Lee Carsley national anthem debate explained: Why interim England coach won’t sing God Save The King, and why it’s caused controversy | Sporting News United Kingdom

Lee Carsley takes charge of his first match as caretaker manager of England when they face the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League on September 7.

It’s a fitting first game for the former midfielder, who won 40 senior caps for the Boys In Green between 1997 and 2008. It also represents a chance for him to blood a few new players in the senior Three Lions set-up and, just maybe, to stake a claim to be the permanent successor to Gareth Southgate.

And yet, controversy around the interim boss reared its head even before kickoff of the game in Dublin. Carsley’s comments on whether or not he would sing the UK national anthem before the match triggered debate both in the public and media that led some to call for his immediate resignation.

So, what’s the issue here? The Sporting News explains.

MORE: Everything you need to know about Lee Carsley’s career in football

Why doesn’t Lee Carsley sing the UK national anthem?

Speaking to the media ahead of England’s game with the Republic of Ireland, Carsley said he would not sing the UK national anthem ahead of kickoff.

Although it remains tradition for the respective anthems of each country to be played before international fixtures, Carsley insisted it has always been his routine not to sing as he wants to keep his focus on the game itself.

“This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland,” said Carsley. “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 into coaching. We had the national anthem with the Under-21s also and I am in a zone at that point. I am thinking about how the opposition are going to set up and our first actions within the game.

“I fully respect both anthems and understand how much they mean to both countries. It’s something I am really respectful of.”

Why did Carsley’s comments cause such debate?

Even though Carsley has never made a habit of singing the national anthem, his comments sparked plenty of debate.

While plenty of observers see little issue with a former Republic of Ireland footballer not signing the UK national anthem, especially when the teams are facing one another, others consider his stance inappropriate, or even wholly unacceptable.

Jason Burt of The Telegraph wrote that Carsley “cannot expect to manage England” in the long term if he does not sing the anthem. Jeff Powel of The Daily Mail went one further, calling Carsley’s standpoint “a betrayal”.

Essentially, some argue that signing the anthem is an important display of pride in the nation being represented, and a way of uniting fans and players to the team’s cause. Others place much less importance on the issue — not least because there’s no legislation in the sport to govern it.

MORE: Why Gareth Southgate stepped down as England manager

Do managers and players have to sing the national anthem?

In a word: no. While it’s tradition for anthems to be played ahead of international games, there is no football rule that says players or managers must sing along. Fundamentally, it would be an absurd rule, given some anthems — Spain’s, for example — don’t contain any lyrics anyway.

England players are generally expected to sing the anthem, and the majority do, but there have been plenty of occasions when some have chosen not to. Wayne Rooney, a former captain of the team, often didn’t sing God Save The King; in 2022, Trent Alexander-Arnold found himself receiving some criticism for not signing it before a defeat to Hungary.

The FA has previously described singing the anthem as “purely a personal choice” on the part of the player, and that is perhaps best illustrated by Gary Neville. The former Manchester United and England defender deliberately chose not to sing the anthem prior to his debut because he felt affronted that Geoff Thompson, the FA chairman at the time, had told him he must.

Where is Lee Carsley from?

Carsley was born in Birmingham, England, but he represented the Republic of Ireland as a player as his grandmother was from Dunmanway in County Cork.

This is another reason why it would feel strange to expect the 50-year-old to sing the UK national anthem, especially against the national team for which he played.

It’s also worth remembering that England have had two foreign managers this century, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, and neither of them would have been expected to sing the anthem just because they were coaching the team.

Eriksson, who was Swedish, said he attempted to sing God Save the Queen despite failing to “entirely master” the lyrics. Capello, who is Italian, said it would have felt “wrong to sing another country’s anthem”.