Underage squads: Best Prospects

 

The Soldiers Song is the national anthem of Ireland and used by the rugby team, at Olympic Games and most all island teams.  gstq is the GB & NI anthem and is not used by Scotland or Wales as you well know or by NI at the Commonwealth Games.  The NI pradisent would have to chose to play for ROI and would know what he was going to have to do.  Many NI kafflicks have openly stated they hated having to stand for gstq and had no option back in the day.   

As for your "hostile" part of Belfast comment, that is derisory and can only come from a state of complete ignorance. Perhaps you got it from Roy Keane's (first) Autobiography, when he described Windsor Park as being "in East Belfast"?

My "hostile" statement came from living in Belfast for 2 years and going to Windsor Park 7 times.  When you go off the Lisburn Road the atmosphere changes and as a kafflick form the Republic I had to "alter" my accent.  Hearing the ROI score boo'd when announced, the Billy Boys being sung in the kop, number of Union Flag's compared to green NI flag and players being called taig c**ts made me feel uncomfortable.  I remember 2 guys debating whether or not Switzerland was a kafflick country behind me.  One was convinced because they provided the guards for the Pope! 

And as the likes of Neil Lennon have seen you'd best not play for Celtic! 

And, savo, Irish nationals born north of the border have been, in principle, eligible to play for the FAI for so long as the entitlement to Irish nationality has been island-wide. Or since 1956, more precisely, with the passing of the Irish Nationality Act 1956.

As far back as 1946, the rule governing eligibility, Art. 21 al. 2 of the Regulations of the FIFA stated: 

Simple citizenship (including naturalisation) without conditions was enough to render a subject player eligible to play for a country up until 2004, when FIFA introduced further criteria (birth, birth of a parent or birth of a grandparent, or a number of years residence, in the territory of the association concerned) for those deemed to be acquiring a new nationality. It was to clamp down on potential abuse through naturalisations simply for footballing purpose. Specifically, Qatar were trying to naturalise Brazlian footballers. This change had no effect on northern-born Irish nationals, however, as they are Irish nationals from birth and, like all other Irish nationals from birth, qualify under what is now article 5.1 alone, which states:

Thankfully, there is a greater awareness of the rules and rights of players nowadays, but, sadly, this was not always the case. In fact, it is known that Harry Cavan of the IFA prevented northern-born players, including Jimmy McGeough, from representing Ireland in the 1970s. It would appear that Cavan used his position in FIFA to wield undue influence and instruct northern-born players that they were ineligible for the FAI, which would have been in complete contravention of the rule in place at the time that rendered a player eligible for a national team if he possessed the nationality of that team, as McGeough did. Further info here:http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Football%3A+SHATTERED+dreams%3B+Derry+City+v+Waterford+-+FAI+League+Cup%E2%80%A6-a082207745

As to why I think northern-born players playing for the FAI is a relatively recent phenomenon, I’ve written some more on that here: http://backpagefootball.com/so-what-did-prompt-northerners-declarations-for-fai/34570/

It’s not as a result of the GFA at all; in my opinion, it’s mainly down to the introduction of a right to switch association once by FIFA combined with greater awareness of the rules. Players like Belfast-born Ger Crossley and Derry-born Mark McKeever played for the FAI before the GFA without impediment.