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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Why Rory McIlroy is happier to be British and not Irish -- No history of Irish nationalism in area where he grew up

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Why Rory McIlroy is happier to be British and not Irish -- No history of Irish nationalism in area where he grew up

Posted on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 08:11 AM

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Graeme McDowell, right, and Rory McIlroy walk behind the Tricolour during the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup at the Mission Hills' Blackstone Course in Hainan Island, China, last year (Photo: Getty)

Graeme McDowell, right, and Rory McIlroy walk behind the Tricolour during
the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup in Hainan Island, China, last year (Photo: Getty)

I think I know why Rory McIlroy is happier with his British identity rather than his Irish one.

It starts with North Down, the area he comes from.

For the length of The Troubles, North Down was never a hot bed of nationalism, preferring most of the time to send very moderate nationalist politicians to the parliament in Britain.

To this day Sinn Fein has no real traction in the area and despite the death of a relative at the hands of Loyalist killers, McIlroy grew up unaffected by the aftermath of the Troubles.

It is also an historical legacy. Unlike Tyrone and Armagh where the planters were brutal and drove the Catholics off the land and persecuted and damned them, in Down the occupation was much more gently handled.

This led to better relations between the communities there than almost anywhere else in Northern Ireland.

McIlroy is following men like Lord Ballyedmond, formerly Eddie Haughey, another highly successful Catholic businessman from close by to McIlroy, who assumed the British mantle as well.

So McIlroy was insulated from much of the bad stuff growing up and indeed in the post-troubles era his choice of British as his identity is not a complete shock.

He is too young or too successful to have studied the history too much I imagine or his family has made peace with the other side a long time ago perhaps.

Yet when you visit Northern Ireland you immediately become aware of the scope and intent of the original plantation.

All the good land was taken by the Protestants and their holdings tended to literally look down on the Catholic patches where they drove off the natives.

If you visit Stormont, the seat of government, you see how the massive building with its triumphal statue of Carson looks down from a height on the deprived nationalist neighborhoods below.

The history is rife with Protestant triumphalism, Derry, the leading Catholic city still does not have a proper motorway to Belfast – the best roads always led to Protestant towns.

Equally, when a second university was to be built it was sited in Coleraine and not Derry so that Protestants could take better advantage.

Up until the 1970s and the civil rights movement, there was not even one-man one vote. People with property, always Protestants, were entitled to extra votes.

Ironically, an example of this arrogance was on display with McIlroy's former golfing counterpart, David Feherty, now with CBS Sports. During the Notre Dame game in Dublin, Feherty, a Protestant, made the claim that Gaelic football and hurling were not played in Northern Ireland -- even though they are by far the most popular games in nationalist areas.

Those bad days are behind us but driving through the North the other day I could not miss the triumphal Ulster flag flying that still goes on both on the motorway to Belfast and then from Belfast to Derry.

The bad days are over, nationalists are now in a power sharing government and men like Rory McIlroy are free to make a choice that would have been almost impossible a generation ago.

It is still one that will grate with many, especially many Irish Americans I’d wager. Then again I’d rather cheer Padraig Harrington anytime just to see the Tricolor wave after a major tournament.

The Northern Ireland flag, flown by a Protestant like Graeme McDowell, will never bother me in the slightest, flown by a Catholic like Rory, however, will never seem quite right to me.

Read more: Rory McIlroy denies that he has decided to play for Britain in the 2016 Olympics

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Seanmor | Dec 03, 2012, 11:02 AM EST

Regarding ones's national identity, having been born in London, the capital of Great Britain. I could claim to be British, but I'malways very proud to be Irish. However, my Irishness was never confined to the part of the homeland formerly known as the Free State; my 'nationality' applies to the whole nation and all its parts (an náisiún uile agus gacg roinn di). In one sense, I don't blame Rory McIlroy if he chooses to compete for G.B. in the next Olympics, and not for Southern Ireland. Ireland's neighbor to the east always uses its proper name at the Olympics, which of course is G.B. But at these international games the Southern Irish state competes under the name Ireland, which is obnviously a misnomer. I'm no more a Free Stater than I am a Unionist.

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Beaugeste | Dec 02, 2012, 04:10 PM EST

There are so many factual errors in this piece of drivel I hardly know where to start...lets pick a few: if you've ever actually been to Stormont you should know that it is situated in East Belfast, an almost exclusively Protestant area. Those deprived homes you refer to are owned by Unionists. Next, County Down (which just in case you didn't know is where Stormont sits..) didn't form part of the Ulster Plantation, so seems somewhat misguided to talk in the terms you do. Next,universal suffrage or one man one vote, existed in Northern ireland at the time of the so called "civil rights" campaign. In both Westminster and Stormont parliamentary elections it was one man one vote. In the local council elections there was an additional property qualification which gave a small number of proprty owners limited additional voting rights, a system which had operated until very recently throughout the whole of the UK. I think you might find that catholics owned property too...so again to talk in the terms you do is frankly misleading. Academdics agree it had essentially no bearing on any electoral outcomes.(try for example Smith and Chambers "inequality in Northern ireland" - if you can be bothered to get your facts from something other than a Sinn Fein PR office.) I could go on. I could look on the usual drivel about Londonderry...but I really just can't be bothered. The really sad thing is your denial that a catholic born in northern Ireland ( a a part, whether you like it or not, of the united kingdom of great britain and norther ireland) could actually want to be British...that is really sad. Perhaps you would extend the same logic to Wolfe Tone, CS Parnell, Robert Emmett, Henry Joy McCracken etc etc and deny that they as Protestants could ever wish to be Irish.

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citizen69 | Sep 19, 2012, 02:19 PM EDT

@Vince363: Rory doesn't want to be English! He is Northern Irish and therefore may (or may not) play for the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team, simple. And it's not as if he is suddenly changing his nationality to British, he has always been British (and Irish). @Celticfour: There are/were plenty of Catholics at his home club, what's your point?

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Happyhippo | Sep 16, 2012, 02:12 PM EDT

Rory's priority is not the Irish tricolor or British flag but to earn as much as he can while he can,so all you sponsor's out there,the bigger the payday the more patriotic he will be,its not ideal,but don,t forget we do have our very own patriotic Olympic golden girl Katie Taylor who was so proud to fly the tricolor.

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vince363 | Sep 16, 2012, 10:29 AM EDT

as a irish born person who spent most of my teen age years in england , i can tell rory mcinery hes welcome to england if he enjoys being called a "oirish bawsted" thats his choice as for me as soon as i was vold enough i moved to canada as i did not want my children born in a "hostile" cultural enviroment today both my sons and grandsons are proud canadians proud of their irish heritage . as far as rory mcinerys wish to be a "brit" go for it , hes welcome to britishness ,just glad my kids arent,

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IrishmanOz | Sep 14, 2012, 02:10 AM EDT

This story is made up drivel from the anti Irish rag the Daily Mail in England. The Daily Mail has a long history of anti Irish slurs, propaganda, outright lies and slander. The Mail should disappear up its own arse like the NOTW..

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ancavker | Sep 13, 2012, 01:56 PM EDT

kilsally: I am not disagreeing with you, simply saying I have not heard it used, and I am in Fermanagh( Cavan/Fermanagh border area) every year. Again I don't doubt you, but I would also be surprised that any Catholic in Tyrone would use the northern Irish label.

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ancavker | Sep 13, 2012, 01:53 PM EDT

dan: lots of drivel comes out of the mouthsof the Irish in Ireland, many times vomit loads of it.

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ancavker | Sep 13, 2012, 01:49 PM EDT

Falls: Do you mean to tell us it is just nationalists who are secterian?

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EmeraldJoe | Sep 13, 2012, 05:02 AM EDT

Guys, Rory is from Northern Ireland, not the Republic. Hence it makes sense for him to represent the UK. It ain't rocket science.

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DanOLoingsigh | Sep 13, 2012, 04:30 AM EDT

CurtisJ - Not as hilarious as your twisted take on the modern Irish - British relationship...who made a very popular visit to Ireland for a week last year if not a 'Head of State'?

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citizen69 | Sep 13, 2012, 01:30 AM EDT

Statement from Pat Finn, General Secretary of the Golfing Union of Ireland: "I wouldn’t see it as an insult for the GUI if a player chooses to play for Great Britain. Many of our programmes are funded by golfers who are British as well as Irish.". Mr Finn went on to say: "It was inappropriate for Northern Irish players to have to play under the tricolour, as happened with Rory and fellow Ulster golfer Graeme McDowell at the golfing World Cup in China last year. We should be cheering them on regardless of what (Olympic) team they might play in – if they qualify, which is another matter."

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curtisjohnson | Sep 12, 2012, 10:00 PM EDT

"Britishness is a nationality too" This is hilarious.

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seanomelb | Sep 12, 2012, 07:40 PM EDT

The ex Brit Tommy is back again. Maybe he thinks his last set of lies are forgotten and dares to put his foot in the cesspool of lies and innuendo again.

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FallsRNat | Sep 12, 2012, 06:10 PM EDT

so what, we would be fawning all over him if he was a brit & switch sides to us, reading some of the posts in the irish papers & on this board you can see that sectarianism is still alive in the irish state, where it has festered for the last 100 years, a sad indictment on our nationalist society

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