Eligibility Rules, Okay

[ArdeeBhoy]

Heh, good luck getting anything so contentious changed without political input. Can't see it myself.

You really don't get it.

I'm quite sure those players we "hoovered up", did have "boyhood dreams of playing for England at Snr International level, when they played for England underage representative sides.

Er, Hypocrisy alert. Not one of your better replies.

Still if they're eligible for the North, they're eligible.
The IFA should be acknowledged for finally taking advantage of the same rules as everyone else!

But yet, earlier in the thread, you queried why Northern Ireland fans won't be cheering on the South next summer?

Maybe because there's no team of that name playing!

Do have some anecdotal evidence of them supporting us in the past and even on OWB 10 years ago there was a big article discussing this.
Including in the past, a certain Rotund poster from here!

If they don't want to it's up to them, but some do keep telling us how 'Irish' they are, so you'd think they'd want to support the team that bears the name of that country. Other than their 'own'.

[Not Brazil]

Heh, good luck getting anything so contentious changed without political input. Can't see it myself.

We're talking about the IFA deciding what Anthem they wish to play at Northern Ireland International matches.

We're not talking about changing the National Anthem of Northern Ireland.

[ArdeeBhoy]

It's a moot point that the North should have any anthem, given it's not a country. But part of a much bigger one!

[Not Brazil]

Er, Hypocrisy alert. Not one of your better replies.

I was right - you just don't get it.

Can you point me to any English born player, who played for England underage International sides, who had "boyhood dreams" of playing for Northern Ireland?

[ArdeeBhoy]

Actually you don't, if you really put so much emphasis on the dreams of, er, young boys!

[Not Brazil]

If they don't want to it's up to them, but some do keep telling us how 'Irish' they are, so you'd think they'd want to support the team that bears the name of that country. Other than their 'own'.

Right back at you.

Seeing as you are also "Irish", I'd have thought that you and any other South fan, would have "a soft spot" for another team that bears the name "Ireland".

Perhaps you're a closet partitionist?

[ArdeeBhoy]

Except I already answered this...

Though it does sound like you need an atlas?

[Not Brazil]

It's a moot point that the North should have any anthem, given it's not a country. But part of a much bigger one!

Indeed.

The National Anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland is God Save The Queen.

The IFA could have whatever "sporting" anthem it chooses - like the Scotland & Wales Associations.

[ArdeeBhoy]

A fair point, but the North isn't exactly straightforward in that respect. As you should know!

[Not Brazil]

A fair point, but the North isn't exactly straightforward in that respect. As you should know!

No, it is pretty straightforward.

The National Anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland is God Save The Queen - that will not change should the IFA decide to adopt a uniquely Northern Irish "sporting" Anthem for use at Northern Ireland International matches.

[DannyInvincible]

I think that stops him from playing competitively with our u21 until the current qualification/ competition ends.

You sure about that? My understanding is that to effect a change in a player's status as far as the eligibility regulations are concerned, he would have to actually play for his original association.

8.1(b) He is not permitted to play for his new Association in any competition in which he has already played for his previous Association.

[ifk101]

You sure about that?

No.

[geysir]

That's why ifk wrote "I think".

I understand that Danny is correct, a player has to be capped in order for him to be bound for the duration of a competition.

[Not Brazil]

My understanding is that to effect a change in a player's status as far as the eligibility regulations are concerned, he would have to actually play for his original association.

That would be my understanding also.

[DannyInvincible]

That's why ifk wrote "I think".

Of course. Excuse my impertinence.

[geysir]

Impertinence or just a small polite dose of nordie bluster?

Some (very small) seeds of doubt were sewn in IFK's mind a good while back in this thread, about that the official recognition of a player playing for his country is only given to a player who enters the field of play, either in the starting line up or as a sub.

As distinct from a disciplinary position, as we saw with Shane Long, a player is recognised as violating a ban just by being an unused sub.

[Mr_Parker]

No doubt our Under 21 International will let the FAI know if he's interested.

He's not your's or anyone else's in international terms. However he is ours. Don't worry though, he will be well advised.

[DannyInvincible]

Seeing as you are also "Irish", I'd have thought that you and any other South fan, would have "a soft spot" for another team that bears the name "Ireland".

Perhaps you're a closet partitionist?

I suspect you're being frivolous, but an interesting idea/inference nonetheless. I'd have thought support for NI, rather than an absence of such, might be viewed or interpreted as an outward expression of support for (or at least contentment with) partition/the status quo. As we know, the FAI's team is pretty much a de facto all-Ireland team nowadays. The original aim of the break-away federation was to replace the IFA as the all-island association on a de jure basis, although that wasn't realised, of course, and will presumably only ever come about in the event that the two jurisdictions on the island re-unite and the FAI becomes the single successor association for football in Ireland, like how West Germany's Deutscher Fußball-Bund became successor to the former East German association upon the re-unification of Germany in 1990.

Anyhow, all Irish nationals, irrespective of where on the island they are born, are free to declare for the FAI. In that sense, I think the FAI suffices as the one genuine national representative association/team for the nationalist community north of the border, just as it fulfils the footballing role of representing Irish nationals everywhere. The IFA and its team are (or are seen as) a cultural manifestation/legacy of a continued official British presence in Ireland, or what became a partitioned island, so nationalists need not necessarily feel the need to have a soft spot for it simply because it is claimed to exhibit a sense of Irishness; one that is somewhat dubious or suspect to them, or, at least, culturally distinct anyway from their sense of unique and national Irishness due to the primacy the regional (?) other accords to an over-riding and inherently-bound (?) sense of Britishness. By its very nature and existence, it represents another cultural identity; not that that's a problem. Of course, nationalists are more than free to have such a soft spot or to have one for particular NI players familiar to them, but I don't think it means a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. I like to see Paddy McCourt do well at international level, for example, but it has no bearing on my personal views on the merits or demerits of partition. NI may do well as a by-product of McCourt doing well, but that's not something that really concerns me either way. Likewise, Stoke City winning the Premier League wouldn't make much difference to me, but I would be pleased on a personal level for the likes of Glenn Whelan and Jon Walters if they'd had a role to play in that.

NB; is your regional (?) sense of Irishness compatible with an exclusive and non-British Irish identity as a national one? I'm still trying to get to grips with it.

[co. down green]

He's not your's or anyone else's in international terms. However he is ours. Don't worry though, he will be well advised.

Great prospect

As is Killough's Ireland u19 international Paul George who made it 3-0 to Young Celts against Marseille this evening.

[Predator]

Great prospect

As is Killough's Ireland u19 international Paul George who made it 3-0 to Young Celts against Marseille this evening.

Paul George has been outstanding every time I've seen him. Europe's young elite already fear him.