Originally Posted by
OWC's Doc Top
The way we approach this issue has to change. The decision is made, players from NI can represent the ROI, there is nothing we can do about this. This has to become, on one level, a moral issue about players, in effect, stealing caps from those that want them. It needs to be stressed again and again that these people DID choose to play for Northern Ireland at any number of levels, no-one forced them, they showed up of their own freewill and did so knowing what anthem was going to be played and what flag flown.
In addition, the IFA has to take some action. I sometimes get the impression that there are those in the IFA who view the NI team as an inconvenience and are simply waiting for the day that we are forced into an all-island team.
Of course, FFA must continue and the IFA must continue to pick players solely on merit, but all call-ups for all levels must include a note that accepting the call-up means that they are explicitly committing themselves to NI. Anyone not willing to make this public and signed commitment should not be picked until they are prepared to do so. If someone wants to bide their time, that is their perogative, but it should also be made clear that any acceptance of a call-up from any other international association from- and this is crucial- a NI born player will, regardless of FIFA rules, mean that they will not be selected for NI at any level again. We are not obliged to pick people who qualify for us, were born in NI and think that they can chop and change their allegience. If we lose a couple of players this way, so be it, there is more at stake. Anyone who switches should be required to return their caps and shirts. Perhaps we should appeal to players' self-interest and draw up a database of current and former ROI players in the top two flights of English football (the top division in Scotland). There will be lots of them, but most will have won only a handful of caps, yet still play at a high level (Paddy Kenny and Rory Delap, spring to mind, and would certainly still be playing for us).
We also, unfortunately, need a public statement from the FAI that they will not select anyone who has played for NI at u19, u21 or full international level, regardless of their technical eligibility for the ROI. The IFA should publicly demand a meeting with the FAI on this issue, and in the name of continued cross-border co-operation, ask for this. If it is not forthcoming, then the IFA has to ask very loudly "Why not?" after all, it would not be conceding the principle that NI born players can play for the ROI team, merely that the FAI do not select those that have already freely and willingly represented us. At this point, all ties should be broken and the FAI treated just like any other foreign association. The IFA can take the moral high-ground on this issue if it chooses, and, again, it should be stressed that these players were happy enough to represent NI at various youth levels, but if the FAI (and it is a big "IF") has any sense of decency it should sign up to this. (Perhaps it should be pointed out to them that if the next Robbie Keane signs apprenticeship forms with an English club and lives there for a couple of years he is eligible for England. Anyway, I digress.)
While the FAI's approach may not be deliberately sectarian (although, regardless of intention, the reality is that it is, and particularly provocative a matter of weeks ahead of a meeting between the two teams) or deliberately designed to destroy the NI team, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see that if this is not at least the subtext to their efforts, it also has an impact in NI beyond football as it further divides a society still riven by sectarianism.
We will, however, survive, but whether we can survive as we have always existed as a cross-community team which is entirely representative of the people of Northern Ireland remains to be seen.
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