Oh dear.:rolleyes:
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To tar a body of people who want to support their football team with the same brush is using the tools of bigotry.
I hope we beat Slovakia with Darron Gibsons help.I hope NI also win with Tony
Kane on board if need be.
The somewhat unique political landscape on this Island is always going to throw up some anomolies regarding Sporting representation.
Will some of you chill out ffs.
Don't be such a fool. Are you really so blinkered when it comes to NI? Kane was at the time a ROI player and not a NI player. You really don't have a clue. Whenever someone shoots you down (which is fairly easy to do if one can be bothered to read the entirety of one of your posts) with a logical argument you either ignore them (as in my last post on this thread) or make some ridiculous, nonsensical statement with a stupid smiley face as per above.
What the IFA did with Kane and Gibson when they were ROI players is no different to what you claim the FAI were trying to do with Baird and/or McKenna. Face this fact at least and try to grow up.
To everyone else. Why do we put up with this endless NI dribble polluting our boards when ourweecountry ban you for a single post if you don't agree with the general consensus?
Maybe YI,
but some of the comments by a minority of our supporters are embarressing and bordering on something nasty.Theres no point quoting the GFA unless you agree the spirit of it is a two way street.Some of the comments on the DG situation have been unfortunate but can you honestly say they have only come from NI supporters.The referals to NI being a pub team is at best begrudgery and at worst downright prejudice.Any real football fan would surely agree that when a country of One&3/4 million people take on the prima donnas of the Primera league and the Premiership and puts them in their place then the team from that country deserves all the credit they are due.Goodness, I wish our team would start playing to its strenghts in the same fashion.
Youngirish, do you not think you would last very long on that OWC forum if you restricted your content to football matters only?
Your mild, measured and balanced approach when offering another perspective (eg. on David Healy) would surely be welcome :)
There are also a number of people that give credence to a lot of what EG posts just because he is a supporter of NI when the content often deserves nothing of the sort. Similar comments by the majority on here would be shot down.
It's clear to see the unreasonable, biased muck he often posts when comparing his opinions on the actions of the FAI regarding Baird and McKenna (which I might add are just pure speculation on his part) compared with those of NI and Gibson and Kane (which are clear to see for everyone).
The "pub team" and "shower of bigots" insults I can withstand, since I'm used to that sort of thing from certain quarters.
But spare me the mock indignation over Maddy McCann. It was a harmless analogy (look it up), with no perjorative content whatever.
Besides, I daresay the McCanns have bigger things to worry about than a fleeting reference on a website that they'll never even read...:(
This thread seems to be turning into a slagging match with more s***e flying around than you'd find on a farmers muck spreader. Everyone get a grip please, the young lads at the centre of all this only want to play football. Wether we all like it or not they do have a choice in this and at the end of the day THEY will choose the best option for themselves and who can blame them, being a footballer is short career and money aside if your ambition is to play at the highest level then International football is going to be one of your aims. Darron Gibson is on the verge of his International competitive debut for HIS country as chosen by him. Tony Kane is would appear is on at the same point for HIS country as chosen by him. That's the way it is and that's the way it ought to be. They decide who they play for and everyone should respect that. Lets just wish both of them all the best and leave it at that.
Now,Now Wembly Green we will have none of that common sense around here young man.:)
Sorry cheifo, forgot where I was there for a minute!
I agree with the sentiments of your post Wembley Green, but it is FIFA, and not the players themselves who decide.
Ealing Green and others seem to feel that they may not be eligible for the ROI, whereas others feel they are. EG and the others of the same opinion would like a ruling by FIFA on this issue, whereas those of the other opinion feel that no such ruling is needed.
The issue is not only who these players want to play for, but also who they are eligible to play for.
I personally don't think he or anyone else should be banned from these boards. Not unless they are maliciously attempting to sabotage the workings of the forums.
I'm more against the endless posts that people feed him when his original points have all been answered. This only encourages more dribble. This is what I meant to refer to above.
Osarusan, I am aware of the IFA and FAI's different take on the eligibiity communique from FIFA and I have been following the threads etc, but surely even FIFA can see that the rights of a citizen to play for their country goes to the very core of that citizenship. I think the IFA need to back off on this before they do any more damage and risk souring what was an improving situation between the two associations. This carry on is only going to alienate even more of the people the IFA are trying to appeal to with their 'football for all' campaign and it certainly won't encourage youngsters who may be faced with the same choice in future and who's background may be Irish nationalist from joining their (NI) team. Fair enough they are 'losing' potential players to us but that is going to be tha case no matter what, they have to accept that there is a part of the population in NI that simply do not want to play for NI just like there is part who would not want to play for us. You can't force people to play for you and citing technicalities and even making veiled threats like 'points could be deducted' etc like Worthington has been quoted as saying are just pathetic. I can't see what they hope to achieve by this, it's just opening a can of worms and giving the usual suspects a stick to beat each other with!
How many players in the last ten years have actualyy "defected" to the republic.
The one's i can think of off hand are ger crossan, saul deeney, marc wilson, mark mukendi, darren gibson and one other recently whose name escapes me
Hardly what you'd call a drain. It might also be worth pointing out that probably with the exception of marc wilson, who is from lurgan, that the remainder come from strong nationalist communities in belfast or derry. where in the main would have grown up supporting the republic
The other point i'm making is that how many of these, with perhaps the exception of gibson, will actually go on to have full professional and international carrers
The reality is that there will be some that want to play for us in the same way as those born in england and scotland do but the overall majority are still declaring for the north and want to play for them regardless of their backround
Now that's what I call taking the subject off topic. Don't ever criticise me again about going off subject. W*nker!
Mods, dahamster, you can ban me for that last remark. It'll be f*cking worth it. The rest of you who like to indulge this d*ckhead, you're exactly the same.
Greendeise,
The reason the numbers have been so low is because it was only comparatively recently, when Kerr took over, that the FAI started proactively to recruit/accept NI-born players, in contravention of the "Gentlemens' Agreement" which had existed previously over decades.
And since most of the obvious players were already tied to NI by having played for our senior team, then they had to concentrate on our youngsters.
And as we know, only a minority of promising youngsters ever progress all the way to senior status, after a process that takes several years.
That said, if we only lost one Darron Gibson every other year, that would amount to four senior players over the course of two Qualifying tournaments, or six over the course of the average player's international career. We have a small enough squad as it is - how would you like it if you suddenly lost even 2 or 3 of your starting XI for Slovakia on Saturday, never mind half your team?
Moreover, the ROI, with generally a bigger/stronger squad than us, will only be interested in the best of our youngsters, leaving us with those who fear they might not be good enough to represent the ROI. What happens if the next player recruited after Gibson is the next David Healy?
On top of which, it is quite clear that the FAI are only targeting youngsters from a Catholic/Nationalist background. Does anyone other than a bigot really want to see a situation where the two Irish sides are effectively segregated between the "Prod team" (IFA) and the "Catholic team" (FAI)? I know that I certainly don't.
Besides, there is a principle at stake, so it shouldn't matter whether we are talking one player or 100 players; if FIFA's Rules are being broken, that situation must not be allowed to continue unchecked.