Why Didn't Kevin Keegan Play for Ireland? Contrasting Narratives of the Irish in Britain

This article considers a range of contrasting narratives about the Irish in Britain that aresometimes overlapping and sometimes contradictory. These narratives reflect thecomplexity of the Irish immigrant experience itself, from integration to alienation, andhelp to explain the persistence of cultural stereotypes. The contradictory nature of thisexperience also helps to understand the ways in which the Irish have contributed towider popular culture in Britain, especially in the case of the second-generation Irishwho came of age in the 1970s and 1980s.