why ireland should have a united football team

BigDaddyKone

This whole neil lennon things shows us that we have to have a united irish football team. If we could spread the games about so some friendlies where up north it would be great. Although the are not too many northern irish players that would make it into the irish squad (lennon and gillispie) it would be are best chances of winning anything in the future.

mike65

Once again newbie disease strikes, how does a death threat against Neil Lennon mean an "all Ireland" team is the way foward? All that would happen is the kind of moron who made that phone call would have lots more targets...nope its a silly idea. Niel Lennon will never play for the Republic either.

The FAI would never want the hassle.

Mike.

Dustaz

The FAI have nothing to do with it, he cant play for the ROI since he has won caps at senior level for NI.

Or have the LVF threatened FIFA so the rules are changed?

Michael Collins

Or have the LVF threatened FIFA so the rules are changed?

lol. Maybe they could threaten the FAI, somebody needs to. I know everbodies been bashing them lately but come on...how stupid are they?

I thought lennon probably shouldn't have given in to the threats though...but I suppose when somebody threatens your family it's hard not to...

Pigman

I can honestly say that there isn't a single player in Northern Irelands first 11 (including Lennon) who would make it into the Republics first 11. As such , fu.ck them.

Jake

Dont see how it would be workable myself, how many catholics/nationalists do ye reckon would venture into east belfast to windsor park, or indeed prodestants/unionists into the Brandywell?
Cant imagen to many unionists being to happy when they come down here for an international and half the fans are wearing Celtic jerseys either:D

Im all for integration but I just dont see how it would be workable in this case teejay.

Best bet (whats seems to be actually happening) is that most young nationalists/catholics with any talent are declaring for the ROI!
It seem silly to me anyway to declare for the north when they all support the ROI and are afraid, by and large to attend games in Windsor Park.
Declare for the ROI, travel down to games to support (no further than those traveling from Cork or Kerry and less than those travelling from Donegal) and let the Northern team play as they choose.
Indeed good luck to em, I wish them well for the future.

DapperGent

It would be nice in the very longterm I think. Rugby does it why not foot ball?

Most advantageous would be an all island league which might be competitive and interesting enough to draw a crowds and advance foootball in ireland. There's no reason a crossborder league couldn't be as strong as say Scotland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark or Norway.

Jake

Dunno about that!
Didnt derry city pull out of the NI league because of problems staging games in the Brandywell?
Not sure about the details

Can you just imagen Linfield v Shamrock Rovers, or indeed Linfield v any southern Irish team

Just think back to the Rangers v Shelbourne game a couple of seasons ago to get an idea

Maybe in the long term it may be an idea but not yet!

Johnny_the_fox

the only player I think could get in the Ireland team, if there was a United Ireland football team is Aaron Hughes..

dont think Lennon would get into Midfield IMO.

Xterminator

Long term, i do think unification would benifit everybody.

At the moment we have a far stonger side.
But these things go in cycles, and i for one am old enough to remeber NI when theyt were the better tyeam, with Pat Jennings in goal etc.

I can see two good reasons to unify.

firstly a unifed domestic league would create a financially more viable structure, where hopefully all the first division teams would be professional, and would act as breeding grounds for our interanational team.

Secondly we would have access to a greater pool of popuation, and given the small population base we have , compared to say Englan or Germany, or chances of finding 11 talented players would be increased in the future.

As pointed out by a previous poster, it works in Rugby, it works inother sports, and it could work in soccer.

The main reasons again as far as I can tell are

1. The Sectarian Arguments. (Both sides)
Well I dont belive we should allow bigoted sectarian muppets to dictate what we can or can t do. i think we should stand up to them, expose them and let them know there behaviour is not acceptable.

2. The incumbent accociations have it handy and will resist change
Currently we suffer the most inept association who constantly beggar belief with there goings on. I think yes, some of the FAI would have to stand down in a unication scenario, and i dont think it would be a bad thing.
Ireland is politaclly two seperate countries, yet it is a sensitive area, and it IFA and FAI reached agreement, FIFA would never stand it the way, given the delicate situation that exists.

X

BJJ

I'll say one thing
Lennon would do much better than Harte

stevoslice

Lennon would most definitely make the grade, as would Hughes, not gillespie though, but it would never work.

Its workeable in rugby because the player base up north is mostly of a posh higher class background, and because we all know that rugby supporters are on the whole, genuinely nice people, whereas soccer teams have many hooligans and **** supporting them.

Jake

Agreed bhoy
Im not a LOI supporter so I dont really mind so much
But anyone who wouldnt be a "little apprehensive" :rolleyes: of Linfield fc comming to town is living in cuckoo land IMHO

As Iv said long term maybe a combined league may work but not now, not yet!

BigDaddyKone

interesting point about a unified league in Ireland. I had not really thought of that aspect but that would definetly happen if the ifa and fai were to merge. To be fair to linfield, the club themselves are trying to move away from their more militant loyalist image. A united irish team will happen, it's just a matter of time. I suppose the people in the fai/ifa are afraid of losing their influence and jobs. As for who would get into a united irish team. Lennon and hughes would definelty get into the squad and anyone who knows about football would be salivating at the prospect of lennon playing in the centre of midfield for us. Gillisipie would have a good chance as he is playing better for blackburn than probably anytime in his career and I would think he is a better option that mcateer. What about roy carrol? He would be a good third choice after kiely.

Kim Tae-Woo

Unite Ireland

DapperGent

Originally posted by Kim Tae-Woo
Unite Ireland

I think theres some people already trying to do that. Pressure groups and whatnot.

Pigman

Interesting fact for you all. Up until 1921 Ireland DID have a united league, controlled by the IFA and operating mainly out of Ulster. Clubs like Shels and Bohs competed in this league against the likes of Linfield and Belfast Celtic on a regular basis.

Let's just say that this particular period of Irish soccer history was characterised mainly by infighting. For the most part catholic clubs were marginalised and by the time the opportunity to create the FAI came along Bohs and Shels were only to happy to break away and form their own league.

Moral of the story? As long as there isn't a genuine feeling of unity in this country a unified league will never work out.

Brian Bennette

Maybe it's possible for a Unified league

Jake

Originally posted by teejay
. To be fair to linfield, the club themselves are trying to move away from their more militant loyalist image.

Yep, thats why 21,000 (capacity of Windsor Park) turned up a few weeks ago to see them against Rangers.
Rangers sportingly wore their new orange away tops for the occasion:rolleyes: and no attempts were made to stop the fans from booing Arveladze who forgot where was and blesses himself as he ran onto the pitch:D

billymeehan

Sorry lads but Aaron Hughes would not have a snowballs chance in hell of getting into the squad. He plays right back where we already have an embarrasment of riches, Stephen Carr (world class when fit) Steve Finnan (voted best right back in the premiership last year)

DapperGent

I think Aaron Hughes can play anywhere across the back (right full, left full and centre) , that level of flexibility would give him quite a good chance of making the squad I reckon. He's a pretty good player after all.

Lennon would be a starter I'd say and Gillespie is playing well for Blackburn and would be good backup on the right certainly better at the moment than Reid. Kevin Horlock is a reliable central midfielder and can cover left back and the left side of midfield. Roy Carroll would be a good backup keeper to Given as Dean Kiely's getting on a bit. Northern Ireland have no absolute quality
to add to an Ireland team but there's certainly enough there to make a big difference.