All Ireland Team

_blank_ · 19-03-2004 12:06pm #1

OK, I'm opposed to this, but is there anyone who thinks it would be a good idea?

What players, if any, from the Northern Ireland team would get into the squad?

Dont Ban Me · 19-03-2004 12:45pm

Keith Gillespie wouldnt be a bad addition to the squad!! Also think George Best could have played for us!!

ambasite · 19-03-2004 12:50pm

Keith Gillespie & George Best - nice combination

Neil Lennon.

cournioni · 19-03-2004 12:56pm

Never mind Gillespie or Lennon... How about Maik Taylor?!

PHB · 19-03-2004 1:18pm

I wouldn't like it.

Just like I like the way Scotland has a football team, and Wales has a football team.

I think each Nationality should get to have a football team and I think we're significantly detached from the North

Johnny_the_fox · 19-03-2004 1:23pm

Aaron Hughes and Neil Lennon probably the only two players that have a chance of making the squad

_blank_ · 19-03-2004 1:24pm

Good point PHB.

I do not wish to make this a political discussion, but the NI team is mostly supported by our Loyalist/Unionist brethern, and not the Nationalist community.

The Nationalists in NI tend to support the team of the Republic.

If the teams amalgamated this would alienate the Loyalists, they would have no team to support/play for that they felt any affinity with.

lad12 · 19-03-2004 2:03pm

Im sorry but there in No one good in enuf in N. ireland team to get into the ireland Squads...never mind the team...

TwoShedsJackson · 19-03-2004 2:16pm

Aaron Hughes isn't bad, good enough to make a RoI squad anyway, whatever about first team. Apart from that they're muck.

eirebhoy · 19-03-2004 2:26pm

Originally posted by lad12
Im sorry but there in No one good in enuf in N. ireland team to get into the ireland Squads...never mind the team...

Look who's back.:D Decided to take a break after the Celtic win?;)

I'd say, actually I'm sure, David Healy would get a place in the squad, if not the team considering the amount of stikers we have at our disposal.

Big Ears · 19-03-2004 2:36pm

yah i also beleive that Healy Taylor and Hughes would be the ones that would make the squad the rest probably wouldnt although , we are short on the right side and gilespie might be able to fill that spot . (might depending on his trial )

_blank_ · 19-03-2004 3:15pm

Short on the left side?....what?....what about Zinedine, Duffer, Kennedy...hardly short?

Kone · 19-03-2004 4:54pm

But how would we split up the crowd?

3 sections

1 for the away supporters!

1 for the nationlists
1 for the loyalists

Seaneh · 19-03-2004 5:00pm

They way i see it is this, it works for rugby, it could work just as well for soccer.

Big Ears · 19-03-2004 7:29pm

Originally posted by seansouth
Short on the left side?....what?....what about Zinedine, Duffer, Kennedy...hardly short?

i meant the right sorry

Davey Devil · 19-03-2004 9:10pm

It will never happen. Northern Ireland are quite happy with there own team even if they are crap it is still THERE team. I wouldn't want them to join up with us and they don't want it either. It's such a stupid idea - it's as bad as suggesting United should join up with City. I mean come on let's be serious here - there'd be riots every game not to mention having to put up with all the Rangers - Celtic crap. Whoever votes yes is an idiot.

Nike_Dude · 20-03-2004 12:17am

It would cause way too much hassle, however that aside we could do with hughes, healy, taylor and lennon. They wouldnt set the squad alight, but would give us some depth that we seriously lack

NightStrike · 20-03-2004 3:39am

Originally posted by Seaneh
They way i see it is this, it works for rugby, it could work just as well for soccer.

Yeah but the foundations of rugby are already mixed. For example Ulster has a team which comprises counties from both north and south. None of the leagues are mixed in soccer.

Healio · 20-03-2004 2:26pm

Originally posted by Kone
But how would we split up the crowd?

3 sections

1 for the away supporters!

1 for the nationlists
1 for the loyalists

LOL:D

That is classic

thesecret7 · 20-03-2004 9:56pm

I think each Nationality should get to have a football team and I think we're significantly detached from the North

YEAH ! i know i wasnt the only one! Lets be honest about this! The republic of Ireland is going places, our soccer team is getting better and better. Any foreigner I talk to loves watching our team! Northerners cant play sport, (just look at their results before u start flaming me), we have nothing to gain, only lots of stuff to loose.. like they would start crying about our national flag or our national anthem! NO NO NO NO !!! I would die a angry man.

Bungalow Bill · 20-03-2004 10:05pm

Personally I don't see myself standing beside a bunch of Ian Paisley wannabees at Landsdowne. I feel no affiliation with the north.

Sorry but to have players who consider themselves British would be too much for me.

knobbles · 20-03-2004 11:10pm

Would it mean we'd have to sing that awful Ireland's Call as a 2nd anthem?
God no, what a nightmare that would be!

Originally posted by thesecret7
Northerners cant play sport, (just look at their results before u start flaming me),

Flaming

...
"Northerners cant play"... Norman Whiteside, Pat Jennings, George Best!!!
yes truly awful results the last 5 years.
but they did qualify for a few World Cups before we managed it,
it just seems the tables have turned in our favour the last 15 or so years.
Anyway, there's no chance of this happening in the near future,
neither side desire it.

Not that the North needed Brady, Stapleton, Whelan & Co. but
We would have made some team in the Spain 82 World Cup.

mike65 · 20-03-2004 11:46pm

If this only about football NOT politics then the answer is NO! (if its about politics the answer is no as well!)

Mike.

Bungalow Bill · 21-03-2004 12:00am

Originally posted by mike65
If this only about football NOT politics then the answer is NO! (if its about politics the answer is no as well!)

Mike.

Is it ever going to be??

Politics are an integral part of any international rivalry. It makes sense that it carries over.
Do you think the Scots would be willing to dump their rugby/soccer team to join the english just because it might make a better team???

thesecret7 · 21-03-2004 12:22am

yeah i agree that politics has a lot to do with this subject. However soccer played back in the 1950's was totally different to now. Then the standard was a lot lower and it was percieved as an english game here hence the south playing with a complex and the north doing average.

however the northern ireland soccer team is terrible, i dont have anything against them but all i see is negativity and poor performance. The only real player they produced was Best. thats the only good thing that came outa the north.

I have a sick feeling that in another 10 years (of northern ireland playing crap) that the north will be crying out to let them in... THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN. what is going wrong with this country... i thought all this nonsense was done and doested

knobbles · 21-03-2004 2:07am

Originally posted by thesecret7
I have a sick feeling that in another 10 years (of northern ireland playing crap) that the north will be crying out to let them in... THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

...north fans on their knees to let them in? I think you're underestimating just how loyal their fans are to their country!

thesecret7 · 21-03-2004 2:52pm

...north fans on their knees to let them in? I think you're underestimating just how loyal their fans are to their country!

what i have to say this,
simply it is true that in another 5 or at most 10 years the north will have to knock on the door to our magificant country, and our soccer team becuase they play like donkeys. Now I am taking a stand to stop these allogations firmly in their tracks.

Oswald Osbourne · 21-03-2004 3:08pm

United team? Sure. As long as Belfast doesn't get any of the fixtures and 'We'll answer Irelands Call' isn't sung within 500 metres of Lansdowne Road.

thesecret7 · 21-03-2004 7:33pm

Rugby is an all ireland team and thats a joke... how many people from the 6 counties were playing against england when we beat them (and thats their favourite sport). So they had to start singing this crap song after the national athem ! Next it will be getting rid of our flag and then ditching the national anthem.

An all island team and we would have to drag ourselfs up to belfast to winsor park "to watch some nice foooooooooootball" (notice the annoying pronounciation). We dont need the likes of Gellespie playing for the team, talk about getting bad coverage for the national squad.

...please remind me what ALL these benefits are?

gudpony · 22-03-2004 4:54pm

caroll would prob be the only player. lennon is muck

cournioni · 22-03-2004 5:28pm

Originally posted by seansouth
Good point PHB.
If the teams amalgamated this would alienate the Loyalists, they would have no team to support/play for that they felt any affinity with.

Pity that, really.

Xterminator · 23-03-2004 10:25am

The level of immature bigotry on this thread is stunning.

I would personally like to see Ireland win the World Cup.

We would have a better chance of having a team capable of winning the WC with the total poulation if ireland, including the 1,685267 (census 2001) that live in nothern ireland, (thats not counting granny qualifiers!).

The fact is that we only have 1 or 2 world class players per generation.
(Liam Brady,Roy Keane, Damian Duff) If we could improve our squad depth with solid pros not chosen from 1st division clubs, and perhaps get the odd gem, like Jenning or Best, then we would improve of chances of winiing silverware.

I am talking about the unification of the FAI and the IFA, and our national teams.
True fans will go to watch the footie, be they loyalist or republican and fÛck the begrudgers!. Sport can be a positive force, overcoming petty differences.

I am not discussing the unification of ireland politcally, which people have entrenched views on

I personally could live with a changing the song we play at home games, if NI players, as well as fans requested it. I can understand that its militaristic language might alienate some people. After all it would not be a 'republic of Ireland' match, but an 'Ireland' match.

That doesnt mean the Republic needs to change its anthem, or its flag! Big difference!

X

knobbles · 24-03-2004 2:03am

...yes it might be ideal for us, but this is just like an English fan saying:
"if we made one international team with Wales and Scotland we'd have a better
chance of winning another World Cup. If only we'd had the likes of Giggs in our team
the last 10 years..."

And do you think any Wales fan longs for one British team so they'd have a better chance of qualifying for a tournament? - No Chance!
The true fans are proud of their identity and country,
that's the North fans included and many wouldn't want to loose that.
The last 2 years have probably been their worst in history yet they still had moments to celebrate like a heroic 0-0 draw in a qualifier at home to one of Europes strongest teams - Spain.

I made a few friends from the North while abroad last year and one of them, a protestant, said he considers himself Irish and supported Ireland in the World Cup while most of his friends at home supported England!
I'd imagine the last thing some of their fans would want is to fall under a united Ireland team. The majority of their fans are honest fans(we all have dodgy minorities) and fair play to the few thousand that have been loyal to the team during their recent dodgy patch.

As long as there's a border on this island, I can't see it happening, so that's the case closed for me for another generation!

All Ireland Team

All Ireland Team 23 votes

Comments