Same probably goes.
What about Rockall, if born there can you play for 7 teams! Scotland, Wales, England, 2 Irish teams, Sweden & Denmark!!
A quick question about the Isle of Man
Which country are these guys eligable to play for?
Same probably goes.
What about Rockall, if born there can you play for 7 teams! Scotland, Wales, England, 2 Irish teams, Sweden & Denmark!!
Shane,
You are posting from the perspective of an ROI fan browsing (posting?) the site of a rival's supporters. Quite naturally, such fans are challenged by the great majority of OWC posters. And as is always the case, the more "rabid" NI fans make the most noise. However, you should not make the mistake that these latter are representative. As ever, it is the same few (myself included!) who account for the majority of posts, which obsures the fact that OWC now has over 13,000 registered Members (I think). I am quite certain that the majority of those are in the middle of the spectrum, but being moderate, they either don't post often, or their views get swamped by the noisy minority.
Why do I feel this? Because I am an NI fan who posts in the "Ireland" section of foot.ie! Although I have generally tried to avoid personalising the debate and choose my words carefully (at the expense of brevity!), I was somewhat taken aback by the vituperative response which I initially encountered. In fact, I could reproduce your above post virtually word-for-word, but with the labels reversed.
Subsequently, however, I came to appreciate that a relatively few extreme individuals do not actually represent the consensus on foot.ie, just as my experience tells me that that is so with owc.
Therefore, for every offensive/extreme/irrelevant/contentious MOPE on OWC, there is a "Lopez" on foot.ie.
Anyhow, that's my "two cents worth". But I will leave you with one further thought for consideration as we await a final decision by FIFA on this whole issue of eligibility and identity. Those ROI posters or commentators who are most vehement in their condemnation of all those "bigots up there in the North" are invariably those who are also most concerned to see their team united with the NI team into one entity. Has it never occurred to them that any "united" Ireland team which should ever come about will NOT be a "pick and mix" operation? That is, if you are to get our David Healy, you will also get us?
Which is why I personally feel there is about as much chance of the NI team being somehow subsumed into the ROI team as there is of the FAI finally admitting they acted hastily all those years ago and asking to be readmitted into the "real" Irish Football Association - Original and (George) Best!
Christ, you weren't over for the TT Races and unearthed the next footballing superstar*, were you? Now that would have the potential to cause a bit of a row!
Anyhow, assuming you're serious, I would expect that IOM players would be treated the same as Channel Islanders. That is, in the absence of a National team for them to represent in international competition, FIFA would look to their individual circumstances to see which country they might most reasonably represent. And although they have autonomous self-government and are not EU-members, for example, the IOM also has a somewhat unique relationship with the UK - travelling on UK Passports etc.
Therefore, if the individual has a parent/grandparent from one of the four home" nations, or has resided in one continuously for at least two years, he will be tied to the respective Association. However, in the absence of one of these, he may choose which of the four he may represent. (
* - Personally, we could do with a good young keeper sometime soon to replace Big Maik
That was down to my lys dexia EGHow ironic that that this should have been on a thread entitled "Eligibility Finalised"!
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
With so many members (13k?), the server sometimes crashes at times of high activity, despite their having purchased extra band-width several times already this year.
Also, times like these attract a higher than usual number of trolls from out beneath their rocks.
Consequently, the Board occasionally suspends new membership applications and/or access to non-members*, until things quieten down.
Keep trying, though with our vital last two qualification games for Euro2008 both imminent, I suspect that the traffic on the site is going to be heavier than ever for a few weeks!
* - Just occasionally they even temporarily suspend access for Members i.e. go Patrons only
I stand well open to correction but I do have some form at interpreting FIFA statutes
The agreement between the 4 UK federations - just refers to bloodline connection as criteria apart from obvious birth place..
It is a royalist agreement not republican. (The annex conditions are republican.) Residency does not come into it at all.
A footballer born outside the borders (on one of the Islands) of the 4 UK federations and holding a shared nationality UK passport can choose whatever national team he wants to play for. There are no conditions applied as in residency or blood line and neither of these conditions stand in the way of choice.
FROM FIFA
3. British associations
1 There is a specific agreement, stipulating the conditions to play for a
national team, for the four British associations134. Besides having British
nationality, the player needs to fulfi l at least one of the following
conditions
a) he was born on the territory of the relevant association;
b) his biological mother or father was born on the territory of the
relevant association;
c) his grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the
relevant association.
2 If a player has a British passport, but no territorial relationship as
provided for in conditions a-c above, he can choose for which of the
British associations he wants to play135.
135 e.g. a player who was born on the Cayman Islands and holds British nationality can choose to play
for any of the four British associations if called up by a British association.
Last edited by geysir; 08/11/2007 at 11:53 AM.
EG has handled this but I do believe Isle of Man has a representative team who, unlike us, didn't ship any goals against San Marino. Couple of links below...
http://www.isleofmanfa.com/FixturesA...ntative+Teams/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of..._football_team
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
EG gave an incorrect answer
he wrote
if the individual has a parent/grandparent from one of the four home" nations, or has resided in one continuously for at least two years, he will be tied to the respective Association. However, in the absence of one of these, he may choose which of the four he may represent
This is not in the agreement
Surely FIFA's 2006 Annex would supercede the Home Associations' (1984?) Agreement? That is, before the Annex, the Home Agreement determined eligibility both for "British" players born within the territory of one of the four Associations and for those born outwith such territories.
Regarding the latter - e.g. Maik Taylor - the Annex now supercedes the Agreement. Therefore a new Maik Taylor would NOT be allowed by FIFA to represent NI, but could represent Germany (birth) or South Africa or England (residence).
Consequently, the Home Agreement only has practical effect in determining eligibility for players born within the territory of E,S, W or NI (i.e. not IOM or CI). A recent example is that of Andrew Driver of Hearts (cited earlier)
If born in one of those territories then the agreement conditions rule.
A Channel Islander can choose whichever of the 4 federation.
Maik Taylor was not born in the UK so annex conditions apply135 e.g. a player who was born on the Cayman Islands and holds British nationality can choose to play
for any of the four British associations if called up by a British association.
Taylor was not born within the UK, so the Annex would apply if his case came up now - Agreed.
But players born e.g. in Channel Islands, or the IOM, or the Cayman Islands will also have been born outside of the UK, since none of these islands is a constituent part of the UK (constitutionally), nor do they represent any part of the territory of the four home Associations.
Therefore, why won't the Annex now apply equally to them?
The IOM have their own team (same as the consituent members of the Channel Islands)
Both them and Jersey are in the process applying for full membership of UEFA/FIFA (Jersey have recently been upgrading the national stadium at Footes Lane to meet the stadia standards)
Kom Igen, FCK...
True, but like, eg Gibraltar, unless they achieve full FIFA Membership, they won't be able to play recognised competitive Internationals.
In the meantime, any player who may be good enough for such competition will have to find some other team to represent. Which is where the eligibility question comes in. As I said, I feel the Annex would govern any effort by someone to represent a UK team, but in the unlikely event (imo) that that were not relevant (i.e the player had no parent/grandparent from the UK, nor hadn't yet resided two years in one of the home countries), then the Home Agreement would take effect.
Geysir appears to think differently, I'm open to correction.
The Annex does not apply to people who are citizens of a country by virtue of their birthplace. Those Islanders are granted full unconditional UK citizenship by virtue of their birth place.
I have spent a lot of time trying to explain this to you, if you had understood this point then you would have been in the privileged position to contribute to peace, love and reconciliation on this Island, instead you, along with Howard Wells, carry the burden of the divisive mass outbreak of ignorance north of the border about the FIFA statutes.
The Cayman Islands etc for reasons we all know are allowed a full UK passport. Those born in such "territories" which have that "privilege" are subject to terms of the 4 country UK Agreement (which has been lodged with FIFA and is written in to the statutes) should they choose to exercise the right to declare for an UK federation. As full holders of a full UK passport by virtue of their birthplace they can play for any UK national team,
the agreement clearly states that they have free choice over which UK team they want to play for.
I think I am repeating myself here
the annex conditions and UK agreement are explained in the latter part of this commentary document
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affe...fen%5f1843.pdf
Fine. I accept that under the Agreement lodged with FIFA a Cayman Islander etc may still choose which of the four British Associations he wishes to represent.
But having cleared up that particular point, I fail to see why I (and Howard Wells!) am carrying the "burden of the divisive mass outbreak of ignorance north of the border about the FIFA statutes", since the likes of Darron Gibson are a completely different case entirely.
Or is Derry in the Cayman Islands? Isle of Man? Channel Islands, perhaps?
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