FAI success in player eligibility case Options

[CliftonvilleRove...]

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne today rejected an appeal by the Irish FA against FIFA and the Football Association of Ireland allowing Belfast-born Daniel Kearns to play for the Republic.

Kearns, 18, represented Northern Ireland at under-17 level but switched to play for the Republic this year and played in two European Under-19 Championship matches.

A statement from CAS said: 'The CAS panel dismissed the appeal and confirmed the decision issued by the single judge of the FIFA players' status committee, which recognised that Daniel Kearns was eligible to play for the national team of the FAI."

Under the Good Friday Agreement, Irish passports can be held by Irish citizens born on either side of the border. However the IFA have been trying to prevent a talent drain of players and have been arguing that players born in Northern Ireland without family links to the south should not be allowed to play for the Republic.

Kearns, who was released by West Ham United at the end of last season, joined the likes of Manchester United's Darron Gibson and Portsmouth's Marc Wilson in switching allegiance from Northern Ireland to the Republic.

FIFA's players' status committee had ruled that Kearns fulfilled the requirements in that he had never represented Northern Ireland in an official competition at senior international level.

Irish FA president Raymond Kennedy reacted with dismay to the court's decision.

Kennedy said: 'I am disappointed by today's decision but we will continue to develop our very successful and wide range of 'Football for All' and community programmes in the areas of grassroots, domestic and international football to ensure that anyone available to play for Northern Ireland will want to do so.'

The Irish FA wished Kearns 'the best of luck' for his future career but said they would wait to see the court's full judgement before making any further comment.

Welcoming the ruling, FAI chief executive John Delaney said: 'Today's landmark decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirms the FIFA and FAI position on player eligibility. The ruling upholds the right of individual choice on this matter for players born north of the border.

'I would like to thank the many people from all parts of the island who were strongly supportive during this process, and in particular, recognise the determination of Daniel Kearns and his family to uphold his right as an Irish citizen to play for his country.'

Moan and scream all you want, won't change anything .
IFA to pay costs as well, monumental fuck up by the IFA....even for their standards

[stpatrickhimself]

its funny too, because its like a kiss of death. The players that come over from the dark side never really get a decent run in the team, Gibson has had a few starts, but is mainly a sub and Best only gets the last few minutes to use up time ans inject fresh legs.

And I wouldn't have had Delaney down as a joker, but his comment at the end there must have had tounge firmly in cheek.

[Buffalo Soldier]

IFA to pay costs as well, monumental fuck up by the IFA....even for their standards

Yes, spending money on developing players who are just going to slap them in the face.

[Doire_Boi]

Theres going to be a lot more players like that in the future, i know two young lads from up here who are planning the switch shortly.

[CliftonvilleRove...]

Theres going to be a lot more players like that in the future, i know two young lads from up here who are planning the switch shortly.

Irish players playing for Ireland why can't the bigots get it into their heads? They want their mini ibrox yet complain when nationalists will have nothing do with them, simple case of wanting their cake and eating it

[Buffalo Soldier]

Mini Ibrox?

You're calling the IFA bigots for wanting to keep the players that they have developed?

[Matthew GFC]

Irish players playing for Ireland why can't the bigots get it into their heads? They want their mini ibrox yet complain when nationalists will have nothing do with them, simple case of wanting their cake and eating it

Who has tried to make Windsor into a mini-Ibrox?

Never hear any Rangers songs sang there and the predominant colour is green.

Sammy Cligan is someone who is truly proud to play for his country, not a bitter bone in his body and his superb performances along with pure admiration for the supporters proves it.

[Doire_Boi]

Irish players playing for Ireland why can't the bigots get it into their heads? They want their mini ibrox yet complain when nationalists will have nothing do with them, simple case of wanting their cake and eating it

Exactly, When the brits ruled america/india and places like that i wonder would they have forced them all to play for england

The funny thing about the indians is that nowadays they are all coming "home" to britain to find work and the brits fucking hate them, but they were happy to milk the fuck out of their country for years.

In fact i'm on my way out to take over a plot of land in eastern japan, im going to name it southern ireland and all the people are to be southern irish, they will be spending southern irish money and all their nationalities will be changed and i'm going to force them to play for me and not japan

[Doire_Boi]

Irish players playing for Ireland why can't the bigots get it into their heads? They want their mini ibrox yet complain when nationalists will have nothing do with them, simple case of wanting their cake and eating it

Linfield would probably do a better job at turning it into a mini ibrox, but i see where you're coming from, you would see more union jacks during an NI game than you would on the 12th in belshaft

[billyblue]

They want their mini ibrox yet complain when nationalists will have nothing do with them, simple case of wanting their cake and eating it

Look he doesn't even try to cover the fact that he is a bigot. Dumb and Dumber in this thread with him and Doire_Bigot. Both talking about something they know very little about. Twisted uneducated twats. FACT.

[Doire_Boi]

Look he doesn't even try to cover the fact that he is a bigot. Dumb and Dumber in this thread with him and Doire_Bigot. Both talking about something they know very little about. Twisted uneducated twats. FACT.

Until there is a united Ireland (football team at least) we are always going to have this problem, now it is your lot that are against the united ireland, so you are going to have to live with the consequences, not everyone in the north is northern irish, a very high percentage is actually irish and wants to play under the tricolour.

Why on earth would anyone from Derry especially want to play in front of so many union jack (a country which tortured our people for hundreds of years) why would they want to stand to a song that praises a woman that handed scumbags medals for shooting kids in the bogside. We will never agree with this until the border is taken down.

[CliftonvilleRove...]

Mini Ibrox?

You're calling the IFA bigots for wanting to keep the players that they have developed?

Every team tries to maximise their choice of players available to them, in this case we are selecting players from our country entitled to play for us. I'm not even sure why people would argue differently, in the past we have both sourced players from England etc, this isn't even anything like that. I don't think you will have to worry about poaching underage players though anymore, I expect FAI Ulster development squads to take off asap now....

Who has tried to make Windsor into a mini-Ibrox?

Never hear any Rangers songs sang there and the predominant colour is green.

Sammy Cligan is someone who is truly proud to play for his country, not a bitter bone in his body and his superb performances along with pure admiration for the supporters proves it.

You've obviously missed the orange order and uvf flags, rangers jerseys etc I've seen

Do you genuinely think Sammy Clingan would be anywhere near the Ireland team?

Exactly, When the brits ruled america/india and places like that i wonder would they have forced them all to play for england

The funny thing about the indians is that nowadays they are all coming "home" to britain to find work and the brits fucking hate them, but they were happy to milk the fuck out of their country for years.

In fact i'm on my way out to take over a plot of land in eastern japan, im going to name it southern ireland and all the people are to be southern irish, they will be spending southern irish money and all their nationalities will be changed and i'm going to force them to play for me and not japan

Very true point .
Btw I hear the French are planning on invading anytime soon, they will then holding an election. Although it will cover all of Ireland the only results that will count will be what suits their agenda, their plan is to get a majority in Leinster. If they don't manage that they will take two thirds of the province there is a majority in and we will all suddenly be French

Look he doesn't even try to cover the fact that he is a bigot. Dumb and Dumber in this thread with him and Doire_Bigot. Both talking about something they know very little about. Twisted uneducated twats. FACT.

What is bigoted about that

Until there is a united Ireland (football team at least) we are always going to have this problem, now it is your lot that are against the united ireland, so you are going to have to live with the consequences, not everyone in the north is northern irish, a very high percentage is actually irish and wants to play under the tricolour.

Why on earth would anyone from Derry especially want to play in front of so many union jack (a country which tortured our people for hundreds of years) why would they want to stand to a song that praises a woman that handed scumbags medals for shooting kids in the bogside. We will never agree with this until the border is taken down.

The IFA can now join the rest of us in the 21st century and merge with the FAI or else they can continue to be a backward non entity for the uber prods. Its their call, we have our all Ireland team

[Doire_Boi]

Every team tries to maximise their choice of players available to them, in this case we are selecting players from our country entitled to play for us. I'm not even sure why people would argue differently, in the past we have both sourced players from England etc, this isn't even anything like that. I don't think you will have to worry about poaching underage players though anymore, I expect FAI Ulster development squads to take off asap now....
You've obviously missed the orange order and uvf flags, rangers jerseys etc I've seen

Do you genuinely think Sammy Clingan would be anywhere near the Ireland team?
Very true point .
Btw I hear the French are planning on invading anytime soon, they will then holding an election. Although it will cover all of Ireland the only results that will count will be what suits their agenda, their plan is to get a majority in Leinster. If they don't manage that they will take two thirds of the province there is a majority in and we will all suddenly be French
What is bigoted about that
The IFA can now join the rest of us in the 21st century and merge with the FAI or else they can continue to be a backward non entity for the uber prods. Its their call, we have our all Ireland team

Its laughable when you think about it, and they think they are in the right all these years

[billyblue]

You've obviously missed the orange order and uvf flags, rangers jerseys etc I've seen

What NI match were you at when you seen this?

[Matthew GFC]

Linfield would probably do a better job at turning it into a mini ibrox, but i see where you're coming from, you would see more union jacks during an NI game than you would on the 12th in belshaft

No you don't. There are a few Union flags, but not many. Even if there are, what is the problem? The Union flag represents Northern Ireland as we're part of the United Kingdom

You've obviously missed the orange order and uvf flags, rangers jerseys etc I've seen

Do you genuinely think Sammy Clingan would be anywhere near the Ireland team?

Er, what match have you seen an orange order or UVF flag at? I've worked alongside the community relations department at the IFA with their football for all campaign since I was 12 and not once have I seen any of these flags at an NI match, if we did see them then they'd be removed.

I don't think Sammy Clingan would want to be considered for the Republic.

[SiN]

And there was me thinking that politics had no place in sport, though it is intrsting to see what side keeps bringing the politics into it....their getting real good and digging them there holes, aint they?

[Matthew GFC]

And there was me thinking that politics had no place in sport, though it is intrsting to see what side keeps bringing the politics into it....their getting real good and digging them there holes, aint they?

Exactly SiN, exactly! It is the Nationalist people who keep bringing up the likes of the Good Friday agreement or the past of Northern Ireland.

The fact is that Northern Ireland matches are now 100% inclusive and I have Catholic friends who follow Northern Ireland home and away. For example, Eagle from ILS. He plays GAA, comes from Armagh and still attends all NI matches.

The only thing Nationalists can go out of their way to be offended by is GSTQ but no one asks them to sing it, do they?

FAI - Football Apartheid in Ireland

[saint4life]

The only thing Nationalists can go out of their way to be offended by is GSTQ but no one asks them to sing it, do they?

But you're still using it to represent them whether they sing it or not, so it makes no difference if they stay silent during it.

Anyway if you're from Ireland you have a choice to play for the Republic whether you like it or not, now get the fuck over it.

[Buffalo Soldier]

It's quite sad the way that Northern Ireland and the IFA are being portrayed by some as the 'sectarian' people here, when they couldn't be further from the truth. The IFA has proudly had a mixed team representing it from the 1800's, on many occasions putting our wee part of the world on the map.

The FAI's behaviour has put that proud tradition in jeopardy, potentially creating an all Ireland Catholic/Nationalist team and a Northern Protestant/Unionist team. It's almost like certain people WANT their to be division within our society...

Also anyone else think it's ironic how those supporting the FAI are telling us to 'get the fuck over it'?!?! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEEEEEEE LET US BE YOUR 33RD TEAM

[Buffalo Soldier]

Another point I've picked up on from this.

Most nationalists saying here that players born in NI should be allowed the right of choice to decide what country they want to play for.

Aren't these the same people that want to deny the unionists of NI the right of choice by their demands for a United Ireland?