To Settle a bet...

nbar12

Can Sunderland's Connor Wickham play for Ireland?

Kess73

No.

His father is from Northern Ireland as are two of his grandparent's so Northern Ireland would have been the only other country he could play for other than England


His mother and her parents are English.

Jax Teller

Isn't his Father from the North ?

Never mind Kess edited his post

Kess73

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

Isn't his Father from the North ?

Never mind Kess edited his post

Had to as I was mixing him up with another youngster that had a Northern Ireland connection through his grandfather.:)

bren2001

Through the Good Friday agreement any player eligible up North is eligible down south. When applying for the Northern Ireland passport he has the option of getting a ROI and thus is eligible for us.

That was my understanding.

Father Damo

Kess73 wrote: »

No.

His father is from Northern Ireland as are two of his grandparent's so Northern Ireland would have been the only other country he could play for other than England


His mother and her parents are English.

And anyone with this lineage (grandparents born on the island of Ireland) is AFAIK entitled to Irish citizenship. Alex Bruce was toying of whether to go republic or north, he was eligible for both this way I think. The IFA dont seem to chase after English born players with the same effort we do.

Another odd one is that anyone born outside of the UK to British parents can play for any of the home nations, even if both parents and all grandparents are from within England. Maik Taylor of N.I has no Northern family, he was born in Germany to English parents and was therefore eligible. IIRC Owen Hargreaves was born in Canaa of Welsh parents but still made the England squad. Odd stuff!

Kess73

Father Damo wrote: »

And anyone with this lineage (grandparents born on the island of Ireland) is AFAIK entitled to Irish citizenship. Alex Bruce was toying of whether to go republic or north, he was eligible for both this way I think. The IFA dont seem to chase after English born players with the same effort we do.

Another odd one is that anyone born outside of the UK to British parents can play for any of the home nations, even if both parents and all grandparents are from within England. Maik Taylor of N.I has no Northern family, he was born in Germany to English parents and was therefore eligible. IIRC Owen Hargreaves was born in Canaa of Welsh parents but still made the England squad. Odd stuff!

Did not know that. Does that mean anyone born in Ireland can declare for either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland?

Pudsy33

Kess73 wrote: »

Father Damo wrote: »

And anyone with this lineage (grandparents born on the island of Ireland) is AFAIK entitled to Irish citizenship. Alex Bruce was toying of whether to go republic or north, he was eligible for both this way I think. The IFA dont seem to chase after English born players with the same effort we do.

Another odd one is that anyone born outside of the UK to British parents can play for any of the home nations, even if both parents and all grandparents are from within England. Maik Taylor of N.I has no Northern family, he was born in Germany to English parents and was therefore eligible. IIRC Owen Hargreaves was born in Canaa of Welsh parents but still made the England squad. Odd stuff!

Did not know that. Does that mean anyone born in Ireland can declare for either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland?

Born in the north you can play for either. Doesn't work the other way around.

Father Damo

Kess73 wrote: »

Did not know that. Does that mean anyone born in Ireland can declare for either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland?

No. To play for NI would mean being a British citizen. A British passport is only available to Republic of Ireland born people with at least one grandparent born in present day N.I as far as I know.

And while we are on the subject of eligibility I still cannot get over how many people still swear blind that Wayne Rooney could have played for us!


Actually, how long have we been taking Northern players? I am fairly sure that we have been issung passports to Northern nationalists since before the GF agreement yet it is only in the last four or five years that this controversy of alledged player poaching has come about. I cant off the top of my head recall any Nordies in our squads but surely there were some?

Mitch Connor

Father Damo wrote: »

No. To play for NI would mean being a British citizen. A British passport is only available to Republic of Ireland born people with at least one grandparent born in present day N.I as far as I know.

And while we are on the subject of eligibility I still cannot get over how many people still swear blind that Wayne Rooney could have played for us!


Actually, how long have we been taking Northern players? I am fairly sure that we have been issung passports to Northern nationalists since before the GF agreement yet it is only in the last four or five years that this controversy of alledged player poaching has come about. I cant off the top of my head recall any Nordies in our squads but surely there were some?

Is Rooney's grandmother not Irish?

~Rebel~

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Is Rooney's grandmother not Irish?

She's Irish, in that her parents came from Ireland and she considers herself Irish, but I believe she was born in England and legally only has English citizenship. Patricia Fitzsimons I think her name is.

Father Damo

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Is Rooney's grandmother not Irish?

No. He states at the start of his book he is mainly of Irish descent, but not with any recent, living ancestors.

Half of Ireand did, and some still do, consider his poaching by England to be an awful tragedy even though we never could have had him to begin with.

I think his son is eligible funnily enough :pac:

Kess73

Father Damo wrote: »

Another odd one is that anyone born outside of the UK to British parents can play for any of the home nations, even if both parents and all grandparents are from within England. Maik Taylor of N.I has no Northern family, he was born in Germany to English parents and was therefore eligible. IIRC Owen Hargreaves was born in Canaa of Welsh parents but still made the England squad. Odd stuff!

That's mad.

So given that I was born in Ireland, but am a British Citizen (family moved back to Liverpool when I was knee high) as well as having German citizenship, I have an Irish parent, an english parent, and my grandparents were Irish, Danish, and English.

Does that mean in footy terms I could play for Ireland, N. Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, Germany, and Denmark?

Father Damo

Kess73 wrote: »

That's mad.

So given that I was born in Ireland, but am a British Citizen (family moved back to Liverpool when I was knee high) as well as having German citizenship, I have an Irish parent, an english parent, and my grandparents were Irish, Danish, and English.

Does that mean in footy terms I could play for Ireland, N. Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, Germany, and Denmark?

Fcuking hell indeed it does!

I knew a girl back home who if she had a kid he would be eligible for the Rep, N. Ireland, all the UK nations, India and Canada!

That is you and her tied on seven, anyone do better? :pac:

IIRC Stephen Irelands dad is English born, meaning when he was whoring himself as to whether Italy, England or ROI would bite first he could have included Wales, Scotland and N.I in it.


Out of curiousity how do you have German citizenship? I cant recall who it was now but I think we had a one cap player who got it through his English born wife who had an Irish passport. That is some major straw clutching.

nbar12

Right well looks like I've lost the bet! I'll only pay him once Connor Wickham tweets me back confirming this

Kess73

Father Damo wrote: »

Fcuking hell indeed it does!

I knew a girl back home who if she had a kid he would be eligible for the Rep, N. Ireland, all the UK nations, India and Canada!

That is you and her tied on seven, anyone do better? :pac:

IIRC Stephen Irelands dad is English born, meaning when he was whoring himself as to whether Italy, England or ROI would bite first he could have included Wales, Scotland and N.I in it.


Out of curiousity how do you have German citizenship? I cant recall who it was now but I think we had a one cap player who got it through his English born wife who had an Irish passport. That is some major straw clutching.

Through naturalisation. Lived/worked there and eventually met the criteria needed.

Guy:Incognito

Kess73 wrote: »

Does that mean in footy terms I could play for Ireland, N. Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, Germany, and Denmark?

Thats just greed. I can only choose between Ireland and Germany.:o

I had actualy half though of trying to get an international Rugby cap with Germany. Must look in to it.

bullvine

Father Damo wrote: »

Fcuking hell indeed it does!

I knew a girl back home who if she had a kid he would be eligible for the Rep, N. Ireland, all the UK nations, India and Canada!

That is you and her tied on seven, anyone do better? :pac:

IIRC Stephen Irelands dad is English born, meaning when he was whoring himself as to whether Italy, England or ROI would bite first he could have included Wales, Scotland and N.I in it.


Out of curiousity how do you have German citizenship? I cant recall who it was now but I think we had a one cap player who got it through his English born wife who had an Irish passport. That is some major straw clutching.

Paul Butler, Wolves Center half

nbar12

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Thats just greed. I can only choose between Ireland and Germany.:o

I had actualy half though of trying to get an international Rugby cap with Germany. Must look in to it.

I've randomly day dreamed of being born in the likes of San Marino or Lichtenstein and being eligible to play for them in football. They would definitely call you up no matter how sh1t you are, getting to play for them against the big teams and obviously most important thing, getting a free tracksuit out of them!

The_Kew_Tour

United had quite few players who could have played for Ireland

Ferdinand, Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes and Rooney.

Father Damo

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

United had quite few players who could have played for Ireland

......and Rooney.

I have no facepalms left :eek:

5starpool

Father Damo wrote: »

Actually, how long have we been taking Northern players? I am fairly sure that we have been issung passports to Northern nationalists since before the GF agreement yet it is only in the last four or five years that this controversy of alledged player poaching has come about. I cant off the top of my head recall any Nordies in our squads but surely there were some?

Alan Kernaghan played schoolboys for NI I think, but chose to play for ROI. I think he meets your criteria, but it was a while ago and I can't be arsed to check

Easy Rod

Father Damo wrote: »

No. He states at the start of his book he is mainly of Irish descent, but not with any recent, living ancestors.

Half of Ireand did, and some still do, consider his poaching by England to be an awful tragedy even though we never could have had him to begin with.

I think his son is eligible funnily enough :pac:

In an earlier version of Champo manager (01/02 i reckon) he was eligible to be called up to the Irish squad, it used to be a desperate race to be offered the Irish job to get him before he was called up by England!

Sin City

Father Damo wrote: »

I have no facepalms left :eek:

nbar12

"Uruguayan footballer and World Cup player Diego Forlan is claimed to be of Irish descent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Uruguayan

Sin City

nbar12 wrote: »

"Uruguayan footballer and World Cup player Diego Forlan is claimed to be of Irish descent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Uruguayan

Could you imagine if we had Rooney and Forlan up front?

Id say we would have a different Euro expirence with them


As long as Trap didnt decide that they did not fit his system and left them out

Dj Stiggie

nbar12 wrote: »

I've randomly day dreamed of being born in the likes of San Marino or Lichtenstein and being eligible to play for them in football. They would definitely call you up no matter how sh1t you are, getting to play for them against the big teams and obviously most important thing, getting a free tracksuit out of them!

I have a friend from Liechtenstein who played in the Swiss lower-leagues. One day he mentioned to us that he played under-21's for Liechtenstein (I met him on a language course in Spain so the football thing didn't come up that much). We were all very impressed, until he said, 'Well really if you just tell them you're interested, they'll give you a go'.

ballsymchugh

nbar12 wrote: »

"Uruguayan footballer and World Cup player Diego Forlan is claimed to be of Irish descent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Uruguayan

i remember listening to a report from argentina on radio 1 about something completely different, nothing to do with football, and the locals were speaking broken english with very strong offaly accents! that's going back to the mid 1800s though, so can't go poaching there now!

Fr Tod Umptious

5starpool wrote: »

Alan Kernaghan played schoolboys for NI I think, but chose to play for ROI. I think he meets your criteria, but it was a while ago and I can't be arsed to check

I think both Kernaghan and McAteer used the same route to play for ROI

In their case they had a grandparent born on the island of Ireland (both in what is now NI) prior to partition in 1922, thus allowing them to play for either NI or ROI

Mercenaries of the highest order IMO.

Sin City

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I think both Kernaghan and McAteer used the same route to play for ROI

In their case they had a grandparent born on the island of Ireland (both in what is now NI) prior to partition in 1922, thus allowing them to play for either NI or ROI

Mercenaries of the highest order IMO.

McAteer had family from Limerick

Father Damo

What I meant was did we have any NI born and raised lads who declared for us before the recent young lads and all the controversy surrounding them?

Captain Havoc

Didn't Wayne Rooney's brother say he wanted to play for Ireland a few years ago?

Father Damo

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Didn't Wayne Rooney's brother say he wanted to play for Ireland a few years ago?

Cousin I think.

I think Gerrards cousin at Cardiff is eligible le as well?

nbar12

Dj Stiggie wrote: »

I have a friend from Liechtenstein who played in the Swiss lower-leagues. One day he mentioned to us that he played under-21's for Liechtenstein (I met him on a language course in Spain so the football thing didn't come up that much). We were all very impressed, until he said, 'Well really if you just tell them you're interested, they'll give you a go'.

haha no way that's class, could you imagine having that on your CV

Sin City

Rooneys younger brother john wants to play for Ireland
He plays for New York Red Bulls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rooney_(footballer)

Fr Tod Umptious

Sin City wrote: »

McAteer had family from Limerick

Source ?

I recall when McAteer joined ROI the reason he qualified was as I described in my earlier post.

I cannot find a news article from the time but here are some links to other forms where posters have said the same

http://www.politics.ie/forum/northern-ireland/24966-06-ulster-players-opt-republic.html

http://foot.ie/archive/index.php/t-14043-p-2.html

bren2001

Sin City wrote: »

Rooneys younger brother john wants to play for Ireland
He plays for New York Red Bulls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rooney_(footballer)

Get Trap on the phone, 2 minutes against Kzachstan is all he needs.

Don't really get to watch the MLS, is he any good? Strange that his brother plays for England yet he wants to declare for us.

Sin City

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Source ?

I recall when McAteer joined ROI the reason he qualified was as I described in my earlier post.

I cannot find a new article from the time but here is a link to someone who seems to believe the same on another form

http://www.politics.ie/forum/northern-ireland/24966-06-ulster-players-opt-republic.html

Im looking for a source and a lot is scare at the moment

Im recall reading about it years ago

Also recenlty (Im ashamed to say its a source but........) a certain newspaper did the counties of Ireland and which players hailed from where and Limerick had Mcateer, Houghton and Finnan

Beefy78

Father Damo wrote: »

The IFA dont seem to chase after English born players with the same effort we do.

The four UK Associations have a Gentleman's Agreement that they won't pursue players born in one of the other three countries unless the player is clearly not in the plans of the other FA.

Beefy78

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Didn't Wayne Rooney's brother say he wanted to play for Ireland a few years ago?

Father Damo wrote: »

Cousin I think.

I think Gerrards cousin at Cardiff is eligible le as well?

Rio Ferdinand's cousin Kane has had a few call-ups to the Irish U19s as well.

Sin City

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Source ?



http://www.politics.ie/forum/northern-ireland/24966-06-ulster-players-opt-republic.html

http://foot.ie/archive/index.php/t-14043-p-2.html

Still none of these would be considered proper evidence

Sin City

My mistake Rooney plays for Orlando Pirates now not Red Bulls

Beefy78

bren2001 wrote: »

Strange that his brother plays for England yet he wants to declare for us.

Strange but not unprecidented. Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana) and Jerome Boateng (Germany) being the most famous example. Tesfaye Bramble played international football for Monserraat despite his brother Titus Bramble being involved in several England U21 games.

I wouldn't get too excited though - Rooney's brother is pants.

TheDoc

nbar12 wrote: »

Can Sunderland's Connor Wickham play for Ireland?

Yes, he has a parent and Grandparent from NI, so he can apply for Irish citizenship

ballsymchugh

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I think both Kernaghan and McAteer used the same route to play for ROI

In their case they had a grandparent born on the island of Ireland (both in what is now NI) prior to partition in 1922, thus allowing them to play for either NI or ROI

Mercenaries of the highest order IMO.

i know someone who declared for england going the other way to get further in his sport, as ireland didn't have a team to suit him. won a commonwealth gold medal too.

Sin City wrote: »

McAteer had family from Limerick

mcateer's grandfather was from galway, according to the interview he gave to newstalk before the euros.

Sin City

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i know someone who declared for england going the other way to get further in his sport, as ireland didn't have a team to suit him. won a commonwealth gold medal too.



mcateer's grandfather was from galway, according to the interview he gave to newstalk before the euros.

Its a real minefield now, Galway , Limerick (Iread Derry a while ago) and Fr Tod thinks NI

dreamers75

bren2001 wrote: »

Strange that his brother plays for England yet he wants to declare for us.

Kevin Prince Boateng plays for Ghana, his brother Jerome plays for Germany

Fr Tod Umptious

Beefy78 wrote: »

Strange but not unprecidented. Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana) and Jerome Boateng (Germany) being the most famous example. Tesfaye Bramble played international football for Monserraat despite his brother Titus Bramble being involved in several England U21 games.

I wouldn't get too excited though - Rooney's brother is pants.

Closer to home the Gallen brothers from the early 1990s is an example.

They were all on the books of QPR, Kevin declared for England and I think two of his brothers for Ireland, Joe and Stephen.

None made an impression as it turned out

Muff_Daddy

nbar12 wrote: »

"Uruguayan footballer and World Cup player Diego Forlan is claimed to be of Irish descent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Uruguayan

That reminds me of that Uruguayan player from the early 00's who played for Juventus, the exoticly named Fabian O'Neill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabi%C3%A1n_O%27Neill

srfc19

Father Damo wrote: »

No. He states at the start of his book he is mainly of Irish descent, but not with any recent, living ancestors.

By state, I presume you mean drew a picture with crayons??:D