He was never approached to play for the Republic?
Doesn’t look to have been.
Who was the last northern born player we have capped? Is it McClean?
Thats incredible to think no one ever approached him at either youth or adult level. Incredible.
It’s shocking, the FAI have neglected nationalist footballers in the north in recent years.
The IFA threw a strop about them poaching players a few years back and now they won’t do it anymore.
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Duffy was after him.
Has there been anyone since?
7 years is a long time for a senior player not to receive their first cap for Ireland.
Eunan O’Kane in 2016 as well.
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It must be a tiny pool of players. Hardly that long.
Whatever happed to Marc Wilson’s career. He pretty much fell off a cliff once Stoke were relegated
Many at underage level?
Correct, nail on the head. The main reason he chose to play for the North is probably because he plays for Liverpool. Strong protestant ties for club and now country, gets to play in front of the the Kop as well now for both club and country
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Don’t have the stats to hand. You might need to contact the FAI for that.
This is the list of those at Senior level according to Wikipedia:
Like I said, incredible.
Is it possible Liverpool are to blame?
Would you trust a club founded by a leading member of the Orange Order?
I’m not sure any Irish man could.
No one that you could call patriotic anyhow.
It’s a very low amount.
The FAI have to be proactive here. Bradley is now gone at 18, he can’t change allegiance. McClean, Duffy, O’Kane etc were all NI internationals at that age but had not appeared at senior level.
NI are going to be very aggressive and cap these players at a young age so as to tie them down for the future. It’s terrible stewardship from the FAI to lose out on a prospect like Bradley.
He can still switch allegiance. The rules on this were loosened. By that strictest criteria if he has less than 4 competitive caps
There’s a flipside of course that the young lads can refuse to play for Northern Ireland and make it known that they want to play for ROI.
The FAI were in such a heap during the Delaney tenure it’s no surprise that this went astray some way. The money that could have been spent on this recruitment/searching was probably diverted to buying supporters pints on a train.