19 year old Shane Ferguson from Derry played left back for Newcastle in the Carling Cup tonight. Do any of the Derrymen here know much about him?
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19 year old Shane Ferguson from Derry played left back for Newcastle in the Carling Cup tonight. Do any of the Derrymen here know much about him?
He has played with Northern Ireland through the various youth levels and has one senior cap from their away friendly against Italy last year. That doesn't necessarily tie him down to them as it wasn't a competitive fixture, but I could foresee a lot of outrage - worse than that which Duffy's switch sparked - if he were to make a move at this stage, despite still being 19.
Shane's a former student of St. Mary's Limavady. He played on their gaelic and football teams and also played with the Maiden City Academy. I've seen him play a few times and he's a quick, tricky winger, but always appeared to be a bit on the light side. He would be open to playing for Ireland, but I'd say he's made his decision, having played against Italy.
Interestingly, current Derry player 18 year old Mickey McCrudden, played in the same Newcastle youth teams as Ferguson, as well as on the same IFA youth teams. He's another that would be open to playing for Ireland, were he to receive a call up. Maybe the McEleney bros, Tom McBride and Darren McCauley should have a word with Sean McCaffrey? :cool:
Is he from the city?Quote:
Originally Posted by Predator
I don't think so. He's a big culchie :P
It does, any 'A' International ties you down.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
I'm fairly sure it has to be in a competitive match.
Article 18 of FIFA's statutes says otherwise:Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBoss
FIFA define an official competition as "a competition for representative teams organised by FIFA or any Confederation", so friendly games don't tie a player down, whether it's an 'A' international or not.Quote:
18: Change of Association
1. If a Player has more than one nationality, or if a Player acquires a new nationality, or if a Player is eligible to play for several representative teams due to nationality, he may, only once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches to the Association of another country of which he holds nationality, subject to the following conditions:
(a) He has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition at "A" international level for his current Association, and at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an international match in an official competition for his current Association, he already had the nationality of the representative team for which he wishes to play.
...
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/new...itration-sport
That is a friendly match.Quote:
CAS upheld FIFA's decision that Kearns had dual nationality and could choose which team to represent. FIFA's rules allow players with dual eligibility to switch sides before they play a competitive senior international match.
Edgar Castillo played 4 times for Mexico at Senior Level from 2007-2009 before switching to play for the USA. Castillo became eligible to play for the United States because he had yet to make an appearance for Mexico in a competitive match at senior level, as opposed to an international friendly or an A-grade international.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Castillo
Jermaine Jones has switched to the USA after playing 3 times for Germany.
I think I'll stick with the more precise FIFA rulebook over some less-than-meticulous article written by an anonymous journalist, thank you very much. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBoss
I was going to mention Castillo but you got there before me. Of course, the same rules - quoted above - apply to Shane Ferguson as apply to Castillo. The CAS decision didn't spawn some unique precedent or FIFA rule that applies to Irish nationals only. It merely confirmed that the FAI were conforming to existing FIFA rules in calling up northern-born Irish nationals.Quote:
Originally Posted by TrapAPony
That Wikipedia entry on Castillo is worded a bit strangely, however. It's correct that Castillo didn't appear in a competitive match at senior level for Mexico, but I don't see why whoever wrote it felt the need to distinguish between a competitive match at senior level or an international friendly (senior also, presumably) and an 'A' international (which is any "match arranged between two Members of FIFA and for which both Members field their first representative team", according to article 3 of FIFA's regulations governing the application of the statutes). After all, the friendly games Castillo played in were 'A' internationals, as would have been any competitive games he played in had he lined out for Mexico in official FIFA competition. The following would be more correct:
Castillo became eligible to play for the United States because he had yet to make an appearance for Mexico in a competitive 'A' international match, as opposed to an 'A' international friendly or a friendly not played under the auspices of FIFA.
Not suggesting that he did play in some unrecognised friendly but just covering the possibility for the sake of argument.
Perhaps somebody can post Article 18 and anything related to it as a sticky thread?Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
irish teenager paul george signs new celtic deal
Mark Henderson
CELTIC are delighted to announce that highly-rated youngster Paul George has signed a new three-year deal with the club.
The 16-year-old, who has spent the last year on the Celtic Academy’s innovative school programme at St Ninian’s High, has already made an appearance for the first-team towards the end of last season, coming on a substitute in a friendly match with AZ Alkmaar at Celtic Park.
Celtic, Head of Youth, Chris McCart said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured Paul for the next three years.
“Paul is a player we have had over here for two years now. He has settled into Scotland has been part of our schools project at St Ninian's for the last year and is the type of player that is an entertainer. He has very good skills, but is also dedicated and hard-working too.
“He has had a taste of the first-team with the friendly with AZ Alkmaar last season and is a Northern Ireland internationalist as well. This year, he is going to be a regular with the 17s and breaking into our 19s – establishing himself in the 19s will be his challenge this year.”
You'd wonder what use even that would be. The rules are already so readily accessible - it's just a matter of typing "FIFA statutes" into Google - yet the amount of confusion surrounding them is staggering. And not just amongst your everyday fan, but also within the media. For example, I think the media have the whole "Arteta for England" thing completely wrong, like how they erred over N'Zogbia's alleged eligibility. Arteta might qualify for British citizenship, but I don't see how he's eligible for England under the sub-criterion in article 18.1(a), also quoted above. Even when you post the relevant rules, in all their clarity, some will still maintain you are wrong by throwing lazy media articles back at you or suggesting that the rules are irrelevant or ought to be overlooked because they don't conform with some vague notion or "general principle" they've imagined to exist in their heads. EalingGreen was famous for that in the eligibility thread. More accurately, his self-constructed "general principle" never existed because it was a figment of his imagination and didn't conform with the unequivocal express rules, there for all to see.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Actually the article does not conflict with anything you wrote and is fully FIFA compliant.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
From the article -
'FIFA's rules allow players with dual eligibility to switch sides before they play a competitive senior international match.'
Boss just does not understand the FIFA definition of 'competitive senior match'.
Arteta's wikipedia entry is more on the ball than the UK media:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikel_Arteta
Sorry, yes, you're right. Egg on my face after having a go at people not taking care to read the rules. Excuse my carelessness and apologies to the anonymous journalist if he's reading this. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Still, I hope any confusion as to what amounts to a competitive senior match has been cleared up.
Did somebody here edit the article? :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
It doesn't appear so. It looks like the work of a user called 'Matthew hk' from Hong Kong: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...ldid=380543664
We got anyone from Hong Kong? ;)