Originally Posted by
SuperDave
For my two cents, i think it's clear that the irish and english constitutions, written and unwritten, guarantee dual nationality for everyone born in northern ireland. The problem is that the FAI don't represent the island of Ireland, regardless of how much some people wish they did ,they represent the 26 counties. Just like the situation in the UK and Ryan Giggs. Contrary to popular belief, he could never have played for England, despite holding a British passport, as the situation is governed by birth and all his parents and grandparents were born in wales. Holding a passport for Ireland, due to the unique situtation here, does not, unless you have 26-county ancestry, guarantee you a right to play for Ireland.
The Yugoslavia situation shows the same thing, in that player eligibility was similarly limited. I know you are going to throw Kanchelskis at me, but he had some Russian ancestry as well, not just Ukrainian.