Irish Olympic Football Team

**IsMiseSean** · 30/10/2007, 10:44 AM

With all this talk of a British olympic team taking part in 2012
Just wondering has an Ireland team ever taken part in the olympics?
I never hear anything about qualifying, is there even a qualifying campaign?
What is the maximun age of players?

Anyone know the answers and has any other useful information?

**paul_oshea** · 30/10/2007, 10:45 AM

its 23 isnt it? the max age?

**Torn-Ado** · 30/10/2007, 11:06 AM

Dont you have to qualify for the U-21's European championship to get through to the Olympics?

I might be wrong. And I think it U-23 with three older players allowed.

**Dodge** · 30/10/2007, 11:21 AM

We've tried to qualify muplitple times. Since 1992 the qualification has been through the UEFA Under 21 championship. In 1988 it was a League of Ireland side. In other years it was a purely amateur side.

In the finals its under 23 with a max of 3 over age players

**Metrostars** · 30/10/2007, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Torn-Ado

Dont you have to qualify for the U-21's European championship to get through to the Olympics?

I might be wrong. And I think it U-23 with three older players allowed.

You're right. For 2008, the top 4 teams of the U-21 Euros get in: Netherlands, Serbia, Belgium, Italy

**gspain** · 30/10/2007, 1:32 PM

We played in the Olympics twice.

1924 beat Bulgaria and lost to Holland AET in the quarter finals both at Stade Colombes

1948 lost to Holland in the preliminary round at Fratton Park.

We have tried and failed to qualify on a number of occasions since dating back to at least 1960. This ironically includes home and away defeats by Great Britain in the 1960 and 1968 qualifiers.

**Superhoops** · 30/10/2007, 1:36 PM

Originally Posted by gspain

We played in the Olympics twice.

1924 beat Bulgaria and lost to Holland AET in the quarter finals both at Stade Colombes
1948 lost to Holland in the preliminary round at Fratton Park.

We have tried and failed to qualify on a number of occasions since dating back to at least 1960. This ironically includes home and away defeats by Great Britain in the 1960 and 1968 qualifiers.

Gary, was that your first away trip?????

**pateen** · 30/10/2007, 2:10 PM

Yeah well with a class manager like Don Givens what do you expect

**gspain** · 30/10/2007, 2:42 PM

Originally Posted by Superhoops

Gary, was that your first away trip?????

Nah waiting for the semi final. part-timer in those days.

**shaneker** · 30/10/2007, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by gspain

We played in the Olympics twice.

1924 beat Bulgaria and lost to Holland AET in the quarter finals both at Stade Colombes

1948 lost to Holland in the preliminary round at Fratton Park.

We have tried and failed to qualify on a number of occasions since dating back to at least 1960. This ironically includes home and away defeats by Great Britain in the 1960 and 1968 qualifiers.

I remember a cracking article about this in the Ireland v Germany unofficial match programme at WC 02, think it was called 'The Real First Time'. Can't lay my hands on it these days but maybe someone else has it?

**theworm2345** · 31/10/2007, 12:07 AM

I heard Ronaldinho wants to win a gold medal, so I think he's going to be on the Brazilian Olympic time next time around

**shaneker** · 01/11/2007, 12:37 AM

Managed to dig out the old match programme and thought it would be of interest for people to read the article. Brings a bit of a tear to your eye to think of our footballing Olympians. Great stuff.

The Real First Time

Ireland’s first appearance in the finals of a major football tournament, a shock 1-0 win for starters on a glorious summer Sunday afternoon only to be cruelly robbed of a semi final place by the Dutch. We walked tall all week. Our hearts burned with pride. I rang home to discover my late grandmother had watched the first football game of her life. She had cried her eyes out. Fourteen years on it still means a lot. 13,000 of us were there, tens of thousands more claim to have been there yet we all lie. My grandmother may well have cried her eyes out when Ireland won the opening game of their first major football tournament but it would have been pure coincidence because she was just out of nappies. There weren’t 13,000 fans baying for the final whistle (84 minutes early). There weren’t millions more screaming at TV sets. 500,000 did not line the streets to welcome home our heroes. Only 500 people squeezed into the Stade de Colombes. The nation didn’t find out for hours. The heroes are surely long dead and sadly long forgotten. Euro 88 was a great adventure but the team that went to the Olympic Games of 1924 were surely the real pioneers of Irish football. The football tournament was played a couple of months before the real games and is now considered to be the world’s first major International tournament. It was a forerunner to the World Cup 6 years later. Jules Rimet was the organiser. 22 nations took part including Uruguay, U.S.A., Egypt, Turkey and Estonia. Uruguay emerged triumphant but only Ireland from these islands participated. A 1-0 victory over Bulgaria was followed by a 2-1 defeat by Holland in extra time.

Only 16 of the 22 man squad actually made the 2 day overland journey to Paris along with trainer Charlie Harris. The fledgling Irish Free State was just recovering from a Civil war and this was the first time that the new Irish tricolour was raised at a sporting occasion. We played in blue shirts. Paddy Duncan of St James’s Gate scored the only goal to defeat Bulgaria while a Frank Ghent equaliser was not enough to deny Holland who survived a ropey second half to steal it in extra time. Frank Ghent was not actually selected for the Bulgaria game but his inclusion meant that 5 of the cup winning Athlone Town side represented Ireland in the quarter finals. Surely we’ll never see that again. Contemporary reports mention that the Irish and Dutch partied together long into the night. If it was half as good as memorable nights in Gelsenkirchen, Palermo, Liverpool, Dublin and Orlando then it must have been quite a party.

These games are now classed as amateur Internationals by the F.A.I. They were certainly listed as full Internationals up until at least the early 1940’s when Thomas P Walsh published the first history of Irish football. The 1924 tournament does however merit a few paragraphs in Peter Byrne’s excellent history of the F.A.I. The 75th anniversary of this tournament passed by unremarked.

**backstothewall** · 04/11/2007, 1:21 PM

Who is responsible for running football in the olympics?? Is it FIFA or the IOC.

It could be used to put a new spin on the Gibson row if the IOC. Wayne McCullough was Irish enough for the IOC, and he's from the Shankill.

**Dodge** · 05/11/2007, 9:38 AM

Originally Posted by backtowalsall

Who is responsible for running football in the olympics?? Is it FIFA or the IOC.

Its FIFA.

It could be used to put a new spin on the Gibson row if the IOC. Wayne McCullough was Irish enough for the IOC, and he's from the Shankill.

He was Irish enough for the AIBA (Amateur boxing's FIFA) and either football is the only sport that splits Ireland. Athletes/Swimmers/Rowers etc etc are free to represent either Ireland or Britain.