Players eligible for Ireland

Totally agree with what you're saying there oshea but "revitilsation at stoke" is a bit much. He had 5 or 6 good games where he played well, but for perspective If you had taken him out of the bottom championship team and but him in a Premier League team he would have been left wanting.

Paulie wrote: horsebox wrote: Who knows whether he made the right decision or not only time will tell. Well he's already missed out on 5 years of international football that he would have had with us. Of course it could be that 1 England cap could mean more to him than 100 Ireland caps, and if that's the case he has obviously made the correct decision, even if the way he went about it was poor. I know plenty here will disagree, but my own preference would be that if a player is called up to the senior squad for a competitive game and he then states that he needs time to think things over, that is his decision effectively made. He is turning down the call up so no more should follow.

Het-field wrote: Personally, I think it comes down to the quality of a player. When I think about both Rice and Grealish, you’re talking about £100 Million, between the two of them, and the quality of our midfield would increase numerous fold with them. I suspect indulging their uncertainty is a privilege of their quality. I’m sure Kenny has players in mind who might qualify, but who aren’t going to make a material difference to the team in the way Rice and Grealish would have.

Territorial wrote: Left foot wrote: I would think the distinction would be if a player who qualifies for two teams, plays in the youth set up and has absolutely no intention of playing for the senior team. Such examples would be Grealish and Mcclean McClean accepted a call-up by Nigel Worthington to the senior team three weeks before a competitive match which would have tied him. Considering he was with Derry City at the time, that must have looked like as good as it was going to get for him, hence his acceptance. It was only the fact of Sunderland signing him in the interim between call-up and match, and Niall Quinn's intervention, that suddenly made ROI an option for him. Now I know that doesn't suit the mythology of "the fierce patriot Jamesie", but them's the facts and they only bear one explanation. That said, I don't know how glad you are to have him, but the way things have turned out, it can't be half as glad as we are to have rid of him!

McClean did describe NI as a stepping stone . Michael Keane used the same expression re him playing for Ireland at underage level, claiming now that he was committed to England all along. Ironic that his brother Will wants to play for us now his career has nosedived-when the brothers were youngsters at Man Utd, Will was the star, a prolific goal scorer eager for a glittering career with England when he made what most including himself presumed would be the inevitable step up from the underage teams. Michael was regarded in contrast as a plodder but happy to play for Ireland underage while Will starred for England at the same time. At least nobody can criticise the commitment of McClean and Duffy since they came to us. The Derry boys have always given 100%.

They were eligible to play for Northern Ireland and the manager of the teams that they played for wanted to play his strongest team. As far as the players were concerned, they may well never have imagined playing for anybody else, even if the may have dreamed of playing for another.

Exactly! In sport it becomes even more complex because there is often a slightly different angle. Your kids may be Ireland fans due to their connection with you, but might see themselves as 100% German. That is conjecture, I have no idea how your family identifies, but is just an example of how the sports aspect further  complicates something that is already complicated.

Edited by pre Madonna - 14 Apr 2020 at 8:56pm

pre Madonna wrote: They were eligible to play for Northern Ireland and the manager of the teams that they played for wanted to play his strongest team. As far as the players were concerned, they may well never have imagined playing for anybody else, even if the may have dreamed of playing for another. For the national association it is a risk that they have to take. Every association has benefited from players who may well have dreamed for playing for another. I’m sure the north wouldn’t hand the likes of McGinn back, nor would we hand many of ours back, even the duds! It hurts more, and is much more of a story, when a player defects from an association they represented to another, but it just has to be taken on the chin. Also, as identity is such a difficult and fluid thing, particularly as this is a sport and not war, how can you decide who should and shouldn’t play for who? Lads like McClean, who might not even  recognise the political entity he once represented, may have been happy to play for coaches he grew up with or players he knew. He could have gone on and had a hundred caps and a half dozen death threats and have been happy to do so for one person or reason. The eligibility laws aren’t perfect, there is some tweaking needed, but they aren’t far off being as fair as possible. Theoretically, no one should have to be coaxed or cajoled, but players will make their decisions for a myriad of reasons and it is little more than  thoughtcrime to start second guessing what they are, even when it seems obvious.