Irish players playing in other European Leagues.

I just thought this would be a good thread idea about irish footballers seemingly inability to expand beyond these islands. of course we have a few, probably barely enough to count on one hand-dominic foley and steve finnan immediately spring to mind.

Its something I'm actually passionate about but I also consider in terms of the success of the irish national team does it matter? I mean a 25 year old isn't really going to learn a new style by playing a season in La Liga but then I think of the situation with someone like Anthony Stokes. His career has stagnated in England why not see if he can give it a go in another country? I mean look at the Americans, guisseppi rossi and altidore play in spain so if they can adapt surely irish players can. I just find it strange that we are probably the only country in football that has all its players playing basically in the one league that isnt our own.

As well as a soccer fan i'd love to have a reason to be watching a bundesliga or serie a to see irish players

See this thread:
http://foot.ie/forums/showthread.php...02#post1093302

Ronnie O'Brien, Selcuk Tidim and Barry Maguire (we hardly knew you) are probably the only Irish-eligible players based outside Ireland and the UK with a remote possibility of contributing anything to the senior squad. The rest - the Walkers of Sweden, Kohlmann of Borussia Dortmund etc - are even further out of the reckoning.

cheers terry, hows life in new zealand ;)

just to make clear i love english football i just dislike our complete dependence on it as if it was our own, except for language theres no natural reason why our players gravitate towards england like a moth to a light but then culturally we are pretty whipped by uk(england),

like the shock on my mates face when i mentioned that stokes spain analogy like as if i was saying he should play a game of football on mars

its definetly a cultural thing because i was reading a eu wide survey and the question was what memberships of EU means under a selection of headings, anyway out of all eu member state when it came to 'free movement of people' ireland had by far the lowest %

now obviously i have no idea who was surveyed or how many but it shows the mindset(then again we are also an island so that could be a reason )

Also Ciaran O'Brien of Colorado Rapids. US Born but the Dad is from Dublin who used to play for Bohs.
Ronnie O'Brien is without a club and supposedly hanging out in Dallas.

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Originally Posted by TerryPhelan

See this thread:
http://foot.ie/forums/showthread.php...02#post1093302

Ronnie O'Brien, Selcuk Tidim and Barry Maguire (we hardly knew you) are probably the only Irish-eligible players based outside Ireland and the UK with a remote possibility of contributing anything to the senior squad. The rest - the Walkers of Sweden, Kohlmann of Borussia Dortmund etc - are even further out of the reckoning.

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At one stage Ronnie O'Brien may have been a decent option for us, but that time has passed.

He is quite injury prone now and is less effective every season it seems.

He is a good technical player, and can still hit a good cross or dead ball, but no way should he be anywhere near our squad at this point.

I'd say he may even retire- he doesn't have a club right now and he's 30. An MLS team will take him if he wants to keep playing I'm sure, but financially I'm not sure it would be worth it for him at this stage.

Two irish lads playing with Triestina in Italy, Conor McCormack is one, the former U-17 Captain and Player of the Year, aswell as a Michael O'Connor. McCormack used to play with Man Yoo and O'Connor with Liverpool i think!.. both are with the youths as far as i know.

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Originally Posted by Flawless

Two irish lads playing with Triestina in Italy, Conor McCormack is one, the former U-17 Captain and Player of the Year, aswell as a Michael O'Connor. McCormack used to play with Man Yoo and O'Connor with Liverpool i think!.. both are with the youths as far as i know.

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Was it not Michael Collins, not O'Connor?

If anyone saw Brum v Wolves last night you'd wonder why anyone not built like a tank would want to play in The Championship. The pitch was dreadful but there were barely 2 accurate passes strung together all night.

I hope McGeady's Bayern move materialises.

maybe Brian Kerr can get some of our players to the Faroes league.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

If anyone saw Brum v Wolves last night you'd wonder why anyone not built like a tank would want to play in The Championship. The pitch was dreadful but there were barely 2 accurate passes strung together all night.

I hope McGeady's Bayern move materialises.

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In fairness there are a few footballing sides that have made it to the Prem only to be thrashed (West Brom is a current example), but the vast majority of Championship teams are pretty dire when it comes to the technical side of things.

I read Bayern's president denying what Trap stated about Munich's interest in Aiden...maybe just covering himself or hoping to keep the fee down, but it seemed to be a pretty vehement denial so I'd guess he's staying at Celtic for another season or two.

There's the young boy Tim Pilkington that plays for Freiburg, he's New Zealander by birth but has represented us at youth level, as well as Sean McDermott at Vag(!?) in Norway - apparently he's attracted interest from Arsenal and I recall reading somewhere about another goalkeeper with the surname Burdon who playes for Stade Rennes in France, he's 15 or 16 and has been in some youth squads too and then there is my personal favourite Michael Reddy, formerly of Kilkenny, Sunderland and Grimsby who (if the internet is to be believed) recently made the move from FC Mamaluk in Greenland to Port Stanley Albion in the Falklands...I think this was move was covered in an article in FourFourTwo not too long ago

From Wikipedia..........

FC Malamuk is a football club from Greenland based in Uummannaq. All league games, however, are played in the national stadium in Nuuk.
The only well known player to play for the club was former Irish U-21 international Michael Reddy, who signed after being released by Grimsby Town of the English League 2. Reddy has since moved to Port Stanley Albion in the Falkland Islands after meeting and marrying a Falkland Island native at the 2007 Greenland Fishing Festival.

This is why you don't believe everything you read!!

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Originally Posted by Croker

This is why you don't believe everything you read!!

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But I want to!:p

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Originally Posted by theworm2345

Was it not Michael Collins, not O'Connor?

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Collins is the lad who plays for Huddersfield. Are you thinking of him?

Good thread this, find the Michael Reddy stuff hard to believe though. I remember him back at Kilkenny City, seriously talented player. Unluckily for him he was plagued with injuries throughout his career. Made the senior squad for a friendly at one stage.

Patrick Kohlmann is playing for Union Berlin these days. Amazed he managed to stay at Dortmund for so long, he never looked like making the breakthrough there and only made one senior appearance.

I remember a Dutch goalkeeper played for us at underage level - thik it was the 16's...not sure. Forget his name, think it was something along the lines of "Abeliziz" of something like that. Google proves inconclusive...

Just found him: Wesdie Abdelaziz is his name.

Taken from the Examiner:

Played for the under17's, or at least was named in a squad or two...
YOUTH team boss, Brian Kerr, has unearthed two new players for Ireland who are playing in the Netherlands with FC Haarlem.
The players, a goalkeeper and a midfielder, were born in Holland but are eligible for Ireland because their mother, Collette McDonald, came from Raheny, Dublin.
Goalkeeper Wesdie Abdelaziz was yesterday named in the Irish U17 squad to contest the Meridian Cup competition in South Africa later this month.
He is currently third choice goalkeeper at the Dutch first division club.
His elder brother, Nourdene Abdelaziz, is still eligible for U21 football and he has just been promoted to the Haarlem first team squad.
"This is a great thrill for me" said the younger Abdelaziz when informed of his selection.
"When Nourdene and I were growing up in Holland we always told our friends that we would play for Ireland - now I'm getting the chance."
The Abdelaziz brothers' father came from Tunisia and so they were eligible to play for three national teams, but their ambitions always focused on Ireland.
"We promised our mother that Ireland would come first and after being in Dublin over the New Year I kept a close eye on how the U17 team was doing in Israel" said Wesdie, "I knew I wanted to be part of that squad."
Abdelaziz trained with Ireland's junior international team boss, Gerry Smith, at the Dublin AUL complex during his holiday in Dublin and Smith recommended him to Brian Kerr.
"This has been a great season for me" said Abdelaziz, "I've sat on the bench three times with the first team and now I'm getting the chance to prove myself with Ireland.
"The fact that Ireland are European champions at this level shows how high the standard is but I'm confident that if I get the opportunity to show what I can do, I'll take it
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Joe Lapira, of course is still playing in the Norwegian second division. How he managed to get a full cap I'll never know!

Kilkenny lad Steven Murray is playing in Croatia too...!

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/search/...p?newsid=36046

excellent stuff man.

this just gives a bit of an insight as to why it might not happen that much.

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According to today's Daily Mirror "Hertha Berlin have said" he will coming back to Liverpool as they can't afford his fee & wages.

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And thats a team at the top of the Bundesliga, its not as if they would be rushing to buy Stephen Hunt (ironically I think both would suit hunt would suit playing in the bundesliga)


in a way for our players its a bit like this country and the mess its in. most of them are earning probably very inflated wages so the need to broaden their horizons outside of england just isn't there.

*p.s worst comparison ever :p *

Pat Walker is the manager of Sandefjord in Norway and used to play for Gillingham and Bohemians before playing with several Swedish clubs.

Selcuk Tidim of St. Pauli came on as a 65th minute sub for the Irish U17's against Poland today.