It’s one of the most oft-repeated pub claims: that Tony Cascarino was ‘not really Irish’, despite having made 88 appearances for the country over a 14-year international career. Amusing though that nugget may be, it is based on a rather peculiar set of bygone attitudes. The former Gillingham, Millwall and Marseille striker appeared at three major tournaments for the Republic of Ireland: Euro 88, plus the 1990 and 1994 World Cups. Tony Cascarino clears up Irish eligibility controversy At the time there was a lot of nonsense peddled by English fans and media about ‘plastic’ Irish players who had grown up in Britain but qualified through their ancestry. And an extra wrinkle in London-born Cascarino’s route to the international scene made the reaction to a ‘revelation’ in his autobiography that much harsher in 2000. Tony Cascarino says he was proud to represent Ireland (Image credit: Getty Images) Newspapers had a field day at Cascarino revealing that his mother had been adopted by Irish parents, as if that makes any material difference to anything whatsoever. More to the point, Cascarino himself didn’t even know his mother was adopted until 1996, eight years in to his international career; and she had been registered in Ireland some years before his debut, too.
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week. Nonetheless, the fact she was not Irish by blood led Cascarino to briefly question his identity, saying his initial reaction was: “I didn’t qualify for Ireland.
I was a fraud. A fake Irishman.”
The FAI subsequently confirmed Cascarino’s eligibility still would have stood because yeah, obviously it would. Cascarino now feels rather less mixed about the matter, though, as he revealed to FourFourTwo. Tony Cascarino scored 19 goals for Ireland (Image credit: Getty Images) He said: “My name’s Cascarino, so everybody always assumed I was Italian [in heritage]. “My mum is Teresa O’Malley – her [adopted] family are from Mayo, in Ireland.
“If my name had been O’Malley, not one person on the planet would have questioned me playing for Ireland – but because of my surname, everyone just assumed
.My grandfather was Michael O’Malley. He lived with us, but he never saw me play for Ireland.
“He’d have been really proud because he loved the country. I never had a second thought about it. When I got the chance to play for Ireland, I didn’t hesitate. I loved it.”
