Eligibility Rules, Okay

[Stuttgart88]

So he expects the FAI and IFA to give up the income from a home fixture (of which we have a limited number), and expects the FA to take external influence on its fixture list from the Taoiseach?

The gate money wouldn't be enough to cover the security costs!

After the Euros Kenny said we should have a 32 county footy team as if that'd suddenly make us catch up with Spain.

If Kenny wants to make a contribution to football here he could re-examine government attitude to the game, come clean about how previous governments have interfered with sensible plans for eircom Park, and put pressure, perhaps via the Dail Public Accounts Committee, into the workings of the FAI. The British parliament established an investigation into English football's governance, ours should start looking at our game.

If he is so keen to fund children's hospitals I'm sure that's within his gift too, via different channels.

I'm not being churlish - it's well intentioned - but I wish Kenny and Varadeker would use their office to exert something meaningful for Irish football.

[BonnieShels]

I agree. But it's also a sop given he was in Armagh at conference on reconciliation he had to come up with something.

[geysir]

He could have come up with a parting gift of reconciliation.
"And remember, we have a warm céad míle fáilte for any lads up here who want to declare for the FAI".

[CraftyToePoke]

"3 ‘Granny Rulers’ that Martin O’Neill could look into calling up": http://thescore.thejournal.ie/ireland-granny-rulers-martin-oneill-1164747-Nov2013/

They pinpoint Curtis Davies of Hull, Callum McManaman of Wigan and Patrick Bamford of Chelsea (on loan at MK Dons) as potential call-ups.

Not a word about any of them actually wanting to play for us though. I wasn't aware at all of Davies till he cropped up on here recently. I suppose there are more too.

[dantheman]

Enda wants an all-Ireland team to play England on a biennial basis.




http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/international/2013/1108/485451-taoiseach-suggests-charity-all-ireland-soccer-team/

I stopped reading at Enda!

[Cuyahoga]

1977
Feckin Eejit !

[ArdeeBhoy]

"3 ‘Granny Rulers’ that Martin O’Neill could look into calling up": http://thescore.thejournal.ie/ireland-granny-rulers-martin-oneill-1164747-Nov2013/

They pinpoint Curtis Davies of Hull, Callum McManaman of Wigan and Patrick Bamford of Chelsea (on loan at MK Dons) as potential call-ups.
http://www.facebook.com/TheScore.ie/posts/614628055266354?comment_id=5354176&offset=0&total_comments=25



Enda wants an all-Ireland team to play England on a biennial basis.




http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/international/2013/1108/485451-taoiseach-suggests-charity-all-ireland-soccer-team/

This amused me though...
http://www.facebook.com/irishtimes/posts/10151787282706158?comment_id=27857074

[ifk101]

Ulster says no :smile:

http://irishfa.com/news/item/8699/irish-fa-statement/

[DannyInvincible]

Ulster says no :smile:

http://irishfa.com/news/item/8699/irish-fa-statement/

Ha, it was a load of bumkum rhetoric anyway, but humourous they saw fit to entertain the notion with an official response. Just in case anyone would think they're going soft...

[geysir]

Ha, it was a load of bumkum rhetoric anyway, but humourous they saw fit to entertain the notion with an official response. Just in case anyone would think they're going soft...
It's a good one, betrays more insecurity than a spotty teenager at his first dance.

Who can forget this gem, worthy of a place, framed on the wall of the national archive museum.
IFA STATEMENT (http://www.irishfa.com/news/item/4005/ifa-statement/)

[gastric]

Nice piece of politicking from Enda. Said what the general population in Ireland feels ( it doesn't matter about practicalities), cost the country nothing, mentioned a good cause and the only people he really peed off were the IFA who always look like the baddies anyhow, and their statement reinforced this. Good work Enda!

[SkStu]

F*cking he'll! I usually try and be balanced my approach to the IFA but there is no denying they are a ridiculously paranoid and insular organization. Enda's politicking is barely newsworthy, never mind worthy of such a bitter and tetchy reply statement from them. Idiots. Stuck in the past.

[DannyInvincible]

It's a good one, betrays more insecurity than a spotty teenager at his first dance.

Who can forget this gem, worthy of a place, framed on the wall of the national archive museum.
IFA STATEMENT (http://www.irishfa.com/news/item/4005/ifa-statement/)

Just how did they get it so wrong? Circular 901 is pretty elementary stuff: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/ps_901_en_90.pdf

For ****'s sake, FIFA even translated it into English for them!


F*cking he'll! I usually try and be balanced my approach to the IFA...

I knew they'd crack you some day, Stu. :)

My Google search for Circular 901 brought up some great material from the past. Here was Gregory Campbell's take on the matter: http://duplondonderry.co.uk/press/2007/071107.html


Gregory Campbell MP has described as “bizarre” a recent suggestion from footballs’ governing body FIFA, which would allow people from Northern Ireland to choose whether to play for Northern Ireland or the Irish Republic. The DUP MP said that this would allow the FAI to poach footballing talent from Northern Ireland and probably represents a breach of FIFA’s own rules concerning the subject. Mr. Campbell cited Circular 901: a document which FIFA produced in 2004 which prevented three Brazilians from playing for the Gulf State of Qatar, as being possibly breached. Speaking today, Gregory Campbell said:

“I think it is regrettable that this issue is being used for party political ends by some politicians. FIFA is a private organisation and the provisions or otherwise of treaties and agreements should have no bearing on their deliberations. Which National Football Team someone plays for should have no relation to their political viewpoint. It is my belief that politics and sport should be separate.

What this suggestion by FIFA amounts to is the granting of a license to the FAI the Republic of Ireland’s football association, to poach players from the Province. There is a point of natural justice at stake here people born in Northern Ireland or who meet the FIFA regulations to play for Northern Ireland should be proud so to do. They should not be put in a position where a larger football association like the FAI can move in and poach them. This raises serious questions for other football associations throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. I wonder, for example what the reaction would be from FIFA if Northern Ireland started poaching under 18s from England by virtue of the fact that they hold a British passport?

FIFA has already ruled on matters similar to this when they issued Circular 901 in order to prevent three Brazilian footballers from transferring to Qatar in order to play for the Qatari national team. How can they issue such guidelines in 2004 and yet in 2007 make pronouncements like this in relation to Northern Ireland. There could also be new political alignments in the future where adjoining National States are populated by citizens who choose to use this as a precedent for similar choices.”

I also came across the text of a 2007 Emmet Malone piece posted on a GAA forum which offered a pretty decent explanation of the situation at the time: http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=4321.575


Some Fifa members more equal than others

One of the more remarkable aspects of the current campaign by the Irish Football Association to have Fifa intervene on its behalf to stop players born north of the Border from playing for the Republic is the claim repeated by the association's chief executive, Howard Wells, on RTÉ radio at the weekend. Wells said he and his colleagues were only looking to have the international federation apply its rules equally in relation to its members.

Of course, it doesn't take a particularly in-depth analysis of Fifa's workings to realise that some members are more equal than others. Wells effectively admitted as much when he referred to the IFA's privileged status as one of the four "British Associations" as one reason for not having a unified Irish team.

Since 1946 the four have been allowed to nominate one of Fifa's eight vice-presidents - Africa, Asia and South America also get one vice-president apiece - while each is represented on the International Football Association Board, which gives the British 50 per cent of the votes on the game's ultimate rule-making committee.

Wells's apparent inability to sense the irony of the case he was making was truly perplexing. At one point he argued that Fifa's proposal to allow those born on the island of Ireland to choose which national teams they would prefer to play for would undermine the internal eligibility arrangements agreed between the British associations. The four have had a gentlemen's agreement since the early 1990s to apply the Fifa rules as if they were really four different countries because the rules, needless to say, don't actually apply to them.

Wells cites Fifa's Circular 901, the organisation's reaction nearly four years ago to an attempt by Qatar to make a mockery of the regulations on international eligibility by granting citizenship to a number of Brazilian players so they could play football for the country's national team.

In the document Fifa make the point that for a footballer to "change" his nationality specifically in order to play for another country is in breach of the spirit of its regulations. It lays down specific criteria that should be met to avoid such abuses and these essentially amount to what is known here as "the granny rule" or a requirement of two years' residency.

The intention, it is made crystal clear, is to "ensure that a player has a clear connection with the relevant country". They do not mention that as a result of particular political "complexities" in several parts of the world there are exceptions.

The circular was intended only to address a flagrant abuse of Article 15.1 of Fifa's statutes, which, under the heading "principles", states that "any player holding the nationality of a country is eligible to play for that country".

Nationality is the key here, and passports, dismissed by the IFA as irrelevant to the current dispute are the generally accepted norm of demonstrating that.

By citing Circular 901, indeed, Wells seems to be drawing a direct comparison between Brazilians being enticed to play for a Middle East state, with which they have absolutely no connection, on the basis of financial reward and young men from the nationalist community in a town like Derry wishing to play for a country to citizenship of which they are entitled from birth.

It suggests he is either being disingenuous or is staggeringly ignorant of the historical context of the community in which he is currently working.

The former seems far more likely, though when Wells, an Englishman, suggested on Sunday that if there were freedom of choice for players (it seemed that he meant within the four "British Associations") then "everyone would play for England if they thought they were going to get a better crack of the whip", it was hard to avoid the conclusion that someone should take him aside and have a quiet word.

He mentioned the IFA's work in the area of anti-sectarianism, and much credit is due to both the association and its main supporters' organisations for the progress made in this area over the last few years. Presumably, though, no one involved in the organisation seriously believes the problem has really been solved.

A large proportion of the nationalist community continue to believe they are treated unfairly at the hands of the IFA and there are many stories of Catholic footballers concluding they are not appreciated in quite the way their Protestant counterparts are.

There is a significant geographical aspect to it as well, one touched on by Stephen Kenny when he was manager of Derry City and observed that those in power in Belfast seemed to regard Derry as the North's fifth-most-important population centre rather than its second.

Darron Gibson's uncle Paul McLoughlin recalls that his nephew's defection was prompted by being told by the manager of his Northern Ireland team that if he went on a trial to Manchester United on a particular date he would never play for the North again. Predictably, the youngster was distraught, but he went to Manchester, signed for United and started playing for the Republic instead.

Wells maintains the current dispute is not about Gibson, and as someone who had opted to play for the North before being alienated, the midfielder really is a poor example. What it is about, as the Belfast Agreement puts it, is the right of people born in the North to be "accepted as British or Irish, or both, as they may so choose".

[Charlie Darwin]

That's a super piece from Malone.


There is a point of natural justice at stake here people born in Northern Ireland or who meet the FIFA regulations to play for Northern Ireland should be proud so to do. They should not be put in a position where a larger football association like the FAI can move in and poach them.Good grief. So not only are the FAI poaching Northern Irish players, but those proud Northern Irishmen now have absolutely no choice or agency in the matter? Beggars...

[gastric]

In order to understand the bizarre tactics of the IFA, might it not be a case of the tail wagging the dog? To accept the CAS ruling would be admitting defeat, something which is not acceptable to the extreme Unionist psyche with its 'no surrender' mentality. To be seeing to try to anything, however feeble, or releasing unnecessary statements is possibly an attempt to placate these extremists. The reality is too these extremists with their paranoid, delusional beliefs are far happier blaming the FAI or Nationalists for their predicament, rather than blaming the IFA.
Politicians too like Campbell, realise that what is important to such extremists is sentiment rather than the obvious reality, and statements like the one Charlie mentioned above are easy to make and placate these extremists, while at the same time reinforcing their paranoia.

[Gather round]

Good to see this non-story is being so resolutely ignored by the sophisticated teenage foot.ie community ;)

No paranoia there, dearie me no.

I'd have been even briefer [and poetic] in the statement. STOP STIRRING SH*T [YOU CULCHIE HALF-WIT]

[ArdeeBhoy]

A bit harsh on Gregory Campbell...
:rolleyes:

[gastric]

Good to see this non-story is being so resolutely ignored by the sophisticated teenage foot.ie community ;)

No paranoia there, dearie me no.

I'd have been even briefer [and poetic] in the statement. STOP STIRRING SH*T [YOU CULCHIE HALF-WIT]

And to quote some of the more prominent posters on here, he may be a culchie, but he's our culchie half wit! It may be worth mentioning to you too, that he has never been charged with inciting violence in another jurisdiction, unlike a certain Mr Robinson.

[Gather round]

And to quote some of the more prominent posters on here, he may be a culchie, but he's our culchie half wit!

Indeed. Of course I realise Enda has more native cunning than most, and has clearly done a deal with the Devil down in Castlebar to keep those boyish good looks through 40 years of gombeen pinting and chicken in a basket suppers ;)

But the winding is half-witted, deserves criticism and got an entirely proportionate response from the IFA and NI supporters.

You'd think that after the gypsy bashing last month he'd have realised that populist stunts tend to backfire...


It may be worth mentioning to you too, that he has never been charged with inciting violence in another jurisdiction, unlike a certain Mr Robinson

Sorry, it's not worth mentiioning for two reasons. I'm not interested in lame whataboutery, and I've been a consistent critic and opponent of Robinson during his career (just as long as Kenny's).

Do better.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Hmm, except it's not really 'whataboutery', more just an Egyptian river fixation of yours?
And you keep telling me PR's, er, sound on the 'major issues'.

As for Enda being a WUM, hardly. Throwaway comment at worst. And populist? Clearly you have v.little knowledge of Irish politics!

Do less worse...:)

[Mr_Parker]

Ha, it was a load of bumkum rhetoric anyway, but humourous they saw fit to entertain the notion with an official response. Just in case anyone would think they're going soft...

Sums up their fear in that statement. How can predict they future? Maybe one day the members will vote to have one. :)

[Gather round]

Sums up their fear in that statement

Paranoia, now pop psychology. Is there no end to foot.ie's scope?


How can predict they future?

You what? Anyone can predict the future...


Maybe one day the members will vote to have one. :)

...even Cliftonville supporters.

[ArdeeBhoy]

??
:confused:

[Mr_Parker]

Paranoia, now pop psychology. Is there no end to foot.ie's scope?



You what? Anyone can predict the future...



...even Cliftonville supporters.

Yep. "And never will. " Geoff Wilson's final balls of a statement before leaving the ship.

[Gather round]

Yep. "And never will. " Geoff Wilson's final balls of a statement before leaving the ship

Football administrator leaves job. United Oireland inevitable!

[ArdeeBhoy]

Still not making any sense...

[Mr_Parker]

Football administrator leaves job. United Oireland inevitable!

NI fan deflects from IFA incompetence - shock!

[Mr_Parker]

Still not making any sense...

The IFA statement holds no water. Those who put out the statement do not have the authority to make such claims.

[Gather round]

NI fan deflects from IFA incompetence - shock!

Don't be a dick Parker, you're normally better than the usual suspect numbheads on here. I've never been shy of criticising the IFA on foot.ie or elsewhere. Their statement is a suitably terse reply to the massed ranks of daydreamers, stirrers and simpletons who think merging a bad football team with one mediocre would produce a World-beater pretty much by definition.

Sure, they could have ignored the story, like all the sage commentators on here. It is indeed "bumkum" (sic). Trouble is, in the limited novelty foundation-myth obsessed microcosm that is NI politics, it would then have been the lead story until the next real atrocity, sex abuse scandal or hospital closure.We're well rid.

Why don't the IFA have authority for their statement- do they need to have a constitutional referendum first, or what?

[ArdeeBhoy]

Who's Richard Parker?:rolleyes:

[DannyInvincible]

In order to understand the bizarre tactics of the IFA, might it not be a case of the tail wagging the dog? To accept the CAS ruling would be admitting defeat, something which is not acceptable to the extreme Unionist psyche with its 'no surrender' mentality.

To be fair to the IFA themselves, it would appear they've faced up to the CAS judgment and accepted responsibility for themselves and their own affairs on the eligibility issue. Michael O'Neill's comments on the matter have always been mature and proactive. Dragging the rabble appears to be the difficult part.


Their statement is a suitably terse reply to the massed ranks of daydreamers, stirrers and simpletons who think merging a bad football team with one mediocre would produce a World-beater pretty much by definition.

Will they be issuing formal responses to the annual Sinn Féin wind-ups now too?


Sure, they could have ignored the story, like all the sage commentators on here. It is indeed "bumkum" (sic).

Touché. :)


Why don't the IFA have authority for their statement- do they need to have a constitutional referendum first, or what?

Administratively-speaking, presumably the power to make such a decision is actually vested in the association members/clubs by way of a general proposal and vote on said proposal?

[geysir]

What could have happened if they ignored the Enda bumble?
The headlines read .... "Shock as -- IFA didn't say NO"?

In that statement the IFA wish to clarify "that the idea is not, and will not be on the Association’s radar"
When you stop laughing at the idiocy of the IFA replying to an Endaism, and coming out with such an ott response, the IFA statement itself is a credit to creationism.
The usage of the word 'radar' assumes the IFA have some hostile fenian propaganda detection strategy at their HQ, it's the IFA's warning system to let them know that there's a threat somewhere.
The IFA is now a body supposedly impervious to any change, have the dogmatic certainty to detect and destroy certain perceived hostile ideas before they come onto the IFA's radar, forever, to ensure that they will exist unchanged.

[Gather round]

To be fair to the IFA themselves, it would appear they've faced up to the CAS judgment and accepted responsibility for themselves and their own affairs on the eligibility issue. Michael O'Neill's comments on the matter have always been mature and proactive

Agreed. Mikey has been kept in the job partly for his PR skills. They're certainly more imaginative than his efforts to breach Lux's offside trap.



Will they be issuing formal responses to the annual Sinn Féin wind-ups now too?

Maybe not. Look, you and I know Enda's a complete knob-end, but he has some little kudos abroad, I believe. Whereas Caral and co are just glorified local councillors ;)


Administratively-speaking, presumably the power to make such a decision is actually vested in the association members/clubs by way of a general proposal and vote on said proposal?

Mr Parker will no doubt quote you the exact and relevant sub-section next time he's in. But until then the game will just have to wait. Roy Hodgson and the poor orphan children will be desolate, alas.


When you stop laughing at the idiocy of the IFA replying to an Endaism, and coming out with such an ott response, the IFA statement itself is a credit to creationism. The usage of the word 'radar' assumes the IFA have some hostile fenian propaganda detection strategy at their HQ, it's the IFA's warning system to let them know that there's a threat somewhere. The IFA is now a body supposedly impervious to any change, have the dogmatic certainty to detect and destroy certain perceived hostile ideas before they come onto the IFA's radar, forever, to ensure that they will exist unchanged

Come on man, it's not really that funny. Even if North Pole TV has gone into hibernation and you've little else to divert you for the next six months. Although I know you'd come up with some ponderous sneer as the IFA simultaneously announced cures for cancer and inflation while awarding the re-arranged 2022 World Cup to Monaghan and Keflavik...

[geysir]

"I have an idea"

http://cdn2.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article29741953.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/NNISKILLEN4jpg_15.jpg

[geysir]

Off the IFA radar, the IFA President Jim Shaw remarks about Kenny's off the cuff idea,
"There is no objection to it. It would be very difficult to organise it, to get these sort of players from the two associations.
"It is a difficult proposition but I am sure at some level it can be achieved if the desire is there."

[gastric]

"I have an idea"

http://cdn2.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article29741953.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/NNISKILLEN4jpg_15.jpg


Or 'I have a dream'

[CraftyToePoke]

"I have an idea"

http://cdn2.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article29741953.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/NNISKILLEN4jpg_15.jpg

Is that a child soldier ?

[gastric]

No, it's little Jamie Bryson playing soldiers!

[Mr_Parker]

Don't be a dick Parker, you're normally better than the usual suspect numbheads on here. I've never been shy of criticising the IFA on foot.ie or elsewhere. Their statement is a suitably terse reply to the massed ranks of daydreamers, stirrers and simpletons who think merging a bad football team with one mediocre would produce a World-beater pretty much by definition.

Sure, they could have ignored the story, like all the sage commentators on here. It is indeed "bumkum" (sic). Trouble is, in the limited novelty foundation-myth obsessed microcosm that is NI politics, it would then have been the lead story until the next real atrocity, sex abuse scandal or hospital closure.We're well rid.

Why don't the IFA have authority for their statement- do they need to have a constitutional referendum first, or what?

It was in reply to a suggestion about a charity event, not the merging of the associations. "The IFA" is a members association. To state, "and never will" is a disservice to the members regardless of the topic and as an employee of the Association Patrick Nelson should be very conscious of same.


Off the IFA radar, the IFA President Jim Shaw remarks about Kenny's off the cuff idea,
"There is no objection to it. It would be very difficult to organise it, to get these sort of players from the two associations.
"It is a difficult proposition but I am sure at some level it can be achieved if the desire is there."

Ooops. Left hand, right hand etc....

[Gather round]

It was in reply to a suggestion about a charity event, not the merging of the associations

Ha ha. I'm organising a charity event in Cassidy's Bar next Sunday to celebrate the Irish Republic joining Germany as its 17th federal land. Just a bit of craic,come along you'll love it.


"The IFA" is a members association. To state, "and never will" is a disservice to the members regardless of the topic and as an employee of the Association Patrick Nelson should be very conscious of same

Mopery alert. I can confidently state that the IFA never will stage a 48 team World Cup Finals, never will change its main code to rugby league or tiddlywinks, and never will organise a joint charity team with the FAI to let various third-rate English ringers go through the motions. Trust that clarifies things for you.


Ooops. Left hand, right hand etc...

Touche ;)

[ifk101]

Mopery alert. I can confidently state that the IFA never will stage a 48 team World Cup Finals, never will change its main code to rugby league or tiddlywinks, and never will organise a joint charity team with the FAI to let various third-rate English ringers go through the motions. Trust that clarifies things for you.

Never!

[geysir]

No, it's little Jamie Bryson playing soldiers!

No, that's not him,
he's in here someplace.

http://cdn3.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article29741954.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/rance171119104jpg.jpg

[Mr_Parker]

Ha ha. I'm organising a charity event in Cassidy's Bar next Sunday to celebrate the Irish Republic joining Germany as its 17th federal land. Just a bit of craic,come along you'll love it.



Mopery alert. I can confidently state that the IFA never will stage a 48 team World Cup Finals, never will change its main code to rugby league or tiddlywinks, and never will organise a joint charity team with the FAI to let various third-rate English ringers go through the motions. Trust that clarifies things for you.



Touche ;)

And can you, as claimed, ensure that it will 'never' be on the IFA's radar?

[Gather round]

And can you, as claimed, ensure that it will 'never' be on the IFA's radar?

I leave the flowery metaphors to others. If you, some other member club official or anyone else wants to daydream, stir sh*t or play the simpleton, go ahead it's a free country. Or rather two.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Except it's one legitimate sovereign state and the other one is a place not even I.K.Paisley has claimed as a 'country'.
Nor will it ever be...

[ArdeeBhoy]

Don't be a dick Parker, you're normally better than the usual suspect numbheads on here.
You never answered the previous question. Can you, er, expand? Or perhaps not.
;)


I've never been shy of criticising the IFA on foot.ie or elsewhere. Their statement is a suitably terse reply to the massed ranks of daydreamers, stirrers and simpletons who think merging a bad football team with one mediocre would produce a World-beater pretty much by definition.
You mean Enda?


Sure, they could have ignored the story, like all the sage commentators on here. It is indeed "bumkum" (sic). Trouble is, in the limited novelty foundation-myth obsessed microcosm that is NI politics, it would then have been the lead story until the next real atrocity, sex abuse scandal or hospital closure.We're well rid.
So what if they did? As you keep telling us, they're only :rolleyes: day dreaming.


Why don't the IFA have authority for their statement- do they need to have a constitutional referendum first, or what?
Who said they didn't??



Maybe not. Look, you and I know Enda's a complete knob-end, but he has some little kudos abroad, I believe. Whereas Caral and co are just glorified local councillors
Mr Parker will no doubt quote you the exact and relevant sub-section next time he's in. But until then the game will just have to wait. Roy Hodgson and the poor orphan children will be desolate, alas.
Come on man, it's not really that funny. Even if North Pole TV has gone into hibernation and you've little else to divert you for the next six months. Although I know you'd come up with some ponderous sneer as the IFA simultaneously announced cures for cancer and inflation while awarding the re-arranged 2022 World Cup to Monaghan and Keflavik...
Anyone have the slightest clue what this means?


I'm organising a charity event in Cassidy's Bar next Sunday to celebrate the Irish Republic joining Germany as its 17th federal land. Just a bit of craic,come along you'll love it.
Given you claim Oirish theme pubs are a blight on the planet (except when you hypocritically use them, quite frequently), hardly think that's likely...
Though us getting a sub from Berlin happens a lot less than the hundreds of billions London has spent to bail out the North!




Mopery alert. I can confidently state that the IFA never will stage a 48 team World Cup Finals, never will change its main code to rugby league or tiddlywinks, and never will organise a joint charity team with the FAI to let various third-rate English ringers go through the motions. Trust that clarifies things for you.
What does this mean, though the bit about 'third-rate English ringers' presumably refers to the North's youth sides?


I leave the flowery metaphors to others. If you, some other member club official or anyone else wants to daydream, stir sh*t or play the simpleton, go ahead it's a free country. Or rather two.
What flowery metaphors? No-one mentioned the 'P' word...

[BonnieShels]

Was anyone else fupped off by MON stating that he doesn't intend to "poach" players?

[Mr_Parker]

Was anyone else fupped off by MON stating that he doesn't intend to "poach" players?

Why start doing something new. :)

[BonnieShels]

Why start doing something new. :)

Touche

[geysir]

Was anyone else fupped off by MON stating that he doesn't intend to "poach" players?
MON won't but somebody else can.
MON speaks the truth, it's called economy.