Northern Irish fans hold up an anti-FAI banner at a recent match
Conor Smith
Guest Football Blogger
The appointment of Michael O’Neill to the post of manager of Northern Ireland brought change in the form that most Republic fans wouldn’t want to have seen. Players who were born in the North who are either unsure of their senior international future or have declared their interest in playing their football in the future with the Republic of Ireland will now be targeted by O’Neill as he seeks to have a word in their ear to reconsider playing for Northern Ireland. Republic of Ireland fans previously seemed content with Our Wee Country being run by Nigel Worthington, who was more than happy to bat an eyelid to players who seemingly were “insulting the jersey” (the words of David Healy) by rising up through the ranks to the senior set up in the North only to decide that they now wanted to play for the Republic of Ireland. A laissez-faire attitude was adopted by Worthington.
It is rather ironic when, previously, many within the Northern Ireland set up were accusing the FAI of “poaching” players who were born in the North (such as Marc Wilson, Darron Gibson, Daniel Kearns and Shane Duffy). In fact, former Northern Ireland footballer Gerry Armstrong was hired as an IFA ambassador who was put in charge of finding players who might be thought to be interested in “defecting” from the North to the Republic and convincing them of the benefits of playing in Windsor Park. Correct me if I’m wrong but when have the FAI actually hired someone to speak to any player like Shane Ferguson at Newcastle United, James McClean at Sunderland or Rory Donnelly (who has recently moved from Cliftonville to Swansea City)? Or any player who has been discussed by the media as players who might be inclined to declare for the Republic of Ireland?
Michael O'Neill, the new Northern Ireland manager, won back-to-back league titles in the Republic with Shamrock Rovers.
It is worth noting that James McClean decided himself that he wanted to play for Trapattoni’s team. Ferguson didn’t answer phone calls to Nigel Worthington, who fed into the media frenzy brilliantly making a string of negative comments about Ferguson. The man had made only a handful of appearances for Newcastle and clearly wanted to focus on getting more games under his belt before even considering senior international football. The reason for not accepting the call-up was perfectly clear and more professionalism was shown from the young lad from Derry than from the former Northern Ireland boss. Recently, Shane has silenced the media by pledging his future to Northern Ireland.
Marc Wilson, Darron Gibson and Shane Duffy decided a long time ago that they wanted to play for the Republic. The IFA have failed to see that interfering with a player’s right, in Northern Ireland, to play for either nations on this island is the real issue here, not whether it is right or wrong that these players are choosing to play for another nation. Challenging the liberty of these people not as footballers, but as citizens, is what the IFA is doing if they think they can halt players choosing to play for the Republic. And if a player doesn’t want to play for Northern Ireland, then why make him? Is it not of benefit to them if a player doesn’t string them along any more and decides to move to the Republic of Ireland?
The IFA not only wanted the Court Of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to rule in their favour in the case of Daniel Kearns, the young player born in Belfast who wanted to play for the Republic, but also amend the rule completely. They mentioned the term “poaching” in the case itself but there is clearly a failure on the part of the IFA to recognise the true meaning of the term “poaching”. “Poaching” is illegal. In this case it would mean to take players contrary to the international laws that govern football. If the IFA were to stop players from the North from playing for the Republic it would be in direct violation of terms under the Good Friday Agreement. According to the agreement, all people born in the North of Ireland are entitled to dual citizenship. So, Kearns, irrespective of being born in the North of Ireland and not having a parent or grandparent who were born in the Republic of Ireland, is perfectly entitled to play for the Republic because he holds dual citizenship. This is what was stated by CAS on that particular day.
The Republic and Northern Ireland clashed during the Carling Nations Cup at the Aviva Stadium in May, with the home side prevailing 5-0.
Before the Republic of Ireland v Northern Ireland game in the Carling Nations Cup in May, I was incensed when I heard the uneducated and narrow-minded drivel from Northern Ireland fans before the game (they were interviewed by Extra-Time.ie). One fan remarked that it is wrong that players born in the North are playing for the Republic of Ireland and based his rationale on “if you are born in one country, you should play for that country”. Weren’t Ian Dowie and Lawrie Sanchez born in England? Aren’t many from the current crop who were called up for the recent friendly from England? Wasn’t Maik Taylor, who won 88 caps for Northern Ireland, born in Germany? Taylor moved to England at a young age and had no relation to Northern Ireland but for a British passport. That gave him the option to choose which Home Nation he wanted to play for because he was born overseas.
In that very same interview, the award for the best Northern Ireland fan has to go to the man who came out with the comedy gold: “Shay Given – so many caps for the Republic, but he was born in Northern Ireland”. I don’t know why the interviewer didn’t just show him a map and point to Donegal, that part of Ulster that is actually in the Republic. Although he did correct himself somewhat by saying “his birth certificate says Republic of Ireland”. (It’s difficult to know whether he was, at this point, laying claim to the island of Ireland in its entirety.) He had more to say on the matter – “Darron Gibson, born in Belfast”. I wonder what Darron would have to say about this, considering he was born in Derry? Then to end his fanastic, well-researched “conjecture” he states: “Adam Barton – he’s English” – well, according to your friend, he should play for England then.
The only sensible argument was given by the Irish gentlemen who said: “Why don’t we have a 32 county team, like in rugby?” Unfortunately, it is probably fair to say it would never happen. I can’t see the fans from the North coming down to Landsdowne Road. There was booing of both national anthems at the recent game – I can’t see Robbie Keane and David Healy singing Ireland’s Call together vociferously. We are merely living in a dream world when there has been such bitterness demonstrated by the IFA on the issue. FIFA has made a ruling on the matter that they just cannot accept. James McClean and Marc Wilson are now on the list of players that Michael O’Neill wants to drag back into the Northern Ireland setup. It’s part of an active campaign of the kind the FAI never waged – to subvert players’ wishes. The Poachee has become the Poacher.
Conor Smith blogs at http://conorpatrick.wordpress.com/, where an archive of his previous blog posts can be found.
