Should Northern Ireland players play for ROI?

[groo]

SHOULD NORTHERN IRELAND PLAYERS BE ALLOWED TO PLAY FOR REPUBLIC OF IRELAND?

This week Everton defender Shane Duffy opted to play for Republic of Ireland after having played for Northern Ireland all the way up through the youth teams.

Should this be allowed to happen?

[groo]

It's disappointing to have to take time out to create and write on such an irrating thread. It upset me on Monday to learn that Everton defender Shane Duffy opting to play for Republic of Ireland.

The main point is where I'm annoyed, is the fact that Duffy has played for Northern Ireland at every youth level and was included in Worthington's squad for the forthing friendly against Albania on 3rd March. So much money, effort and time has been spent on this player and most importantly another player's place has been lost to a career development.

At the end of the day, what to Northern Ireland receive for this decision. Absolutely feck all. When a player has been elected to play for his country no matter what level, then once the player represents that country, then he should never be allowed to switch allengenes.

To date, we've lost the following players: -


Alan Kernaghan


Alex Bruce


Darron Gibson


Marc Wilson


Shane Duffy

We came close to loosing Tony Kane, but he had a change of mind when Nigel Worthington called him up to the senior squad. He had earlier represented Northern Ireland, but after an administration error at the IFA offices prematurely ended the defenders participation for the U19s at the Milk Cup and shortly after Don Givens reacted swiftly to call him up to the Republic of Ireland U21's.

Ryan Giggs had captained England Schoolboys before representing Wales at International level. I think that this has been dragged out for too long and FIFA need to correct this debacle now.

[roveremmet09]

unfortunately simon,if you change 1 rule,then you gotta change them all.for example,the so called granny rule as they call it down here.had it not for this rule,then many an international team would suffer due to lack of optional quality.take stephen reid for example,clinton morrison.etc.the list is endless.but i see where you are coming from.and i suppose the fact that youngsters may not be under contract at the time they played at youth level,and the under 21 rule also,creates a loophole in the system.on the other hand,we have the likes of stephen ireland,who has opted not to play for his country at all,without any reason,or eligability to any other country,so i share your anger and frustration on the subject.pick your country,and stick with it,thats my view,regardless where you are from

[groo]

Feb 25, 2010 1:29:15 GMT 5 roveremmet09 said:

unfortunately simon,if you change 1 rule,then you gotta change them all.for example,the so called granny rule as they call it down here.had it not for this rule,then many an international team would suffer due to lack of optional quality.take stephen reid for example,clinton morrison.etc.the list is endless.but i see where you are coming from.and i suppose the fact that youngsters may not be under contract at the time they played at youth level,and the under 21 rule also,creates a loophole in the system.on the other hand,we have the likes of stephen ireland,who has opted not to play for his country at all,without any reason,or eligability to any other country,so i share your anger and frustration on the subject.pick your country,and stick with it,thats my view,regardless where you are from

Emmet I also see what you saying and where you are coming from, but......

Optional Quality and Clinton Morrison in the same sentence. Ever since he turned down Blackburn stating that he wanted to play for a bigger team, then good luck.


Granny rule logo.

In relation to the 'Granny Rule', yes indeed it would bring an end to that. It's the player's who you've picked upon, with Reid and Morrison not good enough to play for England, but yet another country who would be more than grateful to accept them. This I have no issue with, but when a country invest's in them and they turn their back then it simply isn't on.

I'm thick about Gibson and Duffy as they have represented Northern Ireland and then deflected over to ROI. Whereas Bruce and Kernaghan haven't and this is where another country can benefit from. However, it wasn't clear how the qualified for the ROI as their respective grandad's and granny's were born in the North.

I just feel very strongly on this topic, as as a nation we aren't flushed with quality and money and to think the amount of effort and time have went into Duffy and Gibson has been asted without any benefit.

[roveremmet09]

ok,well maybe morrision is not optional quality ha ha,but when ROI are beggers at times,we cant be choosers.it would be interesting to hear as to why the likes of gibson and duffy qualified to play for ROI,or why they choose to do so