They would also be eligible if they had resided in England for at least three years in a row. In all, 16 of the English-born squad members came from the South East, South West, or London, with the remaining ten being from the East Midlands, North West, or east of England. There are no players from Scotland or Wales.
Of the sixteen South East players, five come from Kent, two from Sussex, one from Hampshire and one from Surrey. The South West has four players who were born in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset or Somerset. London has seven players; five from Westminster and two from Hammersmith and Fulham. The East Midlands has five players; three from Derbyshire and two from Leicestershire. The North West has two players; one from Lancashire and one from Merseyside.
Outside of England, there are four players from France, two from Ireland, and one each from Australia, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa and USA. There are no Jews on the list which is not surprising given that Israel was not yet founded when Edwards played his last game for England in 1975. He died in 1983 at the age of 64.
To be eligible to compete for England, a person must have resided in the nation for at least five years. If a person's parents or grandparents were born in England, they may also be considered. Persons who do not meet this requirement cannot play for England.
In addition, players are required to have been naturalized as British citizens. Although this is not a formal requirement, most national teams will not accept players who have not become citizens.
The rules regarding citizenship were created after the 1950 World Cup when it was discovered that several players were not eligible to represent their countries because they did not qualify as residents of those countries. The rule was put into place to prevent any further controversies about players' identities.
There have been cases where players have represented England while still eligible to represent another country. For example, Paul Gascoigne played for England while being registered with Scotland at youth level. In addition, George Farmer played for England while being registered with Wales at school level. Both men eventually became British citizens and therefore qualified to play for England.
Furthermore, there are instances where non-EU players have been selected by England coaches. For example, Andy Townsend from New Zealand was picked for the 1990 World Cup team. Also, Mark Fox from Australia was selected for the 1998 World Cup team.
Thirty-eight players were born outside of England, while the origins of six more were unknown. For the sake of the study, England is generally divided into nine areas, which we divided into five northern regions and four southern regions. These are the countries most commonly mentioned by players when asked where they are from.
The most common country of birth for English players is Ireland, with 193 births, followed by Wales with 123 and Scotland with 109. The next three most common countries are Australia, South Africa and India. This shows that there are many international players in English football and also that the game is popular among people around the world.
Of the 38 foreign-born players, only three were born in the UK and the others in Europe, the USA, Australia and Israel. There have been several high-profile cases of players originating from the same country but playing for different teams - France and London (or Paris) based clubs is the most common example. A few players have even played for two different countries - George Best this example comes from Ireland but he was born in Northern Ireland.
There have been several other countries used as proxies for anonymous players - a player might be born in an unnamed country on the African continent or in the Indian subcontinent for example. However, these countries are rarely named by players themselves.
As many as 107 of the 736 players who have played for the England cricket team have been born in countries other than England. Of these, the most prominent are Graham Gooch (born 4 January 1955 in New York City, United States), Andrew Strauss (born 15 February 1971 in London, England), and Kevin Pietersen (born 8 August 1975 in Johannesburg, South Africa).
England has had more than its share of international talent born outside of England, particularly during the early years of cricket when many professional players came from abroad. In fact, until 1858 there were only six foreigners on the list of approved players for The MCC: William Awdry, James Lillywhite, Alfred Shaw, Henry Shrapnel, Robert Young, and John Young. After that date, no foreign-born player was permitted to play for MCC.
There are two ways to classify sportspeople by country of birth: by their absolute country of birth and/or their country of origin. If you were born in a certain country but consider another country your home, then you're classed as having been born in the former. If you originate from one country but choose to represent another at any level of sport, then you're regarded as having been born in the latter.
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