants with Commonwealth ties, prisoners of war under certain conditions or others like POWs who became naturalised by residency after two years working in a non-football environment. Such little-Englander isolationism was a blot on a nation’s football landscape. It coloured and diminished the English game for decades, arguably denying England access to innovation and more sophisticated techniques - and has had knock-on effects still being felt. But that’s a different discussion for a different day. The
Balotelli, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko - the latest in a long, illustrious line of foreign stars at cosmopolitan Manchester City
Balotelli, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko - the latest…
Balotelli, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko - the latest in a long, illustrious line of foreign stars at cosmopolitan Manchester City
By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 24 October 2011 Manchester City’s evisceration of Manchester United on Sunday was orchestrated by foreign stars, with the six goals split between imports Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Edin Dzeko. It’s not unusual these days for Premier League sides to be full of international players from all corners of the world. But it wasn’t always this way. Foreign professionals were banned from the English game between 1931 and 1978 by an insular - and at times, xenophobic - Football Association. English football’s institutions were stuffy, arrogant - and scared of foreigners. In that period, the only foreign imports who were allowed to play in the main divisions were amateurs (for no pay), refugees, some applicants with Commonwealth ties, prisoners of war under certain conditions or others like POWs who became naturalised by residency after two years working in a non-football environment. Such little-Englander isolationism was a blot on a nation’s football landscape. It coloured and diminished the English game for decades, arguably denying England access to innovation and more sophisticated techniques - and has had knock-on effects still being felt. But that’s a different discussion for a different day. The