I CANNOT understand how footballers can turn their backs on playing for their countries.

Alan Shearer famously did it at the age of 29 and this summer Paul Scholes decided he would never play for England again.

It is not just an English trait. This week Jason McAteer said he had played his last game for the Republic of Ireland and Robbie Savage announced yesterday that he is considering never playing for Wales again.

Zinedine Zidane, Bixente Lizarazu, Lilian Thuram and Marcel Desailly, decided they had had enough of playing for France after Euro 2004 and Claude Makalele is today said to be following suit.

Players refusing to play for their countries was unheard of until a few years ago. Now, it seems, players have realised how much more they can earn by prolonging their club careers and are deciding it is not worth spending energy and risking injury playing internationals.

There was a time not too long ago when players would have paid to play for their countries.

It begs the question: what is happening to players' national pride?