First of all all Northerners aren't the same otherwise there wouldn't have been any issues(!), but I know what you mean and agree totally.Originally Posted by SilkCut
This is an interesting pyschological study into what happens when you do not engage with the other strand of the community with which you live.
You only hear one point of view all the time, and take it as accepted fact as it is unchallenged.
When stuff like these "defections" and "poaching" happen, your cosy little world is shattered. Of course these are neither "defections" nor "poaching", but again you think that due to the fact that you have dismissed all other points of view.
Sadly this seems to be STILL the attitude of the predominantly Unionist fan base of the NI football team.
So they have gone running to Switzerland, where the FAI (if they need to even turn up) will make mincemeat of them.
Have they acknowledged any reasons as to why they may be to blame?
No
Have the engaged in the nationalist community from where these "defections" originate?
No
What have they said?
F**k Shane Duffy, I hope he breaks his leg the wee c*nt (from OWC)
F**k the FAI
F**k the beggars (this from the most subsidised region in western Europe!)
F**k Fifa
F**k Liam Brady
And the F**k All Integrity jibe from an organisation who's president is an Orangeman, signed a 100 year lease with an at-the-time openly sectarian club Linfield, and chased two of their clubs Derry City & Belfast Celtic out of their league simply because they were predominantly Catholic?
And yet, after all this, they expect to have a "gentlemans agreement" with the FAI?
Are the IFA a group of gentleman?
What sort of gentlemen, when charged with administrating football in all of NI, choose themselves to play an anthem which alienated nearly half its population?
Seeks to go against the spirit of the bitterly negotiated GFA, which has brought us some stability after 3 decades of conflict?
The FAI are not the special case here.
NI, England, Scotland & Wales are the special cases. The others know it, and they will not support the IFA.
Here are some things the IFA should do (for the sake of balance):
-Change their anthem immediately to something neutral (Danny Boy may be a dirge but it was good enough for Barry McGuigan and others). Not just talking hot air about it, DO IT.They could call EGM and do it within a week if they wanted.
-Openly apologise to the nationalist community for the disgraceful behavior to their supporters, players AND clubs over the years
-Change their name from the Irish Football Association, as they only appear to be "irish" in any way, shape or form when they are trying to twist "their" interpretation of eligibility rules
-Stop calling the FAI decision sectarian, when GSTQ & No Surrender blast out from Linfield 15%'s home ground, Windsor Park
The IFA and the bigotry of its fans are ENTIRELY responsible for this situation. They have been a total and utter disgrace for the last number of decades.
After the death threats and defections, the English anthem still bellows out around WP. If you have access, check out the disgusting attitude of the NI fans on the OWC forum towards the Republic and its supporters regarding this. And try and reconcile this with nationalist fans wanting to share an allegiance to a team (& stadium) where this is the representative view.
However,
in a Machiavellian way,
the IFA could turn out to be the best recruitment agency the FAI will ever have had...
Well we could call you 'The Planters' or worse. But why bother?
They should stop being so paranoid and recognise that not everyone in their archaic colonial theme park Doesn't want to belong to it or its sports teams, unless they really had to.
Actually I'd disagree with DanTM's last post. As an ardent nationalist I'd say, to be fair, that a number of them are now contradicting this stereotypical viewpoint. That said, there are still paranoid bigots on there of the worst kind also.
You are correct some are, but this issue has sadly drowned out some of the more reasonable points of view.
There are some noble intentions, but no action has been taken on them.
Hopefully this will change...hopefully.....for their own sake.....
In terms of the recruiting part - as long as the FAI is not making the first contact to a player who is currently playing for another country I have no problem, as long as the player or his proxy makes the first contact there can be no argument given the current rules. I especially welcome players who were born and raised in NI.
The IFA can feel aggrieved but it's part and parcel of international sport these days. If Shane Duffy or Darron Gibson are fulfilling an ambition to play for ROI why would the IFA want to stand in their way?
It's also odd that they're reportedly going the legal route once more while at the same time acknowledging that Duffy is fully qualified and entitled to represent the ROI. Didn't they go the legal route last year when Gibson made his move, what has changed?
Given the political and historical situation FIFA cannot be allowed to deny any person born in NI the right to play for the ROI regardless of whether or not their parents or grandparents were born on the Island pre-partition. I suppose they could put in a clause that says children of immigrants from outside the island of Ireland wouldn't be qualified to play for ROI, I'm not sure if that is a gray area of not.
In fairness to the FAI they made no issue of Shane Lowry & Paul Marshall leaving.
Also this talk about investing resources in player development is pretty much a lot of pish. The real development is done by the clubs, not the odd get together at international level.
And Duffy is 18, how many 18 yr old prospects have actually gone on to be as good as people forecast. Is JOSH really the new Paul McGrath? Duffy could be playing League 1 in a couple of seasons, or injury could end it at any time.
But it's like an employee choosing to go work somewhere else you have to respect their decision and wish them the best of luck, sport and even international sport today is a business, it's a career not just an honour.
The best of luck to him!
Besides all the predictable gurning, haven't the North taken various players, just on the pretext of a Brit.passport, eg.Maik Taylor, who have no have no connection to N.E.Ulster whatsoever....I'm sure there must be more!
Nice hypocrisy all the same!
Last edited by ArdeeBhoy; 26/02/2010 at 11:57 PM.
great posts from Paddy Garcia, DanTheMan and Qwerty.
The only thing the FAI need to stop doing is actively recruiting NI players at underage level. This is not fair at all in my opinion and if it is happening, it should stop. If the players want to play for Ireland they can make their intentions known to the FAI at any stage up to a senior competitive cap according to the FIFA rules.
If the owc idiots and IFA imbeciles could see past their loathing of the FAI and Ireland in general, they would see that their beef should really be with FIFA's rules, the players who choose to play for Ireland and their own intolerance and sectarianism which is alive and thriving, as heard in Richmond tonight.
Anyway, its being said better by other posters here so ill step back out of this one.
Last edited by SkStu; 27/02/2010 at 1:36 AM.
The game tonight was in Richmond Park not windsor park. It was the pseudo hooligan Linfield night. Truely depressing stuff. Nobody likes us we don't care? This is sad behaviour. The were not Brazil stuff must be soul destroying for all pro footballers in NI. Bouncy, bouncy will suffice over qualifying for a major championship. Sad and delusional.
edit made, thanks Noely, i picked it up wrong from what i read.
Absolutely accept all northerners are not the same should probably have said that. Rest of your post is spot on. The fact remains that as long as people born in the North are entitled to ROI citizenship then they are also entitled to represent the ROI in whatever field they wish - no court in the world can deny that, to do so would make the Good Friday Agreement null and void surely not even Sepp Blatter and his greedy minions would attempt to do that!!
Help something bit me!!!
No problem Skstu. I am a Rovers fan through and through but I did attended any LOI team playing in Europe in the 70's/80'sclose to Dublin. And that included Bohs against Newcastle, Sporting Lisbon and Rangers. And Limerick against Real Madrid and Waterford against Honved at Milltown. Now that was serious row time. Especially Bohs against newcastle and Rangers (Garda murdered).
If behavior of fans was an issue then you should only consider the behavior of NI fans. Imo the actual behavior of Norn Iron fans home and away at their games is not an issue. Since the Lennon debacle at the Norway game, the support for the most part is no different from any passionate bunch.
You can't mix accounts of a club support and imply that this is what passes for OWC support.
No more than you cast a shadow on Ireland fans because of the conduct of some who attach themselves to a LOI club.
Maybe some of NI's fans should question why so many players from NI want to play for a team that they call the "beggars".
This name calling may be a sympton as to why so many young men from NI wish to play for the RoI.
All players from any part of Ireland are welcome to play for Ireland(RoI). Hopefully for the most part supporters of Ireland will refrain from calling anyone derogatory names.
And we haven't got the time to wade through your bullsh*te!Haven't got time at present to make a full post on this overall thread...
Indeed, my attention was drawn the other day to the latest example of their willingness to ignore established, but inconvenient, rules and procedures etc i.e. the new shirts, where they call themselves "Ireland" on the badge etc...
http://www.faishop.com/section/19
"FAI"?
"F**k All Integrity"
Late Edit: Whilst posting this, I came across a reference to the Gentlemens' Agreement; apparently Sean Ryan confirms it in his 1997 book "The Boys in Green - The FAI International Story".
Anyone out there got a copy to hand?
GSpain perhaps?
If you're harking back to the fifties, that was a time when players could jump from one country to another 'country' at will. This was no problem to the FAI as Irish players of whatever persuasion could play for the South in the World Cup - I noticed in typical imperialistic attitude that you felt that this competition was beneath you until the 1950 qualifiers kicked off - and they could play for the North in the British Championships. Indeed, both teams wore the same kits for much of the time, and no one gave a f*ck what the teams was called. There was no problem until FIFA used the British championship for the qualifying group for the 1950 World Cup. Obviously this would cause a problem for the FAI.
As for 'integrity', now who do I refer to the find out the name of my country. Some bitter and twisted bigot from Ealing so sad he has to go on a football forum of fans from the country hates most to pontificate and bullsh*te...or my country's constitution. The name of the country is Republic of Ireland. Same as Republic of France, Republic of Italy or Republic of Bongo-Bongo Land. Does anyone refer to these countries with the 'Republic' bit? No! So my advice to you is check yourself into some rehab for the mentally unstable and get some much needed EST.
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
Haven't they done this before? A decision was made and yet they are re-presenting an old case. They must have had an appeal last time, and I take it they were told in French or German to F**k Right Off! This shouldn't even get through the door this time.
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
Liking your thinking Senor. You there Tuesday?
(In reply to Geysir). I think you'll find it is one of the main reasons nationalists stay away and players like Duffy choose to play for the ROI. The Linfield crowd last night at the Pats game would also make up a large part of the NI support. Lets not kid ourselves here. I have no problem with them taking the **** ala singing Thierry Henry. The BNP stuff not so funny. And all too real.
Last edited by Noelys Guitar; 27/02/2010 at 10:58 AM.
Is the Pope a Catholic?
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
It truly is naive to disregard the impact that the image of NI has on players' decisions and I've noticed that some people tend to. Most reasonable Northern Ireland fans will acknowledge this, but some will dismiss it out of hand.
It's like a tradition among kids from nationalist backgrounds who play Northern Ireland to bow their heads during the playing of GSTQ and that is even present at underage level too! Why should kids have these kinds of thoughts in their heads?! I mean, kids, including Duffy, just want to play football, but the image of playing for Northern Ireland is unfortunately extremely politically-charged and the fault for that must surely lie with the IFA and the fans.
When I think about it, the IFA are not appealing the decision FIFA made, instead they are asking FIFA to uphold the decision.
What are CAS going to say except a resounding yes, that FIFA are upholding the eligibility statutes that were rewritten and accepted May 2008.
Not only do the IFA still not understand the statutes, they are using the same failed argument (that FIFA must uphold the statutes) as last time.
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