England's Declan Rice goal celebration against Ireland blasted as 'most woke thing ever'

Declan Rice has divided social media for his non-celebration after scoring the opening goal in England's 2-0 win against Republic of Ireland in a UEFA Nations League clash, with one X / Twitter user going as far as branding it "the most woke thing I've ever seen" and others leaping to his defence.

Rice scored in the 11th minute of the clash inside the box, blasting a shot into the top corner from close range.

He ran towards the England fans but then held up his hands to not celebrate scoring against the country he represented in three friendlies and throughout his youth career.

Players sometimes do this at club level when they score against former teams as a mark of respect.

Jack Grealish, who also represented Republic of Ireland at youth level, scored in the first-half himself but did not hold back in his celebrations.

Declan Rice holds his hands up after scoring against Republic of Ireland / Adam Vaughan, EPA

Speaking after the game to beIN SPORTS, Rice said: "It was an amazing feeling to score but I was never going to celebrate, I have Irish family, my Nan and Grandad are not here anymore and I think it would have been disrespectful to them if I celebrated.

"My dad was here as well, obviously to score was a nice feeling but then I wanted to focus on getting back in the game and scoring more goals."

But that didn't stop Rice from getting pelters from some on social media.

One viral Tweet branded it "the most woke thing I've ever seen".

In response, there were a number of mixed reactions.

One posted the meme of Sean Dyche with the caption: "Utter woke nonsense."

Another posted a meme of Emmanuel Adebayor running to the Arsenal fans when scoring for Manchester City against his former club with the caption: "This is what he should have done."

One defended him, saying: "He has senior caps tbf lol."

Another agreed: "He's trying to be classy about it."

One sarcastically commented: "It's definitely woke to respect your grandparents. Sure."

Another argued it was "embarrassing".

That sentiment was agreed with by some.

But others said "there's nothing wrong with showing respect".

England are next in action on September 10 at Wembley against Finland in their latest UEFA Nations League fixture with kick-off at 7.45pm.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.