Every parent of the 11 boys who lined out to face Poland in Cork in an U-17 Euro qualifier last month was, of course, bursting with pride, at the start for the anthems and then at the end of the game as the Ireland side got the draw they needed to advance to the next stage of qualification.
Rudi Vata was capped 59 times by Albania (1990-2001) and was the first Albanian player to make a real impact in the post-Communist era, with his 1992 move to Liam Brady’s Celtic.
He’s proud to see his son Rocco line out for Ireland, the 16-year-old attacking talent from Celtic eligible through his Dublin-born grandmother, Rudi’s mother-in-law.
Rocco’s decision to play for Ireland had caused quite the stir back in Albania, with a lot of bile, in print and online, thrown Rudi’s way over this treacherous act of allowing his offspring to play for another country. Rudi, now 52 and an established player agent based in Scotland, won’t even hear that talk.
“I have done so much for my country, I built up a reputation in so many countries, as a good human being.
“I represented my country with honour and dignity and I never once betrayed my country, but there are people who did betray Albania, who cheated the national team, they loved corruption but they look at my son’s situation and they call me a traitor?” says Rudi, speaking from his home outside Glasgow.
“They are small-minded people, cheap people, who still have no freedom of thinking, they are part of a corrupt system and they don’t like the freedom I wanted or the freedom of my child to choose his international team.
“I love my country with all my heart but Rocco chose to play for Ireland as Ireland were the first to ask. They welcomed him in, they treated him like he was one of their own, he got an opportunity from Ireland and he is happy.
“I came from a dictatorship. In Albania, most people could never choose to say what they wanted to say, and that’s why I left my country, I wanted to be free as a human being, to choose to do what I loved to do.
“In Albania there are still people who are not free. And no one from the Albanian FA has contacted me to ask me about Rocco.
“Whoever calls me a traitor should stand in front of the mirror and ask themselves what did they do for their country, they stole from their country. I left my country over 30 years ago, I worked hard to represent my country with dignity.
“I was not the best football player in the world but my attitude was to work hard. And I tell that to Rocco, to work hard and appreciate the gift that God gave him.
“God gives that gift for reasons as He has a plan for you, God gives every child a certain gift but Rocco has gifts that not many children have and he needs to appreciate that, and thank God day and night but work hard. You won’t get luck by doing nothing.”
A standout talent, Rocco Vata is not a one-off: that current Ireland U-17 has two other players of Albanian origin, Kevin Zefi (Inter Milan) and Justin Ferizaj (Shamrock Rovers), while Jessica Ziu has Albanian heritage but plays for Ireland’s senior team.
“People have the blood of their parents’ country in their blood but they can also play for the country they are born in and it’s beautiful to see, to see three Albanians represent Ireland. Ireland welcomes people with open arms and treats people like they are their own,” says Rudi.
Albania or Scotland were the obvious destinations for Rocco, but his strong link to his maternal grandmother in Howth led him to go for green, that proud granny now demanding from Rocco’s parents realtime updates of everything he does on Ireland duty.
“Every time he gets that call he looks forward so much to meeting his friends in the Irish squad and the coaching staff and the people who take care of him. The FAI have been very caring and very professional and I imagine that as a child he sees that,” says Rudi.
Rudi’s own links with Ireland are strong: he was signed by Celtic on the back of a game for Albania against Ireland in Dublin in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.
“Liam Brady saw me play in Dublin, Celtic was founded by an Irish priest, I know the history, most Irish people are Celtic fans. There is a bond there, my wife is half-Irish, my son had a choice at 15 and the FAI were clever, they were fast,” he says.
First capped at U-15 level in 2019, Rocco has now moved up to the U-17s and is due to feature for the U-18s in Marbella this week. He’s also progressing at Celtic, effortlessly moving from their U-18s to the B team and there was even a recent summons to train with the first team.
“If we could draw up a plan for Rocco it couldn’t be better than what he has now, and the experiences with the first team gave him a lift,” says Rudi.
“They are not playing him to do me a favour as I once played for Celtic. I never asked for a favour for my son, they treat him in a professional way, he has done most of the work himself, all I did was advise him and show him the proper path for his future, where he can go and what he can achieve but also show him how difficult it can be.”
Rudi played as a professional until he was 35, so knows how to sustain a career but also sees the pitfalls.
“He is a good kid but he’s serious about being a footballer and this period is a delicate one, we have to make sure he is in the right place, surrounded by the right people,” Rudi says.
“If he makes it with the Celtic first team, he will be so happy. But also, he has a lot to do, he has to improve, to stay humble, he has to sleep, eat and drink football.
“There is one way to the top, if he wants to go right to the top he has every ingredient to do that, and the best example of hard work is Ronaldo, and I hope that Rocco can be as committed as Ronaldo. I’d like every football player to look at what Ronaldo did and follow in his footsteps.
“See how Ronaldo leads his country, people respect him. I told him he can be the next Ronaldo of Ireland, to be at the World Cup and the Euros with Ireland and the whole country behind him, but it’s up to him he has to earn that status, and he can only earn it by showing how dedicated and how professional he is.
“Why not think that you can go right to the top and become the next Ronaldo or Messi. If you have the right ingredients and qualities, if you work hard and have the right attitude, you can be the next Ronaldo. I don’t think that Ronaldo had better qualities than Rocco when he was that age.
“He is proving that he has everything to become he can be, but will he continue to work hard, to listen, that remains to be seen. He’s still a boy and we have to work hard to keep him grounded, to make sure he is in the right place.
“If he looks after his body, trains well and does the right things he could become the next Ronaldo of Ireland.”