The FAI's poaching policy.

briany

Some fans in Northern Ireland don't like Darron Gibson and they really really don't like the FAI because they perceive the organisation as having snatched away one of their best young talents. Some Scottish fans are the same on Aidan Mcgeady labelling him a traitor. Is their anger justified do you think?

JPA

In fairness, it's a simple choice by the player. It's not like a player moving clubs for more money, they choose to play for Ireland because they obviously want to.

noodler

McGeady supported Ireland as a kid in fairness. Saw a youtube video of him playing footie and wearing the jersey when he was a kid.

FYI like.

luckylucky

briany wrote: »

Some fans in Northern Ireland don't like Darron Gibson and they really really don't like the FAI because they perceive the organisation as having snatched away one of their best young talents. Some Scottish fans are the same on Aidan Mcgeady labelling him a traitor. Is their anger justified do you think?

Well I think the Scottish arguably might have a case. But since a nationalist playing for NI has to listen to God Save the Queen, stand under a flag which represents the Unionist side and possibly come under death threats ala Neil lennon if they play for the 'wrong' club team, until those matters are addressed I wouldn't blame any NI nationalist for playing for us instead.

Fr Tod Umptious

JPA wrote: »

In fairness, it's a simple choice by the player. It's not like a player moving clubs for more money, they choose to play for Ireland because they obviously want to.

in some cases there may be a little bit more to it than that, players may want to play with countries that may have a better chance of making big tournaments

Back in the early 90s why did Alan Kerrnighan declare for ROI when his only connection was that he had a grandparent born on 'the island' before 1920 ?

stovelid

briany wrote: »

Some fans in Northern Ireland don't like Darron Gibson and they really really don't like the FAI because they perceive the organisation as having snatched away one of their best young talents.

I wouldn't say that's the only reason that most of them dislike the FAI.

Your use of the word Traitor should provide a hint.

briany

I've heard some scotch say that the reason McGeady chose to play for Ireland for the cynical reason that he thought he'd have more chance of playing in a World Cup but looking at Ireland's final position in qualifying groups in the last decade, they exactly eclipsed Scotland so I don't think that can really be the reason. How come I never see it happening the other way around? Have there ever been guys with Dublin accents playing for scotland and saying that their paternal grandparents were Scottish, they spent their summers in Edinburgh and have always felt Scottish?

major bill

up to the player really!! question can the same be done down south for example could a player born in the republic play for northen ireland? and can a player who holds a british passport in the uk play for any of the 4 football associations? just something about the latter i always wondered.

anonymous_joe

briany wrote: »

I've heard some scotch say that the reason McGeady chose to play for Ireland for the cynical reason that he thought he'd have more chance of playing in a World Cup but looking at Ireland's final position in qualifying groups in the last decade, they exactly eclipsed Scotland so I don't think that can really be the reason. How come I never see it happening the other way around? Have there ever been guys with Dublin accents playing for scotland and saying that their paternal grandparents were Scottish, they spent their summers in Edinburgh and have always felt Scottish?

Because, to be absolutely blunt, name a Protestant Irish footballer?

Right off the top of my head I can name Alan Maybury.

The Scottish FA rightly or wrongly has always seemed to favour the Rangers side of things more than the Celtic if you follow my drift, and Norn Iron's fans/FA can and have been astonishingly bigoted in the past.

Also, a lot of Catholic lads up North would have been GAA players, so there'd probably be less of them than the Protestant players, exacerbating the issues.

Fr Tod Umptious

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Because, to be absolutely blunt, name a Protestant Irish footballer?

Right off the top of my head I can name Alan Maybury.

Alan Kernaghan

briany

But they both played for the republic didn't they? I'm wondering if there are any players born and raised in the republic who play for other nearby countries out of some feeling of ancestral allegiance if you will or being overlooked by Ireland.

luckylucky

briany wrote: »

But they both played for the republic didn't they? I'm wondering if there are any players born and raised in the republic who play for other nearby countries out of some feeling of ancestral allegiance if you will or being overlooked by Ireland.

lol this nonsense type argument doing the rounds again. There has been no widespread immigration into Ireland for centuries until the last decade or so - the flow has been mostly one way - some of it through choice and some of it through sheer necessity - so the percentage of people in the republic with strong ancestral allegiances to other countries is going to be miniscule, perhaps in another 10 years or so it might be different. On the flip side having so many people of Irish extraction outside of Ireland it's hardly that surprising that there will be some of them playing for Ireland.

Secondly when players from the Uk have played for Ireland in the past for the most part it's coz they could not get their game for England or Scotland - so it's not as if they were regarded as a loss to either England or Scotland at that time. Of the minority who did genuinely opt for us as first choice instead - under FIFA rules that was their perogative. I mean the Unionists up north 400 years on still regard themselves as British,that being as it is I don't see why just 1 or 2 generations on that someone of Irish extraction in the UK can't choose to regard themselves as Irish if they so wish!

speedboatchase

Gary Cahill please

everdead.ie

There are something like 85 million ppl in the world with Irish ancestery and a lot of them are very proud of there Irish roots.
Thats quite a large pool of talent at our disposal;).

Also just because someone is catholic or protestant in Northern Ireland doesn't necessarily mean they feel Irish or british a large amount don't even count themselves as either simply being northern Irish.