Blatter backs Republic's stance

Denis Irwin

Fifa president Sepp Blatter is reported to have sided with the Republic of Ireland in the player eligibility row with Northern Ireland.
The Irish FA thought they had secured a ruling preventing players from Northern Ireland opting for the Republic.
But Blatter has said that if a player from the north had an Irish passport he could choose to play for the Republic.
The Irish FA, the governing body in Northern Ireland, said it would be seeking clarification from Fifa.
They felt Fifa had ruled that to qualify to play for a country a player had to be born there, have a parent or grandparent born there, or have lived there continuously for two years.
But Blatter told the Sunday Life newspaper: "As the Fifa legal committee understood the issue, the situation in Northern Ireland is such that all Northern Irish players could opt to play for both Association teams, given that they have a birthright to an Irish passport.
"Ireland is an exceptional case because of the political situation."
The Fifa chief was in Northern Ireland for the International FA Board meeting being held in Newcastle, County Down.
A definite verdict on the thorny issue is expected to be taken by Fifa's executive committee on 20 March.
If Blatter's view is confirmed it will be a blow to the to the Irish FA.
They invest heavily in grassroots development and are worried that the Republic could cherry pick some of the best emerging players.
Gary McAllister, Chairman of the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters' Clubs told the BBC that players born within Northern Ireland should play for the country of their birth.
"My concern would be that this would give the FAI an unfair advantage over every other team in international football as they would be the only nation who could pick players from another jurisdiction.
"I don't want to see a situation where a Northern Ireland team is representative of only one section of the community.
"I want a Northern Ireland team made up of the best players players from both sections of the community."
Former Lord Mayor of Belfast Jim Rodgers said that any ruling allowing players born in Northern Ireland to play for the Republic would be "grossly unfair".
"Politics should never be brought into sport and if Mr Blatter's sentiments are expressed in the ruling, that would put Northern Ireland at a strong disadvantage.
"The ruling would only work one way and would not allow players born in the Republic to play for Northern Ireland."
North Antrim Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay disagreed, saying that "many tens of thousands of people in the North support the southern-based team".
"It is the birthright of anyone who has an Irish passport to play for an Irish team.
"If a player does not want to play for a team, they should be able to play for the team for which they have an allegiance.
"It is about freedom of choice and politicians should not force players to play for teams against their will. "I adhere to the Irish soccer team based in Dublin but would not force that allegiance on anyone else."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/7917738.stm


I wonder will the IFA finally accept it now having being told previously that players born in the North were eligible for an Irish passport under the Good Friday Agreement and therefore eligible to play for what they regard as their home country.

Will Southern born players be able to play for NI?

Denis Irwin

Papa Smut wrote: »

Will Southern born players be able to play for NI?

No unless they have a relative from the north with a British passport.

Mr.Nice Guy

I think Irish passport holders should have the right to play for the team but it's hard to know whether Blatter will stick with this position. They need to sort it out once and for all though.

eagle eye

Simple solution, put them all together and have one team like Rugby. It would be great to have all Irish players on one team. I don't see why we have two teams anyways. Maybe the Northern Ireland FA members who join up could sort out the FAI.

Bounty Hunter

if Blatters view is confirmed Northern Ireland imo will never have a better team than the Republic (not that they have now or anything). We will be able to pick our players aswell as players born in the north and even some of those that would still have an allegiance to Northern Ireland and consider themselves British would consider playing for Ireland (as many non-irish players did previously through the granny rule) as they would have a better chance of success and playing in major tournaments with the Republic.

As someone from and who supports the Rep of Ireland id be happy if this became the case but this will be a disaster for Northern Irish football.

Re: the All Ireland team: id love to have Evans to partner Dunne

leninbenjamin

Blatter once again likes to make everyone's life difficult. He should never be let offer his own opinion publicy for a situation like the above.

from the discussions we had here before on this issue, by the sounds of it if FIFA rule in favour of the FAI in march they may well have to back this up with an explicit change of the rules to handle our 'exceptional case' with the GFA as the IFA do have the letter of the law on their side as the current rules stand. But that in turn opens the floodgates for more 'exceptional cases' which FIFA avoid like the plague (and rightly so I guess, although this attitude does cause plenty of problems with national governments being practically powerless in the face of corruption within national FAs).

despite me leanings towards the ability to choose, methinks this will swing back in favour of the IFA by the time it has played out fully.

eagle eye wrote: »

Simple solution, put them all together and have one team like Rugby. It would be great to have all Irish players on one team. I don't see why we have two teams anyways. Maybe the Northern Ireland FA members who join up could sort out the FAI.

N.I. football is still entrenched with hardcore loyalists at all levels of the game. this is not possible still, and wont be for the forseeable future.

Guy:Incognito

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I think Irish passport holders should have the right to play for the team .

The governmnt can give a passport to anyone is chooses though.

Is that not exactly what everyone moans about with the "plastics"?

eagle eye wrote: »

Simple solution, put them all together and have one team like Rugby. It would be great to have all Irish players on one team. I don't see why we have two teams anyways. Maybe the Northern Ireland FA members who join up could sort out the FAI.

One of the leagues would have to be abolished though.

Who chooses which one? who gives up their headquarters and joins with the other?

Helix

Papa Smut wrote: »

Will Southern born players be able to play for NI?

if theyre eligible for a norn iron passport of course they will

anonymous_joe

Helix wrote: »

if theyre eligible for a norn iron passport of course they will

Yeah, but the IFA know that while Catholic Nordies would probably choose the Republic over their own team, the likelihood of the opposite happening is quite low.

Guy:Incognito

Helix wrote: »

if theyre eligible for a norn iron passport of course they will

A governent can shoose anyone to be eligable for a passport by just giving them one though.

eagle eye

Stekelly wrote: »

The governmnt can give a passport to anyone is chooses though.

Is that not exactly what everyone moans about with the "plastics"?




One of the leagues would have to be abolished though.

Who chooses which one? who gives up their headquarters and joins with the other?

Abolish both and start a new one.

Helix

Stekelly wrote: »

A governent can shoose anyone to be eligable for a passport by just giving them one though.

yeah but lets be honest, protocol is generally followed

Guy:Incognito

eagle eye wrote: »

Abolish both and start a new one.

Thats easy to say but who runs it? Which teams are in it?
Where is the HQ?

You'd need the agreement of both to abolish them and start again.

Helix wrote: »

yeah but lets be honest, protocol is generally followed

Generally, but why bother when we can sign a load of Brazilians and win the WC?

It's just club football with out transfers if the gentlemans agreement side isnt adhered to.

Aidric

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Re: the All Ireland team: id love to have Evans to partner Dunne

Yep, I like what I've seen of Evans so far, that would be a nice central partnership.

DSB

Who really cares about this mans opinion to be honest? He is always harping on about something he doesn't like that he wants changed, and nothing ever happens because he hasn't a clue.

redout

Never thought I would say this but Blatter is correct here and the Northern Irish FA are trying to pick a fight they cannot win here. If they have a bone to pick here then it should be with the English in all honesty and thats not being sarcastic as they effectively brought this about.


EDIT: Best solution in my opinion is an all-Ireland team much like how the rugby works. One cant argue the benefits out weigh the negatives here. It would give us a better chance of qualification for tournaments and a better showing in them.

pickarooney

If the passport is the key to eligibility, what's to stop Northern Ireland picking a load of England/Scotland/Wales players who are just outside the reckoning for their 'national' sides?

dogpile

If a Norn Iron player wants to play for the Republic badly enough what can they do? apart from deprive a player of an international future! did they honestly think if they'd won the Gibson case he'd have packed his bags and gone to play for them :rolleyes: ,,I should coco, not!

Guy:Incognito

dogpile wrote: »

If a Norn Iron player wants to play for the Republic badly enough what can they do? !

If Messi wants to play for us bad enough, should he be allowed too?

redout

Stekelly wrote: »

If Messi wants to play for us bad enough, should he be allowed too?

We can all dream brother. Might not be as far fetched as you think as there is about 500,000 Irish descendants in Argentina believe it or not.

Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Argentine

Edit: Think the first admiral of the Argentine Navy was an Irishman back in the day.

Guy:Incognito

redout wrote: »

We can all dream brother. Might not be as far fetched as you think as there is about 500,000 Irish descendants in Argentina believe it or not.

Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Argentine

Not really the road we want to go down though (football in general I mean). Countries will start offering a million or 2 to young players to declare for them.

Bounty Hunter

Stekelly wrote: »

Not really the road we want to go down though (football in general I mean). Countries will start offering a million or 2 to young players to declare for them.

Harry Redknapp International football manager

dogpile

redout wrote: »

Edit: Think the first admiral of the Argentine Navy was an Irishman back in the day.

Di Stefano had an Irish grandparent and could have played for Ireland, sure jaysus he played for everyone else so why not us!

Che Guevara was another with Irish connections, don't know how he was at his football but he'd have been a handy man to have in the "Love Ulster" riots

anonymous_joe

pickarooney wrote: »

If the passport is the key to eligibility, what's to stop Northern Ireland picking a load of England/Scotland/Wales players who are just outside the reckoning for their 'national' sides?

Gentleman's agreement exists between all the Home Nations that prevents them doing so.

That's why Manuel Almunia can't play for England. Basically, you can gain UK residency, but not 'footballing citizenship' of any home nation.

And Channel Islanders get to choose which country to play for I think.

dogpile wrote: »

Di Stefano had an Irish grandparent and could have played for Ireland, sure jaysus he played for everyone else so why not us!

Che Guevara was another with Irish connections, don't know how he was at his football but he'd have been a handy man to have in the "Love Ulster" riots

He was a well known rugby player.

cournioni

ULSTER SAYS NOOO!

Or obviously not in this case. The people had a choice then, and they chose to accept the agreement. Gibson took the Irish passport because he considers himself Irish as the Agreement entitles him to it.

Therefore, he should be entitled to play for either the Republic or the Six Counties, he was given that choice because of the peoples choice in the Agreement. Too bad for the IFA, but the people have spoken.

Savman

Nothing Sepp loves more than to shove it up the Brits.