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[GFA changed all that any one on the Island can be British or Irish]

I'm sure this has been asked before but can someone from the South declare for the North?

I'm sure it's been asked before but I still don't know the answer. I think the answer is no. It's NI that is the special case, not the RoI

GFA changed all that any one on the Island can be British or Irish and hence declare for either. Just on that the recent trend was started when the IFA insisted that Catholics with an Irish Passport needed to get a British one before they could represent NI...Something tells me it may have been Darren Gibson who was at the centre of this.

The GFA does not insist that a person from Northern Ireland  chooses between British and  Irish.

They are not mutually exclusive .

You are right they can be both, but I was referring to the context of the debate on football eligiblity.

Noticed on the clip of the eejit burning the Union Jack that it was a freebie advertising the Sun.

Time to ditch GSTQ as the "anthem" methinks.

Not only that but the whole behaviour of the "fans" their union flags, party songs and the flying of the unofficial loyalist Ulster flag, but even at that any one who considers them selves Nationalist or Republican would still have issue playing for "Our Wee Country".

Why?

Partition

As someone from NI who follows the NI football team I can understand and appreciate why a young nationalist might prefer to opt for the Republic team.  The anthem for one ought to be changed. 

However, a point that has not yet been fully acknowledged in this thread is that as yet there have been no moves made by the FAI to attract young non-nationalists to opt for the ROI team.  As such, the FAI's approach could be construed as being sectarian in nature.  Given the attempts made to remove sectarianism from NI football, the approach adopted by the FAI does little to help improve the situation further and help make NI football more representative of everyone in NI society.

You miss the point, the vast majority of Nationalist have no allegience to NI, they would even support England first.

[I dont think anyone would be particularly surprised if it happened again]

b]I didnt say it was currently happening[/b] - but it has happened, (and the reaction was pretty sickening too - Jackie 'I think there were less boos that time' Fullerton) and I dont think anyone would be particularly surprised if it happened again.

1.Your post was written in the present tense.

2. I would be surprised as would anyone who attends the games.

However, I think there certainly remains many of those fans who partook in above behaviour, and I doubt they have changed that much.

How do you come to that conclusion?

They have been given many many opportunities over the last 10 years.
[/quote]
Why did Scotland fans ask if NI fans were England in disguise?

I'm sure this has been asked before but can someone from the South declare for the North?

I'm sure it's been asked before but I still don't know the answer. I think the answer is no. It's NI that is the special case, not the RoI

GFA changed all that any one on the Island can be British or Irish and hence declare for either. Just on that the recent trend was started when the IFA insisted that Catholics with an Irish Passport needed to get a British one before they could represent NI...Something tells me it may have been Darren Gibson who was at the centre of this.

[NI poised to lose Devine and Ferguson to Republic]

Ah poor wittle nigel, no-one wants to take his calls!
Gurning aul shite. 


NI poised to lose Devine and Ferguson to Republic
Northern Ireland are set to see another two of their young players switching allegience to the Republic of Ireland.

NI boss Nigel Worthington has been informed that Preston North End defender Daniel Devine has opted to play for the Republic.

Worthington believes Shane Ferguson intends making the same move after the Newcastle United defender failed to reply to his calls.

A Fifa ruling allows N Ireland-born players to opt for the Republic.

Fifa rules include a clause allowing players to change nationality once before they play a senior competitive match if they were born "on the territory of the relevant association".

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 provided for Northern Ireland-born people to claim either British or Irish nationality.

Darron Gibson, Shane Duffy, Marc Wilson, Daniel Kearns and Paul George have already made the move to the Republic.

There is a good production line here and to lose them is disappointing. Quote Nigel Worthington

Teenagers Devine and Ferguson, who played for the senior team in a friendly against Italy in 2009, have also represented Northern Ireland at youth level.

A disappointed Worthington wants further clarification on the eligibility ruling.

"It needs to be more black and white - to put all the indecision to bed once and for all," he said.

"It's frustrating and disappointing that a lot of time, energy, commitment and finance goes into these players over a period of years and then when they are 17, 18, 19 or even 20, there is the opportunity for them, because of the ruling, to vacate to another country.

"There is a good production line here and to lose them is disappointing.

"I've left voicemails, text messages and made random calls to Shane (Ferguson) but at no time did we get a reply."

So is the so called "Free State"          now the Proper Ireland  . This gets so confusing. What is it with people from the 6 counties (Gaoth Dobhair Abu is from Donegal so question not aimed at him) supporting the crowd they tell to "take it down from the mast Irish traitors"?

Time to move on from this boring theme you take in to every debate...Fcukin Boring.

Time to ditch GSTQ as the "anthem" methinks.

Not only that but the whole behaviour of the "fans" their union flags, party songs and the flying of the unofficial loyalist Ulster flag, but even at that any one who considers them selves Nationalist or Republican would still have issue playing for "Our Wee Country".

["I've left voicemails, text messages and made random calls to Shane (Ferguson) but at no time did we get a reply."]

Ah poor wittle nigel, no-one wants to take his calls!
Gurning aul shite. 

"I've left voicemails, text messages and made random calls to Shane (Ferguson) but at no time did we get a reply."

While I think it's great these players want to play for the Republic, I think this guy  Shane Ferguson could have least answered or returned a call to Worthington to tell him of his intentions.
Manners cost nothing and I think it reflects poorly on Ferguson.

He's only a youngster probably no credit on the oul phone.

I for one am glad it isn't being moved...Less people to see us getting stuffed by Down!!

Exactly. The motives of the British haven't changed, they still want to keep as much of Ireland as possible. They just have to be more circumspect in their methods in this day and age.

Oh please! The Brits are hanging onto the north because they're greedy? Give me a break! Some people have an over-inflated sense of Ireland's importance. The Brits have plenty on their plates without having to worry about their troublesome little "province" in the north.

Sorry to rain on people's parades, but having worked for ten years in Ireland, I'm pretty sure that outside the border counties a referendum on a United Ireland would be defeated- and I'm not hanging that on the current economic situation either by the way.

Irish Unity will happen, perhaps not for another generation, when it does it will be because there are sensible economic and political reasons for doing so. The GFA allows for this. It protects Nationalists within the current jurisdiction but conversely will protect Unionists within any unified state.

The anxiety of Armagh to claim some territory in the county town of Down smacks of an inferiorty complex suitable to the one_in_a_row brigade.

Surely Downpatrick is the county town? No?

Two things Nordies have learned from the Royal visit

1.  Seamus McKee is a dose
2.  Paul "Columbo" Clarke is a complete oddball

That was obvious long time ago.

and your consistent references to the non-existent "Free State" are meant to convey what, precisely? It has been said so often now that many here find the term offensive that its continued use could reasonably be construed as intended to offend.

Hardy, there is no symmetry between these things. Names are used for places, Freestate shorter to write than than 26 counties. I used the term Nordie in my post, somewhat tongue in cheek. But mayogodhelpus has a distasteful exclusionist agenda that he is Irish and 6 county contributors are not. It is entirely unacceptable to imply that others are less than you in this way.

Armaghniac, you may be right that mghu has an exclusionist agenda (I don't have the time to read all his posts) so fire away and debate that with him. My point was an independent one - simply responding to the complaint about the use of insulting terms by pointing out that offensiveness works both ways and  many here find the "Free State" term offensive.

I should point out that I don't really give a toss. People are too precious these days about what offends them and I believe in the majority of cases the appropriate response to "I'm offended by that" is "so what?". I was just making a debating point with Applesisapples.

I try to avoid using the term Free State because some people find it offensive. I was only taking issue with MGHU because of his consistently offensive and demeaning posts which clearly indicate that he feels we Northerners are not really Irish. I was asking a Dublin friend on Saturday how he felt about the term Free State and he told me that he often uses it him self. I have posted elswhere that generally I don't find Nordy offensive depending on the tone and context MGHU excels in using it in an offensive manner.

Disappointing that Celtic lost out on the League. But compare the type of Football Celtic have played at times with the puke from last season 1 point behind Rangers is a step forward. Lenny only finished putting the squad together as recently as January. Rangers have been settled over the last 3 seasons. Hats of to Walter Smith though.