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The self righteousness of this thread is bugging the hell out of me. If he continues to be available to play for Ireland and is good enough, then great. I couldn't care less about whether he's also good enough to play for England, Brazil or Andorra. If he plays for Ireland and gives his all, that's good enough for me. There's too much Norman Tebbitry going on here for my liking.
Fackin' foreigners, taking jobs away from honest, hard-working Irish midfielders.
Since we're all having a moan about english-born Irish youth players supporting England.
I'm just going to put it out there that I saw a tweet from Kilkenny-born Mikey Drennan which indicated his support for England. Also Darron Gibson got behind "the boys in white"
Shocking :mad:
I reckon if I was playing week in week out with English players I'd be shouting them on.Quote:
Originally Posted by IsMiseSean
Same way if I was playing with Liverpool I'm sure I would have been shouting on Suarez last night. Two great goals to be fair to the boy
Gibson did justify his support of England last night (justification was required to quieten some disapproving "ballbags") by tweeting that he had three team-mates in the England squad as well as one of his best mates. Is that Wayne Rooney?
What's wrong with what Gibson or Drennan are doing?! Ireland aren't playing in the World Cup. That's the difference.
Some interesting comments from our WC panelist Kenny Cunningham.
Cunningham urged caution following a FIFA rule change allowing players over the age of 21 to switch their international allegiance. Commenting in relation to Ireland's qualifying campaign ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he said: "It wouldn't be something I'd be hugely in favour of" and "I'd be very disappointed if I was a player in that squad to miss out on the World Cup for somebody who was jumping on board at the last minute".
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
I'll wait til we qualify for something to worry about that.
I think we should worry now whilst we are still alive.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
Well, there's nothing wrong with what they're doing. They can support who they wish for whatever reasons they wish. Why, is there something wrong with what Grealish is doing, or with what Grealish has done in the past? You'd nearly give the impression he has no empathy for us whatsoever, or that he has even expressed some sense of antipathy by way of publicising his support of England at a finals. What body language were you referring to earlier? You neglected to respond to that.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
That rule change was back in 2009 after the initial allowance to switch up until the age of 21 was introduced in 2004. Players in our set-up to have benefited from the introduction of a right to switch association once have been the northern players who had already represented the IFA (McClean and Duffy, for example) and Ciaran Clark. Not that many, really, and they all switched before or around the age of 21, if I'm not mistaken.Quote:
Some interesting comments from our WC panelist Kenny Cunningham.
Cunningham urged caution following a FIFA rule change allowing players over the age of 21 to switch their international allegiance. Commenting in relation to Ireland's qualifying campaign ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he said: "It wouldn't be something I'd be hugely in favour of" and "I'd be very disappointed if I was a player in that squad to miss out on the World Cup for somebody who was jumping on board at the last minute".
Darron Gibson and Marc Wilson never represented the IFA in an official competitive fixture, as far as I know, so they would not have had to formally effect any switch. Gibson would have played for the IFA in a Victory Shield game, but I'm pretty sure that's not FIFA-sanctioned, whilst Wilson played for them at under-15 level, but I don't think that constituted official representation either in the eyes of FIFA. I think they've always been FAI-registered players, in other words, as far as the rules are concerned anyway. I am open to correction on Wilson, but would be fairly sure under-15 isn't deemed official representation. Maybe someone can confirm...
What's the relevance here though? Who else is there and who's been "jumping on board at the last minute"? Alex Pearce?...
It's not that major an issue so as to cause genuine concern for our squad morale surely. I'd imagine Cunningham made the above comments in relation to talk of Jermaine Pennant or some other obvious mercenary-type/Stutts' gut-test failure possibly making a switch. Wasn't there talk of Pennant switching around 2010-2011?
Gibson and Drennan didn't support England at an International tournament that their own country was playing in and make some frankly daft comment about - I'm paraphrasing here - supporting the Ireland U-19 team and the England senior team.
My interpretation of Kevan's posting history on VillaTalk is that his preference would be for Jack to play for England. He has also referred to Ireland in the past as Jack's "International club", which I thought was pretty telling. Then there are the facts that there is no firm allegiance to Ireland. He stated his short-term future is with Ireland. I think people read far too much into his reassurances. What happens if he does make an impact in the PL within the next 2 or 3 years? We (I) won't be able to enjoy it because in the back of your head you'll (I'll) be worried about him switching to England.
Whatever about Gibson, Wilson and Duffy, a lot of U-21 caps will invariably hit a wall and progress no further as a result of lads in their 20's switching to Ireland or discovering a Grandparent they didn't know about.
We've discussed Grealish's words to death, but the reality is we don't really know for certain. He's a young lad - a dual national - and I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for reasons expressed earlier in this thread. You aren't as forgiving when it comes to his alleged sins. So be it; we'll have to agree to disagree. :)
But who are these imaginary or prospective "lads in their 20s switching to Ireland or discovering a grandparent they didn't know about"? Aren't you just scaremongering without any real justification for doing so? Have you got past examples upon which your alarmism is rationally founded? The rule hasn't opened any flood-gates or anything in the sense you seem to be fearing, and it's been in place since 2009, or since 2004 with 21 being the age-cap.
Some people read far too much into his reassurances, others read far too much into his lack of them.
And the only person who knows what he will do is Jack. I know it's the off season, but the sheer amount of debate sparked by some support for England where he was born is crazy. Without wanting to reopen another debate, the only way we might influence any decision, he may or may not make, is if MONRoy have a word in his ear. Over to them!
If the kid decides tp play for England good luck to him, I'll wish him all the best. If he decides to play for us great.
He seems like a nice young fella
Apart from one or two notable exceptions, I think that's the consensus of the forumQuote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
So it's okay if he's just hedging his bets by playing for our national team? Unfortunately, some of the youngsters who don't get into our underage teams don't have the opportunity to play for more than one national team.
I would appreciate it if he would just nail his colors firmly to the mast and play for the national team he wants to play for instead of him - and his brother - coming out with all this codology. That's what I have a problem with. If he wants to play for England, I won't make a Jack Grealish voodoo doll.
Yeah, that's the thing. I had a good look at his twitter feed and he seems well-grounded and nice young fella.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
He talks a bit of sense too. I saw him get a tweet off someone asking why he was in Ibiza and he just replied something like 'Footballers have lives to live too.'
Did we ever establish his actual Irish background? A couple of times it's been report his dad is from Dublin which isn't the case, as far as I know (think they're mixed up with the brother Keane, Will and Michael). 3 of his 4 grandparents are Irish, correct? Or maybe all 4? And he played a bit of gaelic football too.
You make a lot of assumptions there. Nobody's said he wants to play for England, so why would he nail his colours to their mast in terms of who he'll represent at senior level; you're just assuming he secretly intends to switch in the future and holding said assumption against him. He's a dual national; whether or not you think such a concept is unfair or whatever on guys who are eligible to represent only one country, that's the reality. Grealish is under no obligation to play for us and we're under no obligation to select him. We continue to select him in full knowledge of his dual national status; it seems to be a risk the FAI are happy to run with. If there is a concern over his loyalty, we can always stop selecting him and select others instead. When we have selected him, though, he has shown up, proudly played for us to the best of his ability and demonstrated commitment. Give the lad a break with talk of "hedging his bets", accusations of codology and such nonsense. He's only 18. You'd nearly give the impression he and his younger brother were cynically conspiring against us.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Giving up voodoo after the Richard Keogh one failed to work, I presume?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks