“From our side nothing has been decided”
There seems to be conflicting news coming out regarding the issue of the FAI drafting players from throughout the island of Ireland. The Irish Independent reports that FIFA has now decided “the FAI, who may no longer quote the Good Friday Agreement as an excuse for drafting up players born on the island of Ireland” while the Belfast Telegraph says that from now on the FAI “can only call on players born in the Republic, or whose parents, or grandparents, are born in the Republic or where the player concerned has lived for two years in the country”.
But the Irish Times and FIFA are saying something completely different. Update: The IFA have now confirmed FIFA have yet to decide on the matter.
The paper reports that the FAI:
described as “good and constructive” its meeting with Fifa yesterday in relation to the eligibility of players born in the North to play for the Republic. A four-strong delegation from Merrion Square came away from Zurich with a commitment that there will be no retrospective changes to the current position. The status of Darron Gibson has, therefore, been resolved.
Beyond that, it remains to be seen what attitude Fifa’s legal people will take to the IFA’s claim that the terms of the political settlement in Northern Ireland altered the situation. “We need some time to review all of the information that has been presented at these meetings,” said a spokesman for Fifa yesterday.
Slugger gave FIFA a quick call and was informed that as this issue has refused to go away for quite a while now, FIFA decided last August to call in both organisations for a final round of talks. The IFA set out their stall in Zurich last week while the FAI put forward their view on Monday.
The spokesman repeated what the Irish Times reported, namely that it first needs to review the information it received at these two meetings, which could take days or even weeks, before making a decision.
“From our side, nothing has been decided,” said FIFA.
Hopefully, we all won’t have to wait too long to have a definitive and final ruling on this issue.
UPDATE: The IFA have come out and said that media reports saying FIFA has ruled on the matter are “premature”.
“FIFA has told us that they will make a judgement before the end of October and we have not yet heard anything from them,” said IFA chief Howard Wells.
So it seems the BBC, the Belfast Telegraph and the Irish Independent are the ones with questions to answer over their reporting of this matter.
Also, to the best of my knowledge the latest BBC report which contains the IFA statement is also inaccurate in that it says FIFA has yet to rule on the “Gibson case”. Gibson has already been cleared to play for the Republic of Ireland as, whatever it decides, FIFA won’t act retrospectively.
Doctor Who No one is saying nationalist players should not play for the NI side but what i would like to see is a right to chose thats all how does that put your team in danger most players of a nationalist backround would stick with NI because the set up seems better that the republic i honestly cant see the problem.The republic should drop the SS on condition the north drop GSTQ hows about it
look the republic should drop the SS if you get rid of GSTQ i dont get you how would this put you team in danger most players from a nationalist backround would probably still go with NI all i want is a right to chose thats all dont want to see the end of any team.
Its all about respecy, mh87. There exists precious little of that towards the status of Northern Ireland from both the FAI and the IRFU.
One deems Belfast as an away venue to weasel out of a long standing agreement on flags and anthems, whilst the other uses the GFA to try to walk all over the IFA with regard to players, knowing full well that winning this one would see our team potentially destroyed. Friendly neighbours, eh?
Shameful behaviour, tantamount to bullying really.
Lets hope in the end FIFA do indeed come down in the favour of the IFA, but until I read it I wont be satisified they have. Decency dictates they do.
sorry for the double post
“Still, can’t expect too much from someone who thinks The Jam were New Wave.”
sheesh! I was there sonny. I’m in “Shellshock Rock”- well the back of me head is anyway.
The Jam toured with the Buzzcocks and the Clash on a… new wave package. Yeah they diverged into a mod revivalist phase, but new wave covered everything from the Boomtown Rats (better than they’re remembered) to the cartoon punks Sham 69 (worse). See ? Trying too hard again cos you’re scared of reality.
mark- I know several nationalists from Coleraine who are NI( and Celtic) fans- though they are older- er.. my contemporaries I guess, who sit behind me in the south stand on a block booking and have since the 1990s at least. So what?
“And this action by the IFA, do you think it increases or decreases goodwill fom the ‘RC/nationalist people’?”
…well it wasn’t a fight the IFA started, and they’re entitled to- no , obliged to- defend themselves. End of.
But of course we shouldn’t be fighting. So ask the FAI why they started poaching our players if they are our friendly neighbours
iluvni,
‘decency’
Surely it would be the decent thing to do to simply allow people to chose, NI or ROI?
“Shameful behaviour, tantamount to bullying really”
It is you are oppose giving people the right to play for the ‘country’ they most identify with and are citizens off.
Its just about choice -why fear people’s free will?
Darth,
“our players”
Again a question free will, you don’t own young nationalist who happen to be good a football.
I find that expression almost frightening, I sicerely hope that it is a football thing.
iluvni
“Its all about respecy, mh87. There exists precious little of that towards the status of Northern Ireland from both the FAI and the IRFU.”
I don’t know too much about this subject but have seen a lot of discussion on various message boards over the last year or so. Am I just daft in thinking that the IRFU were being respectful of the GFA by deciding not to play GSTQ / fly the Union Flag as if they did they would have had to play the SS/fly the Tricolour? Am I right in thinking that sometime back that there was a similar incident involving the playing of GSTQ at Queens for a graduation ceremony when the Palace instructed that GSTQ not be played?
The decision not to play GSTQ at Ravenhill for the Italy game was made prior to the St. Andrews Meeting where a lot of fairly strong ‘incentives’ to focus minds such as if the two main parties would not go into office, the Union Flag & Tricolour would be flown over Stormont. I’d appreciate if someone could clear this up for me.
Thanks.
Darth
Tour names or not, the fact that the classic line-up of the Jam were gigging in 1976 means they were Punk not New Wave (of Punk – geddit?). You’ll be telling us the Stooges were grunge next.
Anyways back to the point:
So ask the FAI why they started poaching our players if they are our friendly neighbours
Oh, some consistency on this would be helpful. You were earlier claiming that Gibson left after being mistreated by the IFA ( to quote Jonny evans)and now it’s ‘poaching our players’. Surely ‘your players’ are the ones that want to play for NI. Concentrate on them, eh? (To quote today’s Irish News editorial)
Ps I’m losing count of the number of Catholics you personally know that follow NI – what is it…17/18000?
“If it is the former, then the FAI should feel free to select from the North. If it is the latter, then it shouldn’t.
For the record, I think it’s the latter. And I suspect FIFA will too. ”
What you and the IFA are doing there, IJP is attacking at a fundamental level my citizenship of the Republic of Ireland. It is completely and totally against everything the last 15 years of the peace process has been about. Fuck you, and fuck the IFA. I had moved to apathy, from loathing because of the sickening loyalist chants, considering the strides they’ve made, but after this? Fuck them.
I don’t give a shit about “Northern Ireland”. I would be happy to see it go tomorrow and would do anything legal within my power to make it so. I care not one jot for its institutions, its symbols, the “Our Wee Country” bollocks, the football team or any other team. You name it, I don’t care. I suffer it simply because I respect the democratic system, and I expect others to do too if the circumstances change.
I care not one jot for you’re distinction. The question is simple: am I an Irish citizen or not? I am glad to see you and your Unionist Lite vision exposed despite all the bollocks rhetoric and posturing.
I’d like to see if this has been confirmed or not, because then I have a great deal of political representatives to write to. I sincerely doubt this could stand a legal challenge in the European courts.
How dare the IFA try to tell me or anyone else my nationality. How fucking dare they.
Oh for christ’s sake boys pick the toys up and put them back in the pram. Nobody’s telling you your nationality. You’re Irish. Fine.
The IFA still have responsibility for football in Northern Ireland though. The Republic of Ireland team is not an all-Ireland team and no amount of temper tantrums will change that.
A British passport holder can’t pick and choose which British team to play for and an Irish passport holder can’t pick and choose which Irish team to play for.
It’s in the Irish Times too, Kensei.
BBC now claim that Howard Wells said no announcment has been amde yet and the news headlines are premature…
curiouser and curiouser – is someone trying to hand FIFA a fair accompli?
“Oh for christ’s sake boys pick the toys up and put them back in the pram. Nobody’s telling you your nationality. You’re Irish. Fine.”
Yes they are. They are insisting in football terms, I am “Northern Irish” which I most certainly am not.
“The IFA still have responsibility for football in Northern Ireland though. The Republic of Ireland team is not an all-Ireland team and no amount of temper tantrums will change that.”
No, but as an Irish citizenship I should have the right to play for the country for which I have citizenship and affinity too. Otherwise it defeats the fucking point of international competition.
“A British passport holder can’t pick and choose which British team to play for and an Irish passport holder can’t pick and choose which Irish team to play for. ”
Actually, as has been pointed out in this thread, some British passport holders can.
Fuck the IFA.
“It’s in the Irish Times too, Kensei.”
Link?
“our playersâ€
Again a question free will, you don’t own young nationalist who happen to be good a football.
I find that expression almost frightening, I sicerely hope that it is a football thing.”
AAaaaaaargh
Ok Ok- The players who live in the occupied six counties or are descended from people who do/did.
If I don’t see the border as a porous or optional barrier then tough. If yer from Newry or yer granny’s from Strabane, yer a potential NI player- and only that, unless like Joe Kinnear yer other granny’s from Dundalk and you are a dual national. If you want to play for someone else, tough. Kenny Dalglish wanted to play for Rangers. Did he take up shinty when an inferior rival gave him a shirt?
“the fact that the classic line-up of the Jam were gigging in 1976 means they were not New Wave (of Punk – geddit?).”
Yeah, and Leo Sayer was gigging in 76 too. If they were punks why did Joe Strummer sneer “They got Burton suits- they think it’s funny, turning rebellion into money”?
“Ps I’m losing count of the number of Catholics you personally know that follow NI – what is it…17/18000?”
No- only 4, but again I don’t know all of the people who sit in the Alex Russell Stand or where they go on Sundays. I also know a man who supports Linfield and Glasgow Celtic. I don’t make assumptions about people. Except -of course-that Man Utd fans are all morons
“You were earlier claiming that Gibson left after being mistreated by the IFA ( to quote Jonny evans)and now it’s ‘poaching our players’. Surely ‘your players’ are the ones that want to play for NI”
Tony Kane is another example, along with other unknowns- looks like a policy to me.
Hypothethical situation. Bear with me. It’s 2030 (3030 if you prefer). There are two political entities and two international football teams in these islands, Ireland (32c) and Great Britain.
Trevor from Ballymena is a decent player. Doesn’t fancy playing for Ireland, feels they don’t represent his identity, he doesn’t like the anthem and flag, he has a British passport and he wants to play for Britain, the team he supports. He’s getting flak from the Irish Football Federation for his decision, but he’s made his mind up. GB want him and World Football (FIFA was dissolved in 2014 because it was totally corrupt) have been called in.
Well, whaddaya reckon…?
well, If Britain gives him citizenship and a passport ‘as of birthright’, then yeah, why not? He’s british, let him.
Billy;
“I can’t imagine why anyone who reads your posts on Slugger would think that”
Care to qualify that, I asked you on another thread & still no answer!
Silly Billy again;
“Personally, after my experiences in Windsor Park in the 70s, 80s and 90s, I would never support NI or encourage any Catholic to so do.”
My God Billy youre a bit of a slow learner arent you, 3 decades attending Windsor Park, to figure out that Northern Ireland fans are, according to you, a bunch of bigots.
Not unless youre telling porky-pies Billy, like we caught you out before!
Pretty much proves who the real bigot is……..Billy Liar!
I hope the IFA and FAI don’t fall out.
I like the Setanta Cup.
‘As an Irishman living in the North’
Cromwell
You may have an Irish passport, but what exactly do you have to do with the ROI?
Were you born there? Did you ever live there (never mind 2 years)? Do you have a parent or grandparent from there?
As for your son, if you wish him to play for the ROI, why don’t you do what needs to be done and move there?
The FIFA rules aren’t unreasonable. They expect you to have some actual connection to the country in question, other than just a passport.
“Because the whole idea of international football is about players representing their respective countries”
Exactly. And if you don’t have any actual connection to the country in question, why should FIFA consider it to be ‘your’ country?
The first part of the above was directed at Bemused, not Cromwell.
good grief
Can you get over the fact that it isn’t about real world citizenship.
It’s about FIFA’s rules.
If you don’t qualify to play for the ROI under FIFA’s rules then your citizenship is irrelevant.
Why should you get to play for a country that you weren’t born in, haven’t lived in for 2 years, and you don’t have a parent or grandparent from that country?
FIFA wants you to have some connection to that country, and not just a passport from it.
For all the fuss about granny rules, the people who qualified under them have more to do with the ROI than you do.
“There is no way FIFA can stop Irish born people playing for RoI”
USA
What do you mean by Irish born?
FIFA’s rules mean that ROI born people can play for the ROI.
Why should someone born in NI get to automatically play for the ROI? That person wasn’t born in the ROI, were they?
You do know that NI and the ROI are two different jurisdictions don’t you?
If you are born in NI then your FIFA country is NI. You could play for the ROI if you live in the ROI for 2 years or have a parent or grandparent from the ROI.
But if all you did was get an Irish passport because you are entitled to one, what real connection do you have to the ROI?
‘My Irish Citizen children would not be eligible to play for Ireland.’
Briso
There is no FIFA team called Ireland.
There is a team called the ROI.
As for your children, what connection do they have to the ROI? Were they born there? have they lived there? Do they have a parent or grandparent from there?
Apart from wishing to be part of a united Ireland with the ROI, what connection do you or your children have to the ROI?
Is it that the ROI gave you all passports?
I think it’s funny that all these ‘Irish citizens’ in NI talk about wanting to play for/support ‘their country’, when what they really mean is that they want to play for/support a united Ireland team.
They are all great anti-partitionists at home, yet claim in droves that the partitionist 26 county entity is ‘their country’ when it comes to football.
Isn’t the truth that they simply do not want to support or play for the 6 county partitionist entity, and therefore project their affections onto another partitionist entity, pretending that it represents their dream of a united Ireland?
There is no united Ireland team, so they project the ROI team as representing their dreamed of united country. Even though it is as much a child of partition as NI.
Sad. There is no team to represent them, so they pretend one that exists is something different from what it really is.
Rejecting partition by supporting a partitionist entity.
”Did he take up shinty when an inferior rival gave him a shirt? ”
That inferior has won a European Cup…..ahem!