I just think it will become normal as time passes. Fellas born will want to play for the north.
Are we advocating some sort of coercion here or what? Kidnap the lads family until he declares for the Republic?
Mark Sykes a few months ago
Is soccer the only sport on the island that doesn’t operate on an all Ireland basis? Maybe young lads like Conor Bradley just have no truck with the Partitionist FAI.
How is the FAI partionist? Anybody born on the island can play for their team
Mark Sykes was playing for Northern Ireland at 18,
The difference is Bradley is good and a big prospect and nobody at the FAI thought it worthwhile to approach him about representing Ireland.
Why are they no longer calling up Northern born players?
Mark Sykes has never been capped for Ireland AFAIK and was a Northern Ireland international at 18.
Odd that an Italian like @Fulvio_From_Aughnacloy is getting so hot and bothered about whether fellows represent Ireland or Eire.
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I’m not sure we ever called up many Northern Irish born players to underage squads
Michael Duffy is another that switched allegiance recently
Never been capped at senior level.
Declared for NI until he was 22.
You’re not really making a strong case here.
Gibson, Duffy, McClean, Wilson and O’Kane all switched over around the same period after being approached by the FAI.
The IFA threw a strop. The FAI stopped.
Just because they declare for us doesn’t mean we are obliged to pick them
The issue is Bradley is gone at 18, nobody from the FAI has tried to get him to declare.
How do you know?
No evidence they have.
I’ve asked you numerous times now.
At any age level, u-15 - all the way up to senior - who was the last northern born player to get their first cap for Ireland?
Why have they stopped calling up northern born players?
It’s spineless from the FAI
Eunan O’Kane it seems like at senior. I couldn’t give a definite answer down to u15
The ones that have declared for us have been deemed not good enough yet
That’s 5 years ago.
You don’t think there’s been anyone good enough to get an international call up in the O6 for the past 5 years?
Look at the current u21 NI team? You don’t think any of them might be of some use? No problem chasing lads from Sweden, Spain, Germany and England to represent Ireland at underage level but a big no chasing actual Irish lads born here.
So Ireland didn’t approach them and if they were good enough they would be ineligible to play for us by now.