Eligibility Rules, Okay

[Closed Account]

Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players
Annexe 1 Article 5
http://resources.fifa.com/mm/documen...5e_neutral.pdf

Article 5: Restrictions on playing
A player who has been called up by his association for one of its representative teams is, unless otherwise agreed by the relevant association, not entitled to play for the club with which he is registered during the period for which he has been released or should have been released pursuant to the provisions of this annexe. This restriction on playing for the club shall, moreover, be prolonged by five days in the event that the player, for whatsoever reason, did not wish to or was unable to comply with the call-up.

[Closed Account]

Somehow, I completely missed this story from earlier in the month: http://mattleslie74.weebly.com/blog/...-irelands-back



An association invoking this rule must surely be a very unusual occurrence. Anyone know where the regulation concerned can be found?

Edit: Another case here that involved Senegal invoking the rule to prevent Pa**** Cissé lining out for Newcastle in an EPL game against Swansea in 2012: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20344903

I also found this document relating to the release of players for international games, but it refers to a 4 or 5-day release period before games, rather than after: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affe...nnex_ii_74.pdf

An interesting case. And after reading this:
http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/sport/lu...ban-1-6959859?
it looks like a different story than how, I personally, took it from the quoted article above.
From the article I've linked

“I was really disappointed with how it happened. “Initially I spoke to Michael O’Neill (Northern Ireland boss) in depth and we had a really positive chat.
“I said to him, ‘I want to stay at Luton and play games. This is the club I play for, I’m doing well, I want to stay in the team.’
“If I was getting called up for the first team then I would probably have a decision to make, but it was the 21s.
“So I spoke to the manager about that and said I don’t want to play for your 21s team, I’ll be better off playing well for Luton and scoring goals for Luton in order to get into for arguments sake, your first team.
“His words to me were ‘I understand your reasons are genuine, I’m disappointed but I understand it’.
“So I thought we had an agreement where I wanted to play for Luton and eventually maybe I’ll get a call up to the Northern Ireland first team.
“But how they handled the whole scenario, I have now informed the Irish FA that I don’t wish to be selected going forwards.”

According to this, he wanted to continue playing for Northern Ireland but not for the U21s on this occasion. NI tried to force his hand and he subsequently had a falling out with them. A little more embarrassing for the IFA.

Edit, a couple of quotes from Dannys article

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 brought up many things for life in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. One was allowing footballers to choose which 'Ireland' they wished to play for regardless of what side of the border they were born in.

That old chestnut!

As IFA performance director, and former Northern Ireland player, Jim Magilton said in today's Belfast Telegraph:
"There is no ambiguity. Once a player makes the decision to switch that's it, there is no going back. It's clear in the Fifa rules.

"We couldn't select them again under any circumstances."

Seems Jim is a little bit more au fait with the regulations than we are.

[Gather round]

An interesting case. And after reading this:
http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/sport/lu...ban-1-6959859?
it looks like a different story than how, I personally, took it from the quoted article above.
From the article I've linked

According to this, he wanted to continue playing for Northern Ireland but not for the U21s on this occasion. NI tried to force his hand and he subsequently had a falling out with them. A little more embarrassing for the IFA

If McGeechan is as good as he thinks he could reasonably have expected to go straight back into the Luton side after the u-21 break. So the 'protect my club career' argument is weak.

Sounds to me like another time-waster not taking international football seriously.

[osarusan]

Isn't that how Domenech got Makelele to continue playing for France, even after he wanted to retire from international football?

He threatened to add him to every squad and invoke the 5 day rule every time he didn't play, thus severely limiting how much he'd be able to play for his club Chelsea.

[DannyInvincible]

'10 footballers who have changed allegiance after playing for Ireland': http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepa...r-Ireland.html

Covers Shane Lowry (Australia), Neil Kilkenny (Australia), Éamon Zayed (Libya), Tony Kane (NI), Callum Morris (NI), Michael O'Connor (NI), Conor Doyle (USA), Patrick Bamford (England), Ryan O'Leary (Scotland) and Daniel Crowley (England).

Not all those players have necessarily formally switched association and most of them have been mentioned in this thread of others, but thought it interesting and worth posting all the same.

[The Fly]

I'm sure it has been asked before but how does Patrick Bamford qualify for Ireland, and at what youth level did he play?

[DannyInvincible]

I'm sure it has been asked before but how does Patrick Bamford qualify for Ireland, and at what youth level did he play?

He qualifies through either one or both of his maternal grandparents and played for us once at under-18 level, although it wasn't a competitive game.

[Olé Olé]

'10 footballers who have changed allegiance after playing for Ireland': http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepa...r-Ireland.html

Covers Shane Lowry (Australia), Neil Kilkenny (Australia), Éamon Zayed (Libya), Tony Kane (NI), Callum Morris (NI), Michael O'Connor (NI), Conor Doyle (USA), Patrick Bamford (England), Ryan O'Leary (Scotland) and Daniel Crowley (England).

Not all those players have necessarily formally switched association and most of them have been mentioned in this thread of others, but thought it interesting and worth posting all the same.

Jim O'Brien (Coventry) and James Milner (Liverpool) are two others of a similar timeline to the above.

[DannyInvincible]

Did James Milner play for us at youth level? I thought that was a myth.

[Olé Olé]

Did James Milner play for us at youth level? I thought that was a myth.

I thought someone confirmed it recently enough here but I can't quite find evidence for you.

The lad that was at the centre of the tug of war with Grealish at under 17 level, Jordan Graham, has left Wolves on loan to Oxford United. He moved to Wolves from Villa during the summer and played for our under 17's with Grealish before he went to play for England, whilst Grealish decided to extend our false hope for another while

[tetsujin1979]

Matthew Connolly, formerly of Arsenal now with Cardiff, is another one who was briefly with Ireland before switching to England
Sean Tse, formerly of Man City now playing in China, was called into an U17 squad but didn't actually show up!
Billy Mehmet spoke about switching to Turkey, but I don't think he was ever called up by them?

[DannyInvincible]

I thought someone confirmed it recently enough here but I can't quite find evidence for you.

Milner was mentioned in the Noe Baba thread. CraftyToePoke seemed to think he played for us at under-15 even though he may not actually have been eligible.

[boovidge]

Pretty sure the Milner thing's a myth that gained traction when it was printed in the Mirror






Got these images from an old thread on ybig.ie in which they discuss the "Milner myth".

[liamoo11]

Jim O'Brien (Coventry) and James Milner (Liverpool) are two others of a similar timeline to the above.

The americans have been messing us about lately as well with gooch at sunderland and scott at chelsea commiting to them after playin for us

[Olé Olé]

https://soundcloud.com/secondcaptain...-grealish-pout

Lengthy discussion on the possibility of an All-Ireland game. Richie Sadlier really irked me on this one. Comes across as a tad ignorant of those in the north that identify as Irish. Worth a listen.

Oisin McConville states he'd go to Ravenhill to see Ulster but not Windsor Park.

[BonnieShels]

Not that surprising. I'd be the same as Oisín in that regard. Thankfully I'm not from Armagh though.

[Charlie Darwin]

https://soundcloud.com/secondcaptain...-grealish-pout

Lengthy discussion on the possibility of an All-Ireland game. Richie Sadlier really irked me on this one. Comes across as a tad ignorant of those in the north that identify as Irish. Worth a listen.

Oisin McConville states he'd go to Ravenhill to see Ulster but not Windsor Park.

This is Richie "I grew up a Rangers fan just to be different" Sadlier.

[Olé Olé]

This is Richie "I grew up a Rangers fan just to be different" Sadlier.

That completely slipped my mind.

He's really annoying me these days. At least when he was dour and Ireland weren't doing great then I could comprehend his dispassionate musings but these days I find he's just needlessly negative and doesn't want to apply any sentimentality or idealism to his opinions.

[tetsujin1979]

I was at the recording of that during the week, Wednesday night in the grand social in Dublin. Richie had made it clear earlier that he had no real opinion on a joint team, and didn't think footballers should be asked about it anyway. He flat out did not want to talk about it, but was asked anyway. Thought it was a little unfair to be honest.

[Gather round]

Morning all-enjoyed that 'Second Captains' show about an 'all-Ireland' side.

1 Well done to Ken on including my second-cousin once removed Joe Bambrick on your all time bench. Mother was one of the Roden St McGathers

2 Agreed, the IFA/ FAI divide preceded partition- just- but the two were quickly linked by the public, especially as few Northern sides ever joined the latter. Even in the modern era after Derry transferred

3 Opposition to any reunification has little to do with the 'blazers' protecting their privileges. Most are unpaid

4 You may be encouraged by a common reaction among NI fans. We see qualification as a 30 year high, especially by winning the group; whereas you sneaked in only because the tournament is now so bloated. On the other hand, few of us expect an equally strong showing in 2018 qualifying. Half the regulars will retire. We'll replace Aaron Hughes (100-odd caps and 450 in the EPL) with a guy who was partnering the bass player from One Direction in Doncaster reserves not so long ago

5 The suggestion of a joint civic do at Belfast City Hall was- as usual in local politics- a witless stunt by one party knowing others will respond predictably

6 Surprised they understated reaction to NI born players moving South (esp if from our youth teams). A lot of this is near-hysterical, offering little obvious potential for compromise

7 With James McClean, it's even more so- accusing all our fans and most of the players of sectarianism marked his card even before the Poppy Day antics. Incidentally while his willingness to challenge Britain's militarism fetish is clearly brave, that hardly makes him an original thinker like Liam Brady in the 1980s

8 Many of Northern Ireland's top sports performers don't play for all-Ireland teams either exclusively or at all. The boxers etc. represent NI in the Commonwealth Games; in hockey, rowing, cricket, skiing and many other sports they opt for Britain or even England. Claiming all-Ireland teams is easy, but largely meaningless given the above

9 If Sadleir didn't want to talk about the theme why did he take part?