Lapira, Staunton and the Hunt Brothers

Indo - 11.07.07

Hunt sympathy for brother Noel's snub

By Daniel McDonnell
Wednesday July 11 2007

It may only have been a five-minute cameo appearance but Steve Staunton's decision to award American college student Joseph Lapira a senior cap in May's friendly with Ecuador appears to have irked a key member of the Irish squad.

The Irish boss was unavailable for comment yesterday after Stephen Hunt joined the chorus querying whether Lapira should have earned the right to make his international bow despite being an amateur player with the University of Notre Dame.

Hunt, who has just signed a new contract with Reading, was speaking out on behalf of his brother Noel who plays in the same position as Lapira but has a more established record. Last season, he scored 10 times for Dundee United in the SPL.

While Staunton had an abundance of striking options for the tour, he was still able to find the opportunity to blood Lapira whose Irish roots only came to the fore through his uncle, Michael Lynam, who works for the FAI as their National Children's Officer.

"You go away to America and you have a certain person getting caps and he hasn't even played in England, Ireland and Scotland, he hasn't even played full time and he's wearing the green jersey. It's a little bit harsh," said Hunt.

"From Noel's side there was a lot of strikers in the Ireland squad already but when you see someone coming in from America you do ask questions. I can't say anything against Lapira but Noel was capable of being in the squad."

With the elder Hunt set to play a pivotal role in autumn's European Championship qualifiers in the absence of the injured Damien Duff, Staunton may need to clear the air with the 25-year-old.

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so if you were wondering how an amateur American got playing for Ireland, now you know. Just when you thought the Bobby Staunton disaster couldnt get any more farcical.

I think hes saying what many of us think. No disrespect to Lapira, but i thought it was a disgrace that he was given a place in the squad ahead of the likes of Roy O'Donovan and to a lesser extent, Noel Hunt.

Lapira had a great first touch...

This had absolutely nothing to do with Lapira's uncle working for the FAI. Nothing. Next we'll be told that a rotund, balding, individual has a say on who gets into the squad. And that the same individual is an "advisor" to those lucky ones who get picked. All ****** I tell ya.

The manager picks the team. End of story.

What do people want? a league table of Irishness where folks are capped in descending order, madness! As if people expect life to be fair :cool:

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Originally Posted by Qwerty

What do people want? a league table of Irishness where folks are capped in descending order, madness! As if people expect life to be fair :cool:

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I don't think this objection relates to his irishness, rather his ability. UCD entered an American colleges' competition a while back and made minced meat of the opposition. If he were playing MLS it might be a different story but his selection was a bit odd.

Lapira was called into the squad as back-up because we were short players
and he was a promising young local player who happened to be in the area.

In similar circumstances, Johnny Glynn was picked for the Ireland squad in a game in the US (1991).

To suggest that he was called up "ahead" of Noel Hunt, or any other UK/EL player, is ridiculous.

Most disappointing is that Hunt is now regarded as a "key member of the Irish squad". Not too long ago he would not have got near the Irish team. He should be grateful he has a place himself before complaining about others. He has yet to deliver anything of note.

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Originally Posted by Patrick Dunne

Lapira was called into the squad as back-up because we were short players
and he was a promising young local player who happened to be in the area.

In similar circumstances, Johnny Glynn was picked for the Ireland squad in a game in the US (1991).

To suggest that he was called up "ahead" of Noel Hunt, or any other UK/EL player, is ridiculous.

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Glynn wasnt officially called up though , I think he only trained with the squad cos he was in the area at the time.

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Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

Most disappointing is that Hunt is now regarded as a "key member of the Irish squad". Not too long ago he would not have got near the Irish team. He should be grateful he has a place himself before complaining about others. He has yet to deliver anything of note.

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don't think he's a "key" member yet. When Duff is fit, he'll start a substitute, "impact substitute" may be a better description.
He's only described as "key" in the article because noone wants to read an article about an "irked substitute squad player"

'Only in America'

I disagreed with the circumstances that arose to give Lapira his cap but Noel Hunt is not and never will be good enough for international football.

There's a quite simple reason to why Lapira was capped - Lapira could've been capped with another country. What Stan and the FAI did was take the opportunity to give this lad a cap before somebody else did - see also the motivation behind the inclusion of Terry Dixon in the squad last year.

I'm sure Stan's and the FAI's thinking is that people like Noel Hunt can only play for Ireland so there's no need to throw away senior caps on players such as him.

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Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar

This had absolutely nothing to do with Lapira's uncle working for the FAI. Nothing.

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I hate to say that I actually disagree with that. I don't think Lapira would have been called up if his uncle didn't work for the FAI. I don't think Alan O'Brien and Peter Murphy would have got called up if it wasn't for Pat Devlin. McDonald would have had the biggest say in O'Halloran's call up, although that wasn't a bad thing in the end. And If it wasn't for Mick McCarthy I doubt we'd have seen Gleeson called up.

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Originally Posted by Patrick Dunne

Lapira was called into the squad as back-up because we were short players and he was a promising young local player who happened to be in the area.

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Originally Posted by ifk101

There's a quite simple reason to why Lapira was capped - Lapira could've been capped with another country.

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Is it just me or are these pretty bizarre justifications for awarding an international cap to some unknown who plays at a level that is substantially below our own eircom league.

To give a more detailed rebuttal:
1. We are not "short players" - we have probably more than 100 uncapped players who deserve a cap more than Lapira
2. He was in the area - FFS - half our country do weekends in New York - its not like its impossible to fly a deserving player out there at short notice (not that short notice would be required if there was a moducum of planning)
3. Capped with another country? So every college player worldwide with dual nationality step forward now - Stan is handing out the caps for free.

What Hunt says is 100% spot on - interesting to see how the manager responds.

I think that most of us will agree that Lapira should not have been capped. I think he was just in the right place at the right time, it was a cap of convenience. The point here though is that it is not up to Stephen Hunt or any other player to be telling the manager who to pick for his squad. If that was the case we'd have players giving out all the time because they didn't agree with squad selections or tactics. In a squad of 22 players there are obviously going to be differences of opinion on team related matters between management and players but it's down to the manager at the end of the day and whether a player agrees with his selections etc. or not the position of manager of the team needs to be respected. Stephen Hunt has just a handful of caps so instead of sniping from the sides through the media maybe he should just be concentrating on holding down his own place in the squad. The fact that he was right is irrelevant. He should have kept his thoughts to himself.

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Originally Posted by Paulie

I think that most of us will agree that Lapira should not have been capped. I think he was just in the right place at the right time, it was a cap of convenience. The point here though is that it is not up to Stephen Hunt or any other player to be telling the manager who to pick for his squad. If that was the case we'd have players giving out all the time because they didn't agree with squad selections or tactics. In a squad of 22 players there are obviously going to be differences of opinion on team related matters between management and players but it's down to the manager at the end of the day and whether a player agrees with his selections etc. or not the position of manager of the team needs to be respected. Stephen Hunt has just a handful of caps so instead of sniping from the sides through the media maybe he should just be concentrating on holding down his own place in the squad. The fact that he was right is irrelevant. He should have kept his thoughts to himself.

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Spot on, just shows the worrying fact that the players have about as much respect for Staunton as we do....

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I hate to say that I actually disagree with that. I don't think Lapira would have been called up if his uncle didn't work for the FAI. I don't think Alan O'Brien and Peter Murphy would have got called up if it wasn't for Pat Devlin. McDonald would have had the biggest say in O'Halloran's call up, although that wasn't a bad thing in the end. And If it wasn't for Mick McCarthy I doubt we'd have seen Gleeson called up.

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I was being ironic.

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Originally Posted by Paulie

I think that most of us will agree that Lapira should not have been capped. I think he was just in the right place at the right time, it was a cap of convenience. The point here though is that it is not up to Stephen Hunt or any other player to be telling the manager who to pick for his squad. If that was the case we'd have players giving out all the time because they didn't agree with squad selections or tactics. In a squad of 22 players there are obviously going to be differences of opinion on team related matters between management and players but it's down to the manager at the end of the day and whether a player agrees with his selections etc. or not the position of manager of the team needs to be respected. Stephen Hunt has just a handful of caps so instead of sniping from the sides through the media maybe he should just be concentrating on holding down his own place in the squad. The fact that he was right is irrelevant. He should have kept his thoughts to himself.

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but this very clearly isnt as simple as a player disagreeing with the manager picking the side.

this is a player objecting to an amateur (first one since 1964) who has never played a club game being selected for no obvious reason other than an uncle working in the association. this is a player speaking out about corruption and the cheapening of Irish caps (or certainly thats the implication from the article).

it also shows how weak Stan is that he can be talked into picking a donkey presumably so Lapira can discuss professional terms from the strength of being an international player, if indeed he does decide to become a professional footballer.

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Originally Posted by OhNoYouDidn't

but this very clearly isnt as simple as a player disagreeing with the manager picking the side.

this is a player objecting to an amateur (first one since 1964) who has never played a club game being selected for no obvious reason other than an uncle working in the association. this is a player speaking out about corruption and the cheapening of Irish caps (or certainly thats the implication from the article).

it also shows how weak Stan is that he can be talked into picking a donkey presumably so Lapira can discuss professional terms from the strength of being an international player, if indeed he does decide to become a professional footballer.

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I take your point, although I'm not sure I agree with the whole grassy knoll conspiracy theory regarding Lapira's Uncle. However, as I stated earlier regardless of whether any of us feel Stephen hunt is right or not is irrelevant. He should have kept his thoughts to himself.