It's very hard to accept that we allow the Northern Irish to harangue, harass and bully people who consider themselves Irish and have the legal right to play for Ireland, in this day and age.
Can you imagine Croatians being harassed to play for Serbia or vice-versa?
It is asinine and we are a soft country for tolerating it.
It is hard to accept. But that's how it is.
A strongly worded letter to the FAI perhaps?
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Who tolerated it? The IFA were roundly mocked for their vindictive stance and the FAI, backed by FIFA who acknowledged the righteousness of our case, duly defended themselves and Kearns in court. Irish nationals from the north continued declaring for their country. The IFA since amended their former misguided position to a more mature and progressive one. I even wrote a line or two on the whole thing myself, y'know?Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
The only thing with which I take issue is this notion that certain players eligible to play for us might be deemed "uncontactable" by the FAI simply out of some unnecessary respect for the IFA. Why treat them differently from any other rival association?
Isn't it more likely a sensitivity to stick the players might get from both mainstream and social media in NI? Which applies much less to youth players in England and Scotland.
My understanding is that the whole family are staunch Republic fans. Good luck to his brother with the North.
I've heard from several fans based in Belfast who know Ryan and tell me that he is depserate to play for us. Him postponing his international career for several months at such a young age is indication to me that he wants to play for us. Unless you're a Stephen Ireland, you recognise what it can do for your career and good performances for the North still put him in the shop window for Brendan Rodgers to see.
I would say he's been told that these upcoming friendlies won't count as a final decision and it will give him a chance to play against top players. He recognises the logic in this and good luck to the lad if he becomes an international with the North down the line.
While I have some understanding of why it is hard for the FAI to be seen to be openly poach a player from Northern Ireland, the North do all and sundry to poach our players if they can. I don't have a problem with them chasing our players to improve their team, but equally we shouldn't feel that we can't do the same. In 3 year's time, young Ryan could be playing for Stevenage, but equally he may have fulfilled his talent and be lining up for Liverpool. It would be a shame if we let him slip through.
I'd rather MON go after lads like him, than chasing down guys who view us as a 2nd choice. BTW, I'd still be delighted if Kane or Redmond declared for us
Whether we agree with it or not, it's unlikely Martin O'Neill will do any chasing after him as he's already represented the IFA at under-age level, so be sure to pass on the message and let him know he'll have to, y'know, contact the FAI first.
He must be on Twitter...
I see there was no inclusion in the USA's World Cup squad for Shane O'Neill, so he'll remain eligible to play for us for the meantime at least.
Ryan's the player that the lesser MON claimed he wouldn't be surprised about if (the immoral, feckless, heathen sinners in the) FAI had been deviously trying to turn him. In fact he literally claimed he had to travel around England in secret in the hunt for eligible players, because the FAI would be tailing his moves and likely to snatch his targets as soon as his back was turnedWhether we agree with it or not, it's unlikely Martin O'Neill will do any chasing after him as he's already represented the IFA at under-age level, so be sure to pass on the message and let him know he'll have to, y'know, contact the FAI first.
I gather one of the main moods in the IFA camp is still victimhood.
Re the IFA amended position you mention, it is in fact just an amended position, from stubborn antagonists towards acceptance of the CAS judgement, mainly because they have no other option but to accept that judgement. Maybe by their standards that could be seen as progressive, but I see their basic attitude is similar to what it was and is still a country mile from acceptance of the reality of social and ethnic equality in the 6 counties.
They were were quick to postpone the mildest of liberal moves, to ditch GSTQ, even when they had opportunity and an excuse. They have disempowered those fans who are ready and willing for change, and those fans want change not because of any great hope that nationalists will suddenly flock to WP, but because it's the thing to do, to ditch the trapping of a Brit identity being the default identity.
Are there public records of such statements? I'd be interested in reading those.Ryan's the player that the lesser MON claimed he wouldn't be surprised about if (the immoral, feckless, heathen sinners in the) FAI had been deviously trying to turn him. In fact he literally claimed he had to travel around England in secret in the hunt for eligible players, because the FAI would be tailing his moves and likely to snatch his targets as soon as his back was turned
I gather one of the main moods in the IFA camp is still victimhood.
Hehe, I didn't quite go full hog and say it was progressive. I just described it as more progressive than their former position. If that's saying much though, I'm not sure...Re the IFA amended position you mention, it is in fact just an amended position, from stubborn antagonists towards acceptance of the CAS judgement, mainly because they have no other option but to accept that judgement. Maybe by their standards that could be seen as progressive, but I see their basic attitude is similar to what it was and is still a country mile from acceptance of the reality of social and ethnic equality in the 6 counties.
They were were quick to postpone the mildest of liberal moves, to ditch GSTQ, even when they had opportunity and an excuse. They have disempowered those fans who are ready and willing for change, and those fans want change not because of any great hope that nationalists will suddenly flock to WP, but because it's the thing to do, to ditch the trapping of a Brit identity being the default identity.
It's not. And a decent summary by the Iceman in his second paragraph.
A gift that keeps giving.
http://americansoccernow.com/article...reel-sensation
This lad Lynden Gooch was called up to our under-19's last year, if my memory is correct. He's well settled with the US now.
I really wonder about Shane O'Neill. I'm very familiar with his background and the Irishness of it all- his dad even has an Irish pub in Colorado. I think if he makes the move to a PL club then the chances of him playing for Ireland will grow because he spent much of his summers in Ireland and being in England is likely to make the link stronger.
Is he of the Gooch tribe from Kerry?
Did he say it directly? he might have but read the lines he has been quoted at and read the reported interpretation which is probably a widely believed attitude.
March 13 Grass isn't always greener Bizzarely here he accuses the FAI of being immoral because they don't make false promises to players.
“To go to a player at 17 or 19, to change their allegiance without any promise of a full international career, it’s a moral issue. An 18 or 19-year-old that’s made that decision can find they have no route to being a senior international.
from this article in the respectable Belfast Telegraph March 14 2013
The newspaper hypes up the paranoia/victimhood to fever pitch
Northern Ireland manager O'Neill slams Football Association of Ireland in eligibility row
the Northern Ireland manager believes that the those who run the game in the Republic of Ireland don't act morally when it comes to exploiting a Fifa loophole that allows them to select any player born on the island of Ireland.
The eligibility ruling has been a thorny issue for almost a decade, with the Irish FA being the victims of a one-way system that leaves every player available to O'Neill vulnerable to being poached by the Dublin vultures.
'Since his appointment as Northern Ireland boss 15 months ago O'Neill has scoured the UK and beyond in search of players with a Northern Ireland bloodline that might bolster his squad. He acts very secretively – he is forced to – because with Fifa declaring open season in Northern Ireland any player he comes up can be snatched away.
O'Neill's criticism of the FAI is a major deviation from the Irish FA's normally tepid stance. The party line is that the decision to switch international allegiance is a personal one and also one that has to be respected.'
here we have adirect quote about Michael O'Neill's own ignorance about ethnicity, nationality and FIFA's eligibility rules, directly promoting the sense of paranoia and victimhood.
May 26 The Hergled
"Any player who's eligible for us is eligible for the Republic and it's an unfair rule.
"If you have an English-born lad whose father is from Belfast, he's eligible to play for the Republic and it's not right," O'Neill told the Herald.
"It's not fair and we are the only country in world football that has to deal with this.
"If you were the manager of Denmark and you know that Sweden can just pick all your players, but you can't pick any of theirs, I don't think that would be tolerated, so how is it fair?"
Paranoid dig at FAI
Aug11 2013 BBC Sport Ryan McLaughlin puts club before Northern Ireland
"I would not be surprised if he has been targeted in some way by the Republic of Ireland"
So as Michael O'Neill scouts around English clubs, driving in the dark of the night in order to, persuade, mollycoddle, love bomb, promise the earth to, intl prospects, no doubt due to his admitted levels of paraonia and victimhood, would lead him to believe he has to operate in secret, because the immoral FAI would be in like a flash because they have no scruples.
Crikey, I'd somehow managed to miss (or forget) some of those. Pretty damning. Any time I'd heard him speak on the issue upon taking the job as manager, he seemed reasonably enlightened and forward-thinking - happy to accept reality and take ownership of the situation - but maybe he's since been infected by that wretched paranoid bug due to more frequent exposure to IFA victimhood. I'll have to reformulate my opinion forthwith. The ignorant moaning quoted in the Herald in May of last year is especially surprising considering his own association shunned the unique compromise offered by FIFA to put the rules aside and keep the IFA quiet.
Last edited by DannyInvincible; 26/05/2014 at 10:32 PM.
In a similar vein.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sp...-30314097.html
Interesting comments on their Fbk page.
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