Declan Rice’s non-celebration showed the respect he did not receive from Irish fans

Rice also refused the captain’s armband in England’s 2-0 defeat of the Republic of Ireland in Dublin

A superbly-taken smash into the top corner, a fourth England goal in 59 appearances and an immediate nerve-settler for the Lee Carsley era. It all should have been cause for celebration for Declan Rice in Dublin, instead the Arsenal midfielder trotted away from his opening goal and towards the travelling fans. Immediately he was displaying the palms-raised fingers-splayed “no fuss please” gesture to indicate the start of the non-celebration protocol.
Rice briefly allowed himself a double thumbs-up towards his supporters but quickly reverted to the calming signal, lest anyone was about to do something truly provocative towards the Irish fans like insulting Enya or the films of Cillian Murphy.
The goal followed by a respectful act of party-pooping is a familiar sight in domestic football, especially as the notion of the one-club man passes into quaint folklore. By the end of his peripatetic playing career Craig Bellamy was only able to celebrate goals against about six teams. But this is a new sight in the international game, where playing for a country tends to prevent you from moving on to another one with better resources.
Not the case for Londoner Rice, who is eligible for Ireland through his Cork-born paternal grandparents. He turned out in three senior games for Ireland as a 19-year-old but crucially all were friendlies. As such he was able to switch allegiance when approached by England in 2018. This despite his level of affection for Ireland extending to another modern football phenomenon, the kissed badge, which he performed in an Under-21 game for his former country.
We thought we had it bad when Conor Gallagher, then of Chelsea, refused to celebrate a goal against Crystal Palace after a season-long loan spell at Selhurst Park. But as articulated by my colleague Kate Rowan, the complexities of national identity are personal and Rice outlined his thinking after the game. “My nan and grandad on my Dad’s side are all Irish and they’re not here any more,” said Rice. “To celebrate it would have been really disrespectful of me with them not being here any more and them being my Dad’s parents. I didn’t want to do that.
“I had such an amazing time playing for Ireland, they were great memories that live with me. I don’t have a bad word to say.”
Such respect was a good deal more than Rice got from the crowd at the Aviva Stadium who booed him every time he received the ball, along with Jack Grealish, the other once-Irish defector to England.
There was another incident left in the game for Rice to display his conflicting feelings. When captain Harry Kane was substituted he initially offered the armband to Rice but he turned it down. 
On that issue Rice said it was purely a case of John Stones’ seniority. “Stonesy is more senior and experienced than me and I said to Harry that John probably deserves it more than me,” said Rice.
To which you can only really say: fair enough. Satisfactory explanations all round, sensible de-escalatory behaviour from a decent man. Of course this being football nothing can exist in this state of reasonableness for long. Over to you, England fans, who changed the lyrics to the Cranberries’ anthem Zombie:
“He’s in your head, Declan Rice” 🎵 England fans celebrating their victory in Dublin 🍺pic.twitter.com/jV4WvxnG6y