Players eligible for Ireland

Why do you need a source ffs other than instigating another pointless argument between the 2 of you.

He's played for England at every underage level and he's as Scouse as The Beatles. That's about it

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Haven't heard of him but how does he qualify for us? We could make sh*t jokes about his surname.

Where did this rumour come from GR? Haven’t seen anything about it elsewhere. Fine player

Luis Amor Rodriguez wrote: ...Danny, who tells us he is a lawyer...

I didn't tell you I was a lawyer. I don't practice. I simply clarified that I had a law degree because you seemed to think I was unfamiliar with the notion of different approaches to the interpretation of laws.

Luis Amor Rodriguez wrote: This is all the more so when, in the period the rules were drafted, NI born players generally (if at all?) did not play for ROI (on grounds arising out of their birth place at least).

When are you referring to when to talk of "the period the rules were drafted"? 1962, 2004 or 2008? Players from the north like Mark McKeever, Ger Doherty and Ger Crossley were playing for the FAI before even the Good Friday Agreement took effect.

Luis Amor Rodriguez wrote: So, the IFA might ask, against the status quo of that backdrop, why would a person then get eligibility because their grandparent was born in NI?

Because that person would be an Irish national by descent and Irish nationality is the nationality of the FAI. The intended purpose of the introduction of the present-day article 7 conditions was to prevent countries naturalising players for footballing purposes. This is evident if you read the Kearns case or FIFA's Circular no. 901. It wasn't to prevent players who were nationals by parental or grand-parental descent. These players have a "clear connection".

Luis Amor Rodriguez wrote: (ii) re distinguishing with U21 - all I'm saying is the penalty for sailing close to the wind at U21 is many times less than at senior level.   So maybe - I don't know - maybe the FAI had that in mind with Barton and sought to normalise things that way.  Maybe it hasn't occurred to them at all.

What are you talking about? What do you mean that the FAI might have "sought to normalise things" with Barton? The idea that the FAI might have been happy to risk punishment and reputational damage by playing an ineligible player in four European Under-21 Championship qualifiers, just because the punishment would be less severe than if it were at senior level, is ludicrous. Why would they even do that?  

Btw: asking their disciplinary unit about it obviously isn't conclusive of anything. You, as a legally trained person must know that. That unit is not a binding authority on anything - it can only offer a view.  Just like you.  And just like me. And just like Terri.

The DCU would have intimate knowledge of our players' eligibility and would be in direct communication with FIFA and be knowledgeable of their processes. Are you suggesting that FIFA have no process for checking and verifying the eligibility of international players, unless a player goes through a formal switch?

Whose word would you regard as binding then? FIFA's? Sure you evidently refuse to accept that even their word was binding in the Kearns' case when you talk of his eligibility having been "arguable" until CAS re-clarified matters for the IFA. 

An FAI confirmation would certainly confirm that the idea that Terri had been peddling at one point - that the FAI supposedly learned from the Kearns judgment that players such as Barton weren't actually eligible - is nonsense.

Anyhow, I got an email back from the FAI's DCU today, but it didn't go into specific details on Barton (for confidentiality reasons, I presume). They said: "Unfortunately we can’t go into the specific detail surrounding individual players applications for a change of Association."

This is interesting, because I hadn't mentioned anything about a switch of association in the email I had sent them, so is it to imply that Barton underwent a formal switch? I've emailed back to see if I can get clarification on that, but if it is the case he had a switch request approved by FIFA's Players' Status Committee, then that ought to be the final nail in the coffin for your conspiracy theory.

What's his connection to Ireland ?