With the DUP turning up at GAA matches, SF ministers turning up at Windsor park and funds from Stormo being allocated to Sports facilities to be shared between Soccer, Rugby and GAA, you could be forgiven for believing that sport in Northern Ireland is in a very harmonious place.
But beneath the surface, the eligibility issues surrounding Northern Ireland footballers rumbles divisively on. In just over 2 months the European Football Championships will kick off and if Signore Trapattoni,the manager of the Republic of Ireland, has any sense (which is by no means a given) he will be including Sunderland’s rising Premier league star, James McClean, in his squad.
As a Nationalist from the Creggan in Derry, it was hardly a surprise, that McClean would, when and if the opportunity arose, switch his allegiance from North to South of the border. Nor was it a surprise, that McClean’s decision would spark an outpouring of fury from Northern Ireland football supporters and the complaint that one of their brightest prospects had been ‘poached’ by their bitterest rivals.
With Northern Ireland sliding down the world rankings (currently 87th) and the Republic heading off towards the Euros, Northern football supporters anger and indignation towards the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision (in 2010) to confirm that the border could be ignored and ‘Ireland’ could continue to select Northerners – shows absolutely no signs of abating.
The Northern Football fan website Our Wee Country provides a forum for irate Northerners to rail against both the FAI(commonly referred to as the ‘splinter group’), and the Republic’s team(commonly referred to as ‘the beggars’) and their seems to be little appetite amongst contributors for any sort of accommodation – with James McClean the focus of considerable personal abuse.
(In line with the ‘splinter group’ theme and in what sounds more akin to Connolly House sloganeering the IFA on their website state that they look after “the interests of the game in the six northern counties…”.)
But surely some accommodation between the IFA and the FAI is required – which both accepts that those North of the border are perfectly entitled to declare for the South but also seeks to ensure that having spent time and money and effort developing age grade players, the Northern football authorities won’t just see the Republic reaping the benefits.
Of course there are those, myself included, who would like to see Soccer, like Rugby and GAA played successfully on an All Island basis but given the bitterness that exists within soccerball’s natural support base that is clearly some way off – in the meantime just like the once sworn enemies up at Stormo have done – the FAI and the IFA really need to show some leadership and make a determined effort to resolve this divisive issue…. and with Ulster and Munster and Leinster challenging for European success in the Heineken Cup Quarters finals next weekend and the GAA in rude health on both sides of the border, these two follicly challenged, ‘splinter’ soccerball associations clearly need to agree on the use of a comb.
This is a “guest post” from “Sammy McNally”
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