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The IFA's situation isn't so "special" that it's the only association in the world to suffer from "defections". It happens all over the world. Oh, and just to keep you straight as regards footballing etiquette and nomenclature, what you sulkingly dub a "defection" is generally referred to as a "change of association" by FIFA and the rest of the global footballing community. Just so you don't feel left out of the big party... ;-)
Vague, unquantifiable balderdash, if not just downright suspect anyway.What a waste of space, effort and money he was.
Out of interest, how do you rate the case's chances? I genuinely don't mean to sound sarcastic or overly incredulous, but are Northern Ireland fans actually optimistic?I fully support the IFA fighting this.
It's either a right or it isn't. You either take advantage of that right or you don't. There's no such thing as "ripping the ass out of it".Yes, players have a right to play for the republic, but the republic is ripping the ass out of it, waiting until WE develop players and then sticking their arm in.
Even so, you're still overstating the FAI's use of this right. At what point do you deem a player "developed"? You're basing your argument on more unverifiable and wishy-washy claptrap. Gibson, for example, was playing under the auspices of the FAI from under-17 level. You couldn't claim you developed him into the player he is today by then, surely? As of yet, he's the only "defector" to turn out for our senior team. How many "defectors" have there been in total? Hardly "ripping the ass out" of anything. Even if you could somehow rip the ass out of a perfectly legitimate entitlement!
Once again, the IFA aren't the only association to suffer from "defections". It's all part and parcel of the modern game worldwide as per FIFA's current statutes. Maybe the IFA should look into petitioning FIFA for a rule-change. Your argument suggests that these players will owe something to the IFA if they turn out for them and then happen to switch association elsewhere at a future date. Maybe you should be thankful these players offered their services at all. I'm not so sure what else you can say they owe the IFA beyond that? At what point would you consider the IFA's investment in a player as being "repaid" so as to free him from the shackles of servitude?If you want players, take them before they play for us. I have no problem with players shifting sides if they at least have the decency to do it before playing for NI at youth level.
In fact, don't the IFA actually benefit from "defections" from elsewhere?Comment
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I'd assume all these lads want to play for their country, why else would they bother.Comment
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I believe that this issue is now all over bar the shouting.
When Shane Duffy elected to 'defect' to our set-up, he was followed by a group of 4 or 5 young players, one of which was Daniel Kearns - as we all know. One of the main, technical, arguments put forward by some of the more eminent posters on OWC was that players from Northern Ireland could represent ROI only if they satisfied the familial link requirement, and that the citizenship argument was a red herring. Darron Gibson, in their eyes, was able to represent ROI, despite having no familial link, because he qualified under the "old rules." Therefore, there had yet to be a 'new' test case.
Of these 4 or 5 players, I found it hard to believe that all had a familial link to ROI. If, as seems to be the case, Daniel Kearns has not and the IFA were unsuccessful in their attempts to prevent him from representing ROI, then were all just waiting for that dear old fat lady to start singing.........err.........again.Last edited by The Fly; 21/04/2010, 12:32 AM.Comment
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Whilst I have minimal sympathy for your players being allegedly tapped up, perhaps you should be grateful as an archaic colonial outpost and part of a much larger political state (which by historical quirk has 4 teams FFS), you even have your 'own' team....and just accept the very fact it exists, for now.
And accept 45% of your population are unlikely to ever accept playing for a society, that deep down despises them!Comment
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What is the 'principle of it' exactly?
How do you propose that the IFA start to implement this initiative of dumping out players who don't want to play for them?
Let us know what the Titanic looks like now, will you?
Nonsense. The players are free to change when they want within the current rules and it's not as if the FAI is harvesting players - the players make their own choice when it is presented. As Danny says, this isn't exclusive to NI, so stop acting as if it is.
Pretty much how it seems. It was a storm in a tea-cup.
Sorry that isn't quite true. The media have distorted this. The '4 or 5 young players' had all declared long before Shane Duffy, despite being in the same age group - Duffy's decision to switch was intentionally and somewhat cynically publicised by Worthington and the IFA. The McEleney brothers, Darren McCauley, Kearns (not sure about Devine) and McBride had all made the switch before Duffy. Shane Duffy's switch didn't 'open the floodgates' as they say.Last edited by Predator; 21/04/2010, 3:27 AM.End Apartheid Now! One Team in Ireland!Comment
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I sense things drawing to a close as far as the IFA's case and the surrounding circus is concerned, but just looking back on how this beast grew its wings out of the whole Shane Duffy saga, it leaves a bit of a sour taste. If you take on board the way in which the IFA and its loyal legions behaved with respect to Duffy, you'll see how they attempted to tarnish his reputation and exploit his move to the FAI in order to bolster their own agenda by associating his loss of talent to the FAI and the publicity generated thereafter with a very politicised conflict of interpretation over a set of FIFA statutes to which he wasn't even relevant.
The outraged cries of "keep politics out of football" were especially rich, if not utterly redundant. The IFA gleefully moved on the back of the publicity storm they themselves sowed which had Duffy variously cast as a traitor, a turn-coat, a sell-out, manipulative, conniving, a defector, a liar when he claimed it was his life-long dream to play for Ireland, a mercenary in his "defection", a poached idiot who fell for the sweet-talk and winking eyes of notorious child-snatcher Liam Brady, all sorts of absolutely shameful skullduggery... A 17-year-old lad who found himself being fast-tracked through the IFA's ranks; as synonymous with the FAI's alleged "poaching" as any other self-interested activity of a football association, I sh*t you not. Are we supposed to delude ourselves into believing that all this was done solely in Duffy's interest and was somehow orchestrated solely by himself? The IFA are in the same game as the FAI here. Let's not kid ourselves that they are some sort of innocent victim in all of this. Duffy had to call a stop to his passage before things snowballed any further through a system in which he found himself by geographical circumstance. They had to use a misplaced Duffy as a scapegoat, of course, to ensure the dispute hit the headlines and gathered wind, in spite of the fact that he qualified to play for Ireland by virtue of an eligibility route with which they could have and seemingly had no gripe whatsoever. Who'd give a toss about a West Ham reserves reject, after all? Shameful stuff all round and all very well executed, except for the fact that it hasn't really come to much in the end, bar completely showing certain stubborn curmudgeons up for what they really are. So hold back your impressed rounds of applause just yet!...
The most depressing thing I took from the whole sorry affair is what appears to be the incredible level of underlying bitterness still harboured by so many. What a complete charade the "sophisticated", "tolerant" and "polite" sectarianism of trying to claim that the FAI ("Footballing Apartheid in Ireland"? How embarrassingly ignorant, arrogant and sanctimonious...) were the ones falling foul of the spirit of the GFA was; that denying Irish citizens the right to represent their country would somehow be within the spirit of the agreement. What a sly and despicable insult to the identity and aspirations of the whole nationalist community in the north.Last edited by DannyInvincible; 21/04/2010, 3:30 AM.Comment
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I don't think northern players defecting to the south can go on forever. Politically, it's untenable. Hopefully, NI will decide that its best interests lie in an all-island team (I am not a republican, by the way), but I can see why that would be unattractive to the Northern Irish people.Comment
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Agree. It really was quite distasteful behaviour by the IFA wrapped in hypocrisy. They blatantly set out to make an example of Duffy and use him to shine a little media attention on their whinging grievances about integrity and youth development gone to waste when behind the scenes they are tapping-up ("unhappy") players from England's youth system. How in earth these two-faced, incompetent fools believe they can build a successful appeal with CAS is beyond me.
Last edited by ifk101; 21/04/2010, 7:57 AM.Comment
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As I've said countless times on this thread, my issue is with those that are happy to play for us at youth level and then magically and mysteriously have issue playing for us at senior level.
You either want to play for NI or you don't. If you don't, you shouldn't get a anywhere near our youth structure. If you do, we're glad to have you.
I understand the rather unique political situation in Ireland where people born in NI are well within their rights to play for the ROI. I have no problem with someone from NI playing for the ROI right through youth level and into senior level.
My issue is with those that are happy to hitch a ride on the IFA youth system and then switch. That is taking us for fools and playing a dirty game and those are the sort of people that I, and the majority of NI fans have a problem with. I won't dispute that there are some NI fans who think it shouldn't happen at all but most of these people live in dreamworld.
It's not bigotry or sectarianism, it's nothing to do with that. It's basic principals. Why should we develop players at youth level only for them to go play for another country. This is international football, not club football, there is supposed to be a degree of loyalty which seems lost on some individuals.Last edited by awec; 21/04/2010, 10:38 AM.Comment
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What have I said that's incorrect?Originally posted by lopezI'd love to play for the country I was born in...again and again and again. I'd be to own goals what Pele was to putting them in the other team's net.
Oh dear, what a D*ckhead!
I'm not saying everyone born in NI should play for NI. For nationalists born in NI the country they were born in in their mind is Ireland, and so they should play for Ireland (if they want, they are more than welcome to become full NI internationals), and with that I have no issue.
What I do have issue with is "I view myself as being Irish but I'll play for Northern Ireland for a while to see how it works out and then when the ROI come asking I'll just jump ship. Win win for me and the ROI, and screw you Northern Ireland."
If you can't see the problem with that then there's no hope for us.Last edited by awec; 21/04/2010, 10:42 AM.Comment
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