England interim manager Lee Carsley has said that he won’t sing either national anthem ahead of the first competitive match between the Republic and England in over 30 years today.
Carsley, who was born in Birmingham but played international football for Ireland as his grandmother is from Cork, said it had always been his stance throughout his career.
“This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland,” he said at a press conference ahead of today’s match in Dublin.
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“The gap between your warm-up, your coming on to the pitch and the delay with the anthems. So, it’s something that I have never done.
“I was always really focused on the game and my first actions of the game. I really found that in that period I was wary about my mind wandering off.
“I was really focused on the football and I have taken that in to coaching,” he added.
Ahead of his first competitive match in charge of the England senior team, he said that he had never sang the national anthem as manager of the England Under-21s.
“We had the national anthem with the Under-21s also and I am in a zone at that point,” he said.
“I am thinking about how the opposition are gonna set up and our first actions within the game.”
While he said decision to not sing either is down to his focus on the game ahead, he added that he is “really respectful” of both anthems and “how much they mean to both countries”.
With two members of his squad also having previously played for Ireland in Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, he said that he had prepared his whole team for the atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium, but not spoken to them individually.
England captain Harry Kane, whose paternal grandparents came from Galway, said he hadn’t spoke to the pair about it either.
“I haven’t spoken to Dec and Jack,” he said.
“I think everyone has their path to their career and theirs was a small part with Ireland and the rest of it with England, so they are mature enough to deal with that.
“It’s going to be a tough game, the atmosphere will be tough, we are going into a place where we expect it to be a little bit hostile, but that is no different to a lot of away games we face.”
As for his own career, he said that representing Ireland was “never really on the radar” as he was “in the England teams from a young age”.
“My dad was born in England, and his mum and dad were born in Ireland,” he said.
“My grandparents were Irish but me being born in England, I always thought England was and is my country, but I am extremely respectful to Ireland and my grandparents – who are no longer with us.”
“I still have family over there, so I am extremely respectful of them and I am sure they are looking forward to seeing me play in Dublin.”
