Tony Cascarino

Cascarino, who was born in England, represented the Republic of Ireland—qualifying through his adopted Irish grandfather, Michael O'Malley, who was from Westport, County Mayo. He was also eligible to play for both Scotland and Italy because of his Scottish and Italian descent.

In 2011, he was a winning participant in the Celebrity Bainisteoir reality series. Managing Killeshin GAA Club of County Laois, Cascarino's club won the season 4 competition, beating Paul Gogarty's Oughterard team after extra-time in the final.

Cascarino entered into a relationship with his third wife, Jo, in 2009 and their son, Rocco, was born in 2015; they married in Mauritius in November 2019.

Cascarino joined talkSPORT as a pundit in 2002 and from 2004 he presented the afternoon Drive Time show with Patrick Kinghorn. He was involved in an on-air bust-up with Kinghorn after the latter remarked that the married Cascarino had been "chasing that 21-year-old around the office", which prompted Cascarino to lunge at Kinghorn and punch him. They pair had to be pulled apart by production staff. Cascarino left the station in 2005 although still sometimes returns as a guest pundit.

In October 2000, Cascarino was the subject of national newspaper headlines when extracts from his upcoming autobiography were published in the Sunday Mirror. In it, he revealed that his mother told him in 1996 that she was adopted and therefore no blood relative to his Irish grandfather. Cascarino said in his autobiography: "I didn't qualify for Ireland. I was a fraud. A fake Irishman". The FAI's Chief Executive Bernard O'Byrne stated that he was shocked by the announcement and Cascarino's former international manager Jack Charlton questioned why he came forward with the information. Cascarino revealed that Republic of Ireland teammate Andy Townsend had advised him to keep quiet about the situation.

Four days after the newspaper exclusive, in November 2000, the Football Association of Ireland issued a short statement: "The FAI are satisfied that Tony Cascarino was always eligible to become a citizen of the Republic of Ireland and was, therefore, always eligible to play for Ireland." The Irish Independent reported that Cascarino was given a 'passport of restricted validity' in 1985 and that his mother's name, Theresa O'Malley, was in fact entered in the Foreign Births Register in the Department of Foreign Affairs prior to Cascarino's international debut for the Republic of Ireland.

Cascarino produced an autobiography in 2000, Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino, which received great critical acclaim.

His last international game came against Turkey in late 1999, as Ireland failed to reach UEFA Euro 2000. He got into a brawl with a Turkish defender and left the pitch showing the scars of battle. This marked the end of an international career which had spanned 14 years at the highest level.

Since retiring from football, Cascarino has become a semi-professional poker player, having appeared in the television series Celebrity Poker Club and commentating on the PartyPoker Poker Den. He has become something of a cult figure and was referenced in the song "All Your Kayfabe Friends" by Welsh band Los Campesinos! where the singer tells that "You asked if I'd be anyone from history / Fact or fiction, dead or alive / I said I'd be Tony Cascarino, circa 1995."

Cascarino joined Gillingham in 1982 from Crockenhill, and according to Cascarino Gillingham donated tracksuits and training equipment to Crockenhill in lieu of a transfer fee. He went on to play for Millwall - the club he supported as a boy. Millwall had missed an opportunity to sign Cascarino as a youngster and subsequently paid The Gills £225,000 to secure his services.

Anthony Guy Cascarino (born 1 September 1962) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward for various British and French clubs and internationally for the Republic of Ireland national team, with whom he competed in UEFA Euro 1988 and two World Cups in 1990 and 1994.