Originally Posted by
EalingGreen
I really don't have time to look out the records (off to Tirana first thing tomorrow), but you and Mr. P are being seriously misleading if you think that the IFA ever actively sought to force NI players to carry UK Passports, or that Aherne's intervention was critical in reversing this.
The key elements are these.
1. It was FIFA who made such a requirement entirely out-of-the-blue, following a mix-up by one of their officials, entirely unrelated to anything Irish. I've no doubt that they issued their Circular without even thinking of the implications for the IFA;
2. When the Circular arrived at Windsor Avenue, it no doubt caused a degree of confusion/consternation. As a result, someone seems to have mentioned to a player(s) that they might/would have to get a UK Passport, but this was NEVER an IFA policy, and I am pretty certain that no general letter was, even can have been, sent out to NI players.
3. At this point, events took off down two lines. First, the IFA realised this needed sorting and got in touch with FIFA. Simultaneously, some (unnamed) player who had got wind, instead of going back to the IFA, got onto Pat Ramsey (player's local MLA?), which alerted Aherne. Suddenly, they (politicians) had a cause-celebre on their hands, and the papers had a "story". (As we all know, politicians don't refuse publicity any more than papers refuse ink).
4. Anyhow, the IFA was informed verbally by FIFA that NI players could use ROI passports, as normal, before the week was out.
5. Meantime, Aherne and Co. tried to claim the "credit" for this situation. Now it may well be that their "spin" was eagerly accepted by certain pet journalists - esp those who deal with political, rather than footballing matters (see eg the BT's plainly erroneous - not "curious" - report which you cite from May)
6. Finally, when FIFA got round to sorting out their paperwork and issuing rpelacement Circulars etc in May, Aherne looks to have made a final effort to claim credit.
This last, however, overlooks three key factors.
A. FIFA takes a dim view of overtly political interference in its internal affairs, preferring instead to deal via its Member associations. (In fact, I seem to recall a FIFA Official expressing irritation that the politicians were getting involved before they'd had a chance to look at it themselves?);
B. I do distinctly remember that the IFA was able to announce (end of March) that the matter was being resolved before anyone from the Irish Embassy was even able to set up a meeting with FIFA.
C. For as long as there has been a Free State etc, the IFA has been selecting players who have had Irish Passports. Had they wished, for some utterly bizarre, inexplicable reason, to prevent this from happening, they had the simple remedy of refusing to select them. Therefore why would they suddenly decide that they wanted to force players to carry UK Passports, as well as their Irish ones? Never mind the poltical controversy involved, expecting teenagers to cough up the extra fee for a second Passport (£70-odd?) was guaranteed to cause resistance.
Therefore it really doesn't make sense.
As for the contradictory accounts, these may be easily explained by a combination of both (initial) confusion at Windsor Avenue (which Wells and Currie subsequently look to have been attempting to conceal), along with certain politicians' seeking to gain political advantage at the expense of sport (and the truth, for that matter).
Neither of these last two factors surprises me.
Late Edit: It is not at all "incredible" that the IFA had made no official statement by the time of Aherne's "official letter of complaint" to FIFA. That was because they (IFA) were still discussing it with FIFA themselves and were in no position to speak out of turn. What you and Mr. P are overlooking is that it is easier for a meddling politician to make the running with Press Releases and public letters than it is for hard-pressed administrators (both IFA and FIFA) to sort these things out at 1,000 miles distance.
Remember, too, that whilst I have not the time to check it, the IFA will almost certainly have had some representative teams competing internationally between the end of March and the end of May. If it was never finally sorted out until May 26th, what Passports do you think the various players and officials actually travelled on?
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