Eligibility Rules, Okay

[Predator]

A flurry of activity in the Eligibility Rules, Okay thread and I missed it.

Michael O'Neill openly talking about poaching players from his neighbouring association. Anyone have the number for CAS?

[EalingGreen]

A flurry of activity in the Eligibility Rules, Okay thread and I missed it.

Michael O'Neill openly talking about poaching players from his neighbouring association. Anyone have the number for CAS?

It really is a shame you missed it, for you mightn't be so far from the mark in your comments.

Namely, after he was asked about Ronan Hale by some local journalist looking for an angle, he replied:
"I wouldn’t pick a player unless he had committed to do an international transfer. The fact is we could pick him and play him, but it wouldn’t really count for anything. I don’t think that would send the right message to the rest of the squad."

Damned funny way of "poaching", eh?

P.S. He hasn't even spoken to the player - it's up to the player to speak to him.

[Predator]

It really is a shame you missed it, for you mightn't be so far from the mark in your comments.

Namely, after he was asked about Ronan Hale by some local journalist looking for an angle, he replied:
"I wouldn’t pick a player unless he had committed to do an international transfer. The fact is we could pick him and play him, but it wouldn’t really count for anything. I don’t think that would send the right message to the rest of the squad."

Damned funny way of "poaching", eh?

P.S. He hasn't even spoken to the player - it's up to the player to speak to him.

You are quite correct. Of course, the entire concept of "poaching" in this context has always been absurd, since it has always been "up to the player" to make a decision. A player cannot be fished away from a pool against their will.

The term "poaching" was deployed back in the day to elicit an exaggerated sense of grievance and in an attempt to impress the perception that something grubby and underhanded was going on when players declared their intentions. Silly language.

By the way, I don't think Michael O'Neill would be so philosophical and evasive if Ronan Hale was playing at a higher level, nor should he be. Any coach worth their salt should always aim to maximise the talent available to them.

[Crosby87]

You mention salt and poaching, which makes me think of eggs.

[elatedscum]

Might be a better thread for this - but similar to Ronan Hale.

Stuff on Twitter about Kevin Zefi accepting a call up to Albania u21s. Could be a huge loss. He’s got so much potential but also so much work to do to get to what he could be…

Maybe a symptom of not having a senior manager for 7 months. Who’s charged with convincing him that he has a future with Ireland? Jim Crawford?

Maybe it’s a case of him knowing he’s not part of the 21s plans and not eligible for the 19s - so Albania have asked him to come train with the 21s and see what he thinks…

In that case, it probably goes down to not having a u20 team, which would be a perfect way to keep the 2004 and 2005 kids involved. Lots of them are going to be very important for us in the next campaign but not yet ready for 21s.

[Razors left peg]

Is the lad even playing football these days?

[elatedscum]

Is the lad even playing football these days?

Not really - has had 3 different injuries in the last 12 months. think he chose to go to Roma over Newcastle. Or at least Newcastle tried to sign both him and Cathal Heffernan and succeeded in signing just Heffernan, could obviously have been an issue with fee or sell on percentage or whatever as well. Rocco Vata is only playing in the lowlands league (and is rightly a shoe-in for the 21s squad)

Once again, if you've got a u20s team - there's a whole swathe of players doing good bad and indifferent but there's clearly enough talent that you want them kicking on with the underage sides.

Off the top of my head from 2005: Franco Umeh, Zefi, Heffernan, Caden McLoughlin, Justin Ferizaj, Conor Walsh, Ronnie McGrath, Thomas Bloxham, McMannus, Adam Murphy, Freddie Gibbard, Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh, Alex Nolan and the 2004 kids like Owen Mason, Reece Byrne, Aaron Maguire, James Abankwah, Josh Seary, Jacob Slater, John Ryan, John Clarke, Cian Coleman, Ed McJannett, Harry Vaughan, Ronan Maher, Glory Nzingo, Dara McGuinness, Ben Quinn, Luke Pearce, Tommy Lonergan. Just a shame that those guys are probably gonna go 2-3 years without playing for Ireland when it would be easy to have a different solution...

[tetsujin1979]

I thought Zefi had played for our U21s, which would make him ineligible for Albania until the next campaign, but i can only find games up to U19 level for him

[JR89]

Yeah don't think he's ever gotten an U21s call up and wouldn't be surprised if the switch is something to do with that because he feels he's being overlooked as others have gotten called up before him.

There's no doubting the kids got talent but there's also a vibe of this lad thinks he's much better than what he is. Always was more impressed with Vata when both played for Ireland and while it's never nice if a player switches there's other younger players which also look as talented as he did at underage.

[Olé Olé]

Intersting to see Cead McGrath in the NI squad. Saw him play for us at u15 and u16 level

Majority of that side seem to have played Gaelic and/or attended a Catholic school or live in ROI.

McDonnell, McDonnell, McCann, Leacock, Gamble, Kerr, Atherton, O'Neill and maybe McGovern.

[liamoo11]

Majority of that side seem to have played Gaelic and/or attended a Catholic school or live in ROI.

McDonnell, McDonnell, McCann, Leacock, Gamble, Kerr, Atherton, O'Neill and maybe McGovern.

I thought this short interview was thought provoking for us traditional republican s https://www.arsenal.com/news/young-gun-ceadach-oneill , devout Catholic playing for linfield while playing gaelic utterly proud to represent N.I

[Olé Olé]

I thought this short interview was thought provoking for us traditional republican s https://www.arsenal.com/news/young-gun-ceadach-oneill , devout Catholic playing for linfield while playing gaelic utterly proud to represent N.I

That's interesting. I'm sure it is the case for most of the lads in that squad from similar backgrounds. They simply identify more closely with NI than ROI. Probably see themselves as Irish and Northern Irish and the latter is more localized and familiar to them than the alternative.

[EalingGreen]

I'm sure it is the case for most of the lads in that squad from similar backgrounds. They simply identify more closely with NI than ROI. Probably see themselves as Irish and Northern Irish and the latter is more localized and familiar to them than the alternative.

Indeed.

If you look at Rugby for instance, NI Unionists are able to separate their sporting interests from their personal politics and go to Lansdowne to cheer on Ireland, tricolours, Soldiers Song and all. So why should NI Nationalists* be that much different when it comes to their own sporting interests?

And seeing as though they haven't lived through 30 years of The Troubles, I would guess that this ability to keep the two separate is even more prevalent amongst the younger generation, thereby offering hope for all of us, Nationalist, Unionist, North or South.


* - Daithi McCallion (Derry City/Finn Harps/Ballymena) is an interesting example. He's happily represented NI at under-age levels, while also being the son of Elisha, ex-Sinn Fein MP and Senator etc and nephew of Martina Anderson (SF/IRA etc).

[tetsujin1979]

Comrades all, you might say.

[Eirambler]

Might as well just reunify then!