Granny Rule candidates

[Tenderloins]

Staunton mentioned using the Granny Rule.
Note this thread isn't about the merits of Granny Rule players!!

Who are the new possible additions?
We know about Trundle who has expressed an interest in playing for Irelnad. Ditto Liam Lawrence with his Irish passport.
Dave Kitson of Reading and Gary McSheffrey of Coventry are supposedly two others.
Then there is the Kevin Nolan who looks now that even if he wanted to, couldn't play for us.

Any others out there?
Is Luke Rogers of Crewe (ex Shrewsbury) qualified?
David Nugent of Preston
Kevin Gallen of QPR
Is Leon Best of Southampton still Irish?
Gavin Mahon and Anthony McNamee of Watford
Rory Fallon of Swindon?

[Stuttgart88]

You seem to have the list well covered!

[OwlsFan]

Nugent has played U21 for England. I don't think that disqualifies any more or does it ?

[Tenderloins]

You seem to have the list well covered!

Its more that aside from those we know about from the press there must be others.
For instance every time I see Rory Fallons name, I cant but wonder does he qualify? Rory Prendergast of Blackpool is another name that jumps out!

[Dublin12]

Anyone know of any Americans that could play for us?.

[sligoman]

Nugent has played U21 for England. I don't think that disqualifies any more or does it ?It does I think. Isn't that why Nolan can no longer play for us? FIFA had an amnesty on it for a while but that expired at the end of last year afaik.

[gustavo]

are any of these lads with exception of trundle lawrence and kitson better or as good as what we have already?

[Jerry The Saint]

They seem to be clutching at straws with this one - it's not as if Kerr introduced some sort of "pure-blood" selection policy. After all he gave "granny-rule" debuts to Macken and McGeady. Given the amount of players Kerr watched personally or had watched, any potential candidate will already have been identified by the FAI (barring those who have come through in the last few months...). There is a valid case that some candidates would be more persuaded to play for Ireland now because of the Robson influence.

I don't like the way Staunton referred to players qualifiying in this manner as the "granny-rule" either (nitpicking I know). It's one thing for fans/press to use this term but, for the manager of Ireland, it just doesn't sound professional and feeds into the whole stereotype of hunting out anyone with a tenuous link to Ireland who won't get onto any other national team.

[Stuttgart88]

are any of these lads with exception of trundle lawrence and kitson better or as good as what we have already?
The 3 you mentioned are the ones I'd be most interested in following up. There may be others at underage level worth pursuing.

[SaucyJack]

pretty sure Rory Fallon has already played for New Zealand.

[pete]

This is just standard press conference guff as hes just basically saying hes 100% committted to success.

I find the granny rule search embarishing & even speaking to foreigners at work here makes us a laughing stock especially to be so public about. FFS its noit as if any of those listed are great players who can't get into squad of a big Nation.

:rolleyes:

[Dublin12]

I find the granny rule search embarishing

:rolleyes:

Are you Sean Connery:D

[Green Tribe]

Are you Sean Connery:D

heh heh :D yeah, start scouting the yanks!:eek:

[The Stars]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.

[Noelys Guitar]

Ronnie O'Brien should be given a look (as Staunton mentioned). He is one of the best players in the MLS and has been picked to play for their rep teams in games against REal Madrid and others. I don't think the US will provide us with too may players and the MLS is still crapl Dave Kitson and Liam Lawerence (who has an Irish passport already) are others worth involving. Remember that Houghton, Aldridge and Cascarino improved beyond recognition after they became international players.

[NeilMcD]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.


Do you not think this is a bit of a snub to the many Irish fans who post on this board and go to all the matches home and away. I would think that they find this sort of post pretty offensive.

[tetsujin1979]

Luke Rogers was scouted before to play for the U-21's while he was at Shrewsbury. However he did play for a non-league England representative side and said something along the lines of "it's a great honour to represent my country" so he's obviously not interested in playing for Ireland.

[FarBeag]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.


Please tell me that you are just joking.Surly you cant be serious with an outrageous statement like this..You will upset alot of folk on here with a remark like this and quite rightly so.

[Green Tribe]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.

Open, can of worms
Holy Jaysus!
Come on, it is not fair to be saying that, what if you or some of your family moved to Uk USA etc had a child born there who wanted to play for Ireland and was talented enough, would you still say that, huh? wise up. :rolleyes:

[Tired&Emotional]

If it's there in the F.I.F.A rulebook then of course it should be taken advantage of.....shame to see some still have head in the sand over this..

[jockser]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.
Half the french team were not born in france, Michael Owen is welsh, poland have a striker(whatsis name) from africa.........any other examples of other international team playing non natives?

[Stuttgart88]

Kevin Pietersen won The Ashes for England, Mike Catt won them the Rugby World Cup. Both 100% South African. A Brazilian who happened to live in Belgium knocked us out of a World Cup as did a pair of Turks who happened to live in Switzerland.

[pete]

Moved on from the 2G issues - if anyone feels strong enough about start new thread.

I still feel its embarishing search the Football league for average players using the granny rule. There might be something to the granny rule if say we got a quality player from Brazil who can't get in the Brazilan squad cos too much quality in his position. There have probably more granny rule dudes as successes.

[Cosmo]

'Nationality' is a sketchy thing eg I have a mate who was adopted as a baby from a foreign country (continental european) and he'd come across as more irish than most people :eek: Would also have mates that are second generation (and one third generation) irish living and brought up in the UK who consider themselves irish.

However my problem is with players hmming and hawing about playing for us. They should be asked once and once only. If they dont play for us first time being asked they should be told to f**k off if they come crawling back after realising they're not going to make it with England. Nolan was rightfully told to f**k off - and while im at it, morrison should also have been told to f**k off for hmming and hawing about playing for us after a couple of decent performances on the box until he finally realised he wasn't good enough for england

[sligoman]

what if you or some of your family moved to Uk USA etc had a child born there who wanted to play for Ireland and was talented enough, would you still say that, huh? wise up. :rolleyes:I think meself and PP had a wee chat about this before:D.

[John83]

What he actually said was "going down the granny route" The last player to do this was Wayne Rooney....or was that the granny "root" ?
The granny in question is sueing the newspaper for libel. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4616920.stm

[silentbob]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.


There are so many things wrong with this statement I dont know where to begin, but here is some food for thought.

Out of the 9 goals Ireland have scored in our 3 World Cup outings, 4 were scored by players born in Ireland, the others were born outside the country. Ireland would have failed to qualify for World Cup 94 if Alan McLoughlin hadnt scored in Winsor Park(again born outside of Ireland). I think these two points alone cover your first point.

What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players? The simple answer to this is that we dont have anything to lose, IF these players are better than any others out there who could also represent our country. However, IF there are better players out there who could also play for Ireland, by ignoring these we may lose out on qualifying for a major tournament.

In reply to your final point about Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish connection just to say that I was unaware Kerr adopted this policy. When did he decide on this policy? Who are these players you speak of? I would be really greatful if you could answer these two small questions for me.

[lopez]

...I find the granny rule search embarishing & even speaking to foreigners at work here makes us a laughing stock especially to be so public about...These foreigners. Where are they from? Because I can think of few countries that haven't took advantage of the granny rule. Japan possibly

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.Please Mr. Stars. Can I still go and watch your team? :( I have been going for 25 years?:(

What a w*nker! :rolleyes:

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

These foreigners. Where are they from? Because I can think of few countries that haven't took advantage of the granny rule. Japan possibly

You're dead right Lopez. Most countries have taken advantage of it at this stage. BTW, the player who helped raise the profile of the Japanese football team was the Brazilian, Alex.:)

[livehead1]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.

as a 2nd G irish person with their links in sligo mainly i find your comments absolutely ridiculous, have you been outside of sligo? the funniest part of what you say must be the line where Eircom league players, who as you so correctly say, 'grew up dreaming of playing for their country' is something i find hilarious. Not only do you make the outrageous claim that we as an international side have nothing to lose by playing EL players even if they are not as good as the players who are eligible to us, yet you feel it necessary to point out that they would love to play for their country. Well following those comments, i can classify myself as having a love and a desire to play for my country, ireland. However under your 'rules' of selection i would now be ineligible so i may be forced to go and play for england. This is something that i would not like to do but being forced into a corner have little choice.

Following your comments about kerrs apparent policy of playing players with english connections, you may want to check your facts before saying such stupid accusations. Kerr gave debuts to one english born player, Jon Macken, the other non-irish born player he gave a debut to and rightly so (to stop links with scotland if anything else) was the hugely talented Aiden McGeady.

I havent seen you post much on here, yet you have over 1000 posts, i hope others are better constructed than the pile of Sh*te you have just placed on the internet, if not, i hope i dont have to read many more of these comments.

The only advice i can give you, apart from making such bigoted comments, is to get out of sligo and go and meet some of the irish diaspora in places like england and the such like and then make your conclusions as to how 'irish' they are compared to your wonderful self.

[M@ttitude]

Here we go again.. please sligoman lets stay out of it! My nephew isnt spanish because he was born on holidays.. ;)

[lopez]

You're dead right Lopez. Most countries have taken advantage of it at this stage. BTW, the player who helped raise the profile of the Japanese football team was the Brazilian, Alex.:)The right Hon. gentleman is right. I must admit I'm not that massively clued up on the international scene outside Ireland and Spain and picked Japan solely that I heard somewhere it was the country with the least amount of immigration/emigration (Note to Stars: Try looking up these words on google with Irish attached to it. It will prove a valuable history lessorn). Therefore a country that has few 2G living abroad (they do have a large 4 or 5G community in Peru and the US) while having few foreign born Japanese citizens.

Even the German FA, a country that restricts citizenship to those of German blood, has bent the rules. Say what you like about Morrison, but the lad at least has a Granny born in the country he plays for.

[klein4]

I dont mind players declaring for ireland. its a personal thing where you feel you or your people are from. my problem begins when we start tryin to recruit people who only want to play for ireland to further their career or cause they are not good enough to play for england. As well as that I think we should be doin it with a bit more subtlety.there is just something a bit unseemly about the "if youve had a pint a guinness come and play for us" attitude.I know there are guys who played for us in the past who would fall into the above category and never ever let us down. but still. personally I think it demeans the jersey a bit.

[sylvo]

if you weren't born in Ireland or Grew up here I dont think you should be considered for International call up.
What have we got to lose by playing Eircom League players (who grow up dreaming of playing for their country).It cant be worse than Kerrs policy of playing English players with some Irish conections.


This is my post of the month. I guess i'll never ever get the chance to play for Ireland ever.:( You got too work on your wind up's son.

[eirebhoy]

Lou Macari (he scouted for Kerr) was on Setanta talking about this subject. He said Kerr contacted Kevin Nolan but Nolan had his sights set on England. He wasn't going to try and persuade players.

[lopez]

I dont mind players declaring for ireland. its a personal thing where you feel you or your people are from. my problem begins when we start tryin to recruit people who only want to play for ireland to further their career or cause they are not good enough to play for england. As well as that I think we should be doin it with a bit more subtlety.there is just something a bit unseemly about the "if youve had a pint a guinness come and play for us" attitude.I know there are guys who played for us in the past who would fall into the above category and never ever let us down. but still. personally I think it demeans the jersey a bit.This subject has been done to death. However, there are a couple of points to recap. The majority of 2G players with two Irish parents have opted for Ireland from a young age. One or two haven't (I can't off hand think of them) but, then, f*ck them. Those - ie. Townsend, Aldridge, Robinson Morrison, Galvin, etc - who have f*cked about with playing for Ireland are normally those with just one Irish parent or grandmother/father. The choice here is do you take advantage of a rule that every major European country takes advantage of at one time or other, or not? TBH, the five mentioned above have been far from basket cases and served their 'adopted country' well.

Being a bit controversial here - but hey, I'm going to stick my head out anyway, so feel free to shoot - do you think it is also disingenuous or double standards to draft players into the national side, where in mainstream society they would normally be shunned from attaining well paid managerial jobs or even citizenship itself? E.g. Non-whites in the French team.

[Den Perry]

I'm almost sure Matthew Kilgallon of Leeds is born in York of Irish parents. He seems like a decent defender, my only worry being the longer he plays alongside Paul Butler, the more bad habits he'll get.

In addition, just a my opinion on the whole 2g thing. Shouldn't matter if you are born here or not, If you fee you are Irish, fair enough.But morrisson did arse around and nolan should be told where to go as well.

[Plastic Paddy]

I'm almost sure Matthew Kilgallon of Leeds is born in York of Irish parents. He seems like a decent defender, my only worry being the longer he plays alongside Paul Butler, the more bad habits he'll get.

He's taken the Queen's shilling. He plays for England at u-21 level.

:ball: PP

[klein4]

Being a bit controversial here - but hey, I'm going to stick my head out anyway, so feel free to shoot - do you think it is also disingenuous or double standards to draft players into the national side, where in mainstream society they would normally be shunned from attaining well paid managerial jobs or even citizenship itself? E.g. Non-whites in the French team.
football is a working class game and the majority of white players(and I hate defining people along those terms.) would be shunned from management positions also given where they are from. is footballs gain really the city of londons loss with someone like wayne rooney? thats only a very general response to your very general point.

[pete]

These foreigners. Where are they from? Because I can think of few countries that haven't took advantage of the granny rule. Japan possibly


Most countries tend to use for high quality players, not Football league no hopers. As mentioned above Lou Macari i think was a scout for Kerr & he said Kerr never abandonded the granny rule but there just no quality players available.



Please Mr. Stars. Can I still go and watch your team? :( I have been going for 25 years?:(
What a w*nker! :rolleyes:

Moderator: Please refrain from personal attacks.

[Donal81]

Come on lads, I don't think there's a need to give ridiculous comments like those from The Stars any more posts.

What about that Chelsea fella who apparently declared for us? James Simmonds? And, yes, where is Leon Best? Livehead?

[eirebhoy]

What about that Chelsea fella who apparently declared for us? James Simmonds?
# http://www.chelseafc.com/article.asp?article=327302
# James Simmonds
# Born 3/12/87 in Hammersmith, London.

A second year scholar who made his first reserve appearance when still a schoolboy. An attacking midfielder, James continues to be given reserve experience early in his full-time career. He was a former England youth international but has opted to play for the Republic of Ireland U19s.

He played in Chelsea's last reserve game and looks like he was impressive:
"There were some positive performances. Michael Mancienne and Adrian Pettigrew performed well against Charlton's more experienced front-line, Filipe Morais who was on the bench for the Huddersfield cup-tie, teased and tormented down Charlton's left. James Simmonds looks a prospect in midfield and captain Danny Hollands looks like a natural leader in the mould of Super JT."

I'd say it'd take a lot to look a prospect for Chelsea. :)

[livehead1]

Have to wait untill next squads announced in terms of Best, he was injured for a while, seems to have stalled a bit since looking very bright when he first came into the southampton side but theres still no doubt he will be a top act given time, aint heard anything on the front of who he wants to play for, would assume from knowing him and the way he used to go on, its ireland.

[tetsujin1979]

Nolan was rightfully told to f**k off
I can't understand comments like this, Nolan was approached by the FAI to play underage football for Ireland, he said no, he wanted to play for England and that was the end of it. He's never changed his mind and said he wanted to play for Ireland, the FAI haven't approached him again (well, AFAIK). From whar I've seen it's only constant media speculation because he's a high profile player that his name crops up anytime someone mentions the granny rule. Why isn't the same venom reserved for the likes of Kilkenny who was in Ireland youth squads but has chosen to play for England??

[Cosmo]

I can't understand comments like this, Nolan was approached by the FAI to play underage football for Ireland, he said no, he wanted to play for England and that was the end of it. He's never changed his mind

thats fair enough so - must be just the media giving the vibe that he was wanted to change his mind and play for ireland if he was selected.

You're asked once, if ye hmm and haw about it, cheerio as far as im concerned!!

[Stuttgart88]

You're asked once, if ye hmm and haw about it, cheerio as far as im concerned!!
Not that simple IMHO. Clinton Morrison wanted to declare earlier but his boss at Palace, Alan Smith, put big pressure on him to opt for England. Worth more in the transfer market.

But Nolan's case is different. He turned us down, and is no longer eligble anyway.

Kitson is different again - he says himself he doesn't feel Irish. This is where it gets tricky. I think go get him personally. He's good! I bet Luis Oliveira doesn't feel Belgian, the wangker!

[colster]

From the Indo today the following players were mentioned as possibly being eligible for Ireland under Granny rule.

Lee Trundle FOR Swansea
Dave Kitson FOR Reading
Gary McSheffrey FOR Coventry
Liam Lawrence MID Sunderland
Alex Bruce ? Birmingham (Steve's son???)
Neil Kilkenny MID Birmingham (ineligible)

Has anyone heard of anyone else?
How good/bad is McSheffrey?

If we got the 3 forwards above we'd have some amount of strikers to choose from.

[Den Perry]

isnt there some younglad Keogh at S****horpe? though I suppose we can't be going down the league too far, but he has 12 goals this season and is only 20

[Stuttgart88]

Andy Keogh, much discussed on this forum, is actually Irish.

Colster, not trying to be a smartarse but this thread opened yesterday: :)

http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=32843

[Plastic Paddy]

Well spotted that man. :)

:ball: PP