Identity is something we seemingly cannot escape from in Northern Ireland and it seems to be highlighted even more intensely when it comes to sport.

Over the years we have seen footballers weigh up whether to play for Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. James McClean is perhaps the most famous example, a player who has had a decent career in the Premier League. McClean represented Northern Ireland at youth level and switched allegiance to the Republic of Ireland when the chance came to play for them. It was an incredibly controversial decision and one which may have inspired the views of others who have taken the same approach such as Shane Duffy. Northern Ireland fans have reacted quite negatively to these decisions, not just because these players are leaving a side they had represented at youth level, but also because they were good enough to genuinely improve the national side.

In a more sedate arena, perhaps the most famous instance of a conflicted identity holding a sportsman back was when golfer Rory McIlroy chose not to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games because he did not want to offend any of his supporters over his choice of national allegiance.

He won’t be repeating that decision in 2020.

In the past few weeks, the issue has come up again in a different context, when Dublin-born Eoin Morgan captained the England cricket team to their first World Cup title. Morgan playing for England is nothing new. He began the process of registering for England in 2007 and made his debut in 2009. It also wasn’t new for Irish born players to play for England, Ed Joyce had made the switch in 2007, but captaining England to World Cup success justifiably made the news and put the issue back in the spotlight, whether or not Morgan might have wanted it. Indeed there was much criticism and confusion over why an Irishman would want to captain England. While Leo Varadkar tweeted his congratulations and pride at an Irishman lifting the world cup, his tweet was met with many replies from people stating that, “if you’re Irish you play with Ireland,” along with comments labelling him a “West Brit.” It is worth noting that many of course came to his defence as well.

Players born elsewhere have long turned out for the England cricket team, and many of those have also represented another country during their careers. Ed Joyce and Boyd Rankin are two other Irish cricketers, the former now retired, who have played for Ireland, transferred their allegiance to England and then played for Ireland again.

Kevin Pietersen and Andrews Strauss were two of England’s most high-profile cricketers in the last 15 years – Strauss briefly as captain – and both were born in South Africa. Players such as Trent Johnston (Australia) and Andre Botha (South Africa) are two foreign-born cricketers who represented Ireland. It’s not uncommon for this to happen in cricket and there are several reasons for it. There does have to be a link with the nation they are representing, but the rules aren’t quite as strict as in football.

To understand why Irish players have opted to play for the England cricket team we need to explore the context of the sport.

Cricket is a bit unusual in the sense that teams are split into tiers in the international game. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is made up of twelve full nations that are allowed to play ‘test cricket’, which is seen as the pinnacle format of the sport. Test matches are played over five days and in order to win the match a team must bowl out their opposition and score more runs than them. The next tier, associate, allows teams to play official One Day International (ODI) matches, games that have a time limit and would be completed within a day. The third tier is for affiliate nations whose aim is to achieve ODI status.

Without going into too much more detail, it is important to understand that the full, test-playing nations have a much larger say on the organisation and development of the game globally. Until 2017, when Ireland and Afghanistan were admitted to this club, only ten teams were represented – England of course being one of them. The chance to play test cricket is very appealing, much like when a footballer pushes for a transfer to play Champions League football cricketers want the chance to play test cricket. For a long time this was not something Ireland could offer, so players took their chances with England who are genuinely one of the best teams in world cricket, even making the England squad is a massive achievement.

Traditionally the England cricket team was essentially a British Isles team. Scottish, Irish and Welsh players have turned out for England in the past. This is fine with the ICC due to how it is organised. The England Cricket Board represented all of these regions until Ireland and Scotland decided to go their own way. They stopped competing in the English County championship and began organising their own competitions. Again, this is not rare in cricket; the West Indies team is made up from several different nations around the Caribbean. The total population of the nations and territories making up the West Indies is around 6 million, so a similar population size to Ireland. By contrast, England’s population is around 55 million.

So, hopefully that answers the question of why a player may want to play for England, or indeed other test-playing nations, if it’s not necessarily their home country. But is there anything we can take from this that can be related to other sports and how we look at national identity in that context?

It is apparently more common in world sports for competitors to represent the country where they have the greatest chance of success, rather than the nation they feel best represents their identity. It is important to note that success is completely subjective here. Raheem Sterling had the chance to represent either England or Jamaica in football, he chose England, and with England he has a realistic chance of winning a major competition. Compare this with Lee Camp, and English-born goalkeeper who briefly represented Northern Ireland because that was his best chance at playing international football. For Sterling, he has genuine ambitions to win a major competition whereas for Camp, it was a great achievement simply to play international football.

For Eoin Morgan, his only chance to play test cricket ten years ago was with England and, despite him no longer being a member of England’s test squad, playing for England remains his best chance at success in the sport – as represented by the recent World Cup win.

For many competitors, success may trump their sense of national identity. On Twitter we have seen people questioning how an Irishman could represent an England team, but we have to be careful not to assume what someone values as part of their identity. A June 2018 article from ESPNcricinfo quotes Morgan as saying that his mother is English and he has held a British passport since he was born. It is very possible that Morgan sees himself as both British and Irish. And that is surely something many of us in Northern Ireland can relate to.

Despite what some political ideologues may believe, there is no contradiction in being both British and Irish; we should not feel betrayed if someone chooses to highlight one aspect of who they are above others at certain times. Instead we should see it is a positive that people feel comfortable in accepting many aspects of their identity.

In Northern Ireland national identity is often politicised. It is understandable that people may be upset when someone chooses to represent a different team from the one “we” support. For many who make their living through sport, politics is very much an afterthought. I am sure Eoin Morgan didn’t intend to make a political statement by representing England, or by ending his time as an Ireland player. He made a sporting decision and if we are judging him – or any sports person – on anything then it should surely be on their sporting decisions and performance.

Much more can be said about this topic that extends beyond cricket or even football.

For such a small part of the world we have produced some incredible sports stars who have achieved great things on the global stage. Rory McIlroy, Carl Frampton and Mark Allen are three who have been making great strides in their respective sports, but we should not expect them to feel hampered by their national identity or ours. Let’s support all the local stars, let’s celebrate their many fantastic achievements in sport, and let’s not allow our own sense of identity to influence how we view others.