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Originally Posted by
EalingGreen
We are trying to promote the game, we are being successful and we do want a new National Stadium. Our problem is that the IFA (like the FA, SFA FAW and FAI) has nowhere nearly enough money to build a new stadium on our own. However, unlike those other Associations, we are unable to secure the equivalent Governmental assistance which has seen Wembley/Hampden/Millennium/Lansdowne re-built.
Instead, our political Lords and Masters in Whitehall determined, purely for political reasons, that we should be forced into the wrong stadium in the wrong location (Maze).
Therefore, if we are to overturn that, we have to be modest in our demands - inexpensive, 25-30k - otherwise the response from the backers of the Maze will ask why we want more, when recent crowds have often been so much lower. (They are only talking about 42k capacity for the Maze because the GAA demanded it)
You really are trying to avoid the point I'm making here.
GAA sports at inter-county level (followed mainly by nationalist community in NI - 50% pop. 0.5 million) can on a regular basis get crowds of 40k+. Ulster GAA have asked to use Croke Park for some of their bigger matches - Tyrone v. Armagh (who would meeting a couple of times a year) which has a capacity of 80K. Croke Park as well as being the national stadium also caters for Leinster games. Ulster GAA need a stadium that can take 40k+ - might be the reason the 'GAA demanded' it and it is public money you are talking about here.
Association Football which is cross community :) (potential market 1m+ potential) is deemed to be only able to attract 20,000 if the team is doing well.
Do you not think there is something odd about this?
Unlike the IFA, the FA, SFA FAW, FAI, GAA & IRFU, all had to come up with matching funding (the FAI sold its HQ in Merrion Sq). The IFA have been offered a FREE STADIUM (South of England tax payers are paying for it) and you are still moaning!
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Don't want to get side-tracked onto Welsh football/rugby. Suffice it to say, just ask anyone who knows the true situation in Wales, who isn't either a football-hating egg chaser or someone who has swallowed the WRFU spin, and they will tell you that football in Wales is still bigger than rugby, by every measure, except international crowds on half a dozen occasions a year. And that has always been the case, btw
Well, I'm going to the Leinster v. Munster game this evening - its a sell out at 18k. If Lansdowne was ready, it would probably fill that. 10 years ago at this fixture there would have been three men and a dog! Oh and rugby isn't as popular as Gaelic or Football down here!
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There appears presently to be nothing preventing any NI youngster - Prod, RC or Athiest - from opting for ROI (for whatever motive). So how exactly are we "holding them back"? :confused:
Hasn't had a chance to kick-in yet - give it another year or two or three ! NI fooball seemed to take Gibson's 'defection' rather badly! It probably needs time to recover from that shock.
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In fact, if you think about it, there is absolutely nothing to stop such a kid, after the requisite three years residence in Manchester or Glasgow, from representing England or Scotland - both of whom offer a much better chance of career advancement than either Irish team.
I'm glad the penny is beginning to drop that this just might happen!
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But at the risk of straying (temporarily, I hope) from discussing a combined team to the issue of Eligibility for the two separate teams, I would not feel in the slightest bit guilty.
That is because I don't actually see which international team you represent as being a matter of "choice", any more than you can "choose" where you were born! The whole point about international football, as opposed to club football, is that you cannot just "pick and choose" who you play for.
This should especially be so (imo), to prevent mercenary considerations (money) prevailing over national pride when representing your country.
Respecting the identity of nationalist kids in NI might go a long way to holding onto their affiliations. For instance, with regard to preventing the No Surrender chants - anything suggest a very simple solution - use Danny Boy as your anthem! I'm sure the Queen would be very pleased if it helped her subjects to get on better together!
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For myself, even if the best players from ROI or GB were suddenly made eligible for NI, so that we were guaranteed to qualify for every tournament, I would much rather do without, thanks very much, since it would no longer be "my" team, or "Our Wee Country".
What is this thing that you have to 'own' everything on your terms.
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P.S. If ypou look at our record of qualifying for World Cup Finals, it is every bit as good as ROI's - arguably better, since we have also made it to the last 8 (1958) and last 12 (1982).
I don't view NI as competition. Always happy to see NI do well.
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P.P.S. David Healy was formerly a talented kid in the MU Academy, who was just coming up to 23 when ROI went to Japan/Korea in 2002. I can guarantee you that had Mick McCarthy offered him a place on the plane, there would have been zero chance of his ever accepting. Which is precisely that sort of dedication which transforms him from a journeyman for his club to a star for his country. I don't ever want to see that removed from international football.
Well, if David Healy is a protestant and comes from the unionist community, it wouldn't surprise me that he wouldn't want to have anything to do with us down here! Certainly back in 2002, he probably would have been treated like a traitor of his own community and probably could have expected the Niall Lennon treatment!
