Michael Obafemi

It depends which granny; the dead one from Dublin I wouldn't be arsed about, the other one's birthplace was very relevant and important to me. Which is the point of this argument. Everybody's relationship with their families is different, the FIFA eligibility laws are fair enough as they  let anybody with a genuine connection to a country to play for that country. 

We have difficulty looking at things from a point of view other than our own, so if you don't care where your granny is from then it would be irrational for anybody else to care about where their granny is from.

We also overplay the importance of international football for most of these lads. It is more of a hindrance than  a help on their careers, so it is unlikely many of them are doing this for anything other than genuine reasons. I am sure there are exceptions to that, but we are unlikely to know that.

You are missing the point, somewhat deliberately I think. Let's just switch my examples around, imagine my other grandmothers swapped  and I was really close to my Dublin born and reared Nan, there is a fair chance I would have an affinity to Dublin, or at least hate the place less than I do.

Our views of the world, including our nationality(or nationalities) and what we accept that to be, are developed by experience and development as a child. Most children have an affinity with a grandparent, it isn't bizarre for a young lad to have an affinity to the place that shaped someone they cared about, particularly when they  have a different accent. That accent then becomes associated with the place an that association may never leave and, like everything in life, it won't be the same for all siblings. One child might have an enormous connection with his granny and her nationality, his twin might be closer to her husband and not her nationality. It may not be the defining criterion for their nationality, but other criteria will also affect it. I know of a few 'English' lads who would have played for Ireland based on their love of a grandparent. I don't think they were in any way 'socially maladjusted'.

I can't speak for everybody else, or anybody else, but I certainly don't cling to any fiction at all. I couldn't give a f**k whether they have any national affinity or none,  as long as they  try their best when they arrive. What is ridiculous is people trying to justify their own pathetic ethno-nationalism by dismissing people's personal identity because they can only understand the world from  their point of view. I think if you want that 'true Gael' nonsense, whatever the f**k that is, you would be better watching Mickey Kelly on RTÉ 2 on Sunday nights.

Just to go one step further, Ireland is full of people with 'connections' to football teams from cities to which people have no family connection at all.  I know hundreds of lads whose whole weekend seems to be dependent on a group of half-arsed mercenaries from around the world playing in London, Manchester, Liverpool etc. It is normal for Tommy from Tullamore, whose parents and grandparents are all from a thirty mile radius, to grow up wanting to play for Liverpool, but it is mad for Davie from Dagenham to want to play for his gran's homeland? 

Off topic but did anybody else see Alistair McGowan's brilliant take off of Gary Lineker and Mark Lawrensen on MOTD recalling Marks days in green. Completely ripped the piss out of his association with us.

Lawro apparently vetoed it and it's no longer available anywhere. It was brilliant. 

Just a riff on a joke Obama made when he was over in Moneygall. You like Obama, don't you?

What was it about the bombing of eight separate countries, increasing drone strikes tenfold over the neocon Bush administration, increasing special forces deployments to 70% of the globe (138 countries) and dropping more than 26,000 bombs in a single year that put you off? I mean he said all the right things...