Scotland v Ireland Discussion Thread 14th Nov @ Celtic Park

He spent summers in Ireland visiting his Irish family.

 

You have the right to be sore but im not going to make you out to be a anti scots racist because of it.

 

I spent summers in Canada visiting Canadian family, but it doesn't make me Canadian.

He played for Scotland at youth level, taking part in an under 13 world cup tournament in France, right? The truth is, if we didn't have the schoolboy rule McGeady would be a Scotland player now most likely. He wouldn't have faced issues and would likely have continued playing for Scotland I reckon.

He made the switch for footballing reasons, and was quite entitled to do so under the laws of the game.

Make no mistake though, he was born in Paisley, and his parents aren't Irish either. He can be proud of his Irish heritage (like a lot of us on here), but he's not Irish. The Irish FA saw a decent player in the making, and a loophole that would allow them to bring him into their set-up.

For the record, I have no issue with him playing for Ireland, but there's no need to get all misty eyed about long summers spent in the rolling fields, childhood Ireland shirts and families that are "rich in heritage".

If he dreamt of one day pulling on that lush green jersey then why did he play for Scotland as a kid?

He made the jump for footballing reasons. Nothing wrong with that.

 

But Maloney is a born and bred (well, just bred) Scot. Going by what you've said earlier in the thread, we wouldn't have any right to be 'sore'.

 

I don't really care (he says while watching live international football :smiley-laughing002. It is rare for people to just up sticks like that and just pick a country at random. I can't think of one player to do that off the top of my head. Even the Brazilians that play for Tunisia or Japan do so after years and years of playing for clubs(s) in said country. So I struggle to see why people in these types of threads always go to most extreme scenario possible.

In a world where borders are nothing I still think we'll have international football. It will just be more community based (that of course will raise plenty of other tricky questions), instead of crappy lines. A concept of "Sweden" will still exist, just it won't be defined by a random line or a random bit of geography.

 

But were does it end? 2nd 3rd 4th generation? It's a little silly to have a competition were people play for whoever they want, because of how they "feel".

 

I presume you know how school boy football works are are just taking the * here.

 

All this non-borders talk is getting dangerously close to MGM territory! :smiley-laughing002:

Seriously though, like I said above McGeady is simply taking advantage of the laws of the game, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Are Scotland fans going to feel sore about it? Of course. Are they going to boo him? Undoubtedly. Does that make them racist or anti-Irish? Not in my book.

It's the way it goes.

From the little I do know you aren't forced to play in any game or team that you don't want to, right?

 

Neither of his parents were born in Ireland, but his father considers himself Irish as far as I'm aware, considering he has Irish parents.

You or anybody else has no right to tell anybody what nationality they are, in my opinion.

Maybe because it was under 13s and he was living in Scotland? It wouldn't be easy for a 11/12 year old to put his foot down and try and get involved with an overseas youth International set up. Let's not forget that it's clearly not a situation that he sees himself as 100% Irish and 0% Scottishand that's the end of it. The reality is that he is both Scottish and Irish so would have been quite proud to get the chance to represent Scotland at under 13 level. He still identifies more with Ireland, though, hence he grew up wearing Ireland jerseys and now plays for Ireland.

 

Are you sure these ridicules ideas fit on a football thread? Perhaps you could give more details on your brilliant plans for reestablishing mans place in the world.

 

Port boy we all know you're a Hun, you're trying admirably hard though

 

In the context of international football it matters not a jot what nationality his father "considers" himself to be. It matters which nationality his parents or his grandparents actually are.

If you mean that I have no right to tell McGeady that he shouldn't consider himself to be Irish, then you're right. Just the same as I can't tell a young guy of Pakistani heritage who was born in Manchester that he shouldn't consider himself to be Pakistani.

Unfortunately it has nothing to do with what people think or how they consider themselves. He was born in Scotland, to Scottish parents. He's Scottish with Irish heritage. Does he relate more to his Irish heritage than his Scottish heritage? Possibly, but that's not what we're discussing, is it?

Hold on, I thought he was from a family that is rich in Irish heritage? With a father who, despite being born in Scotland considers himself to be Irish?

Surely with a background such as that, coupled with him running around in Ireland shirts and not Scotland shirts as you claim, the very idea of entertaining Scotland would have been a non-starter? Why not wait until he's old enough to stake a claim for Ireland? The signs were that he was certainly good enough, so I'm sure Ireland would have come knocking eventually, right?

Unless he made the switch for footballing reason, of course. Which makes more sense, doesn't it?

 

Scotland Schools team isn't about nationality. You could be German with no links to Scotland and play for Scotland schools as long as you're going to a school in Scotland.

 

It is easier to be a bitter * about individual footballers, I'll grant you that

 

:smiley-laughing002:

 

Congratulations lads, better team won. Ireland just didn't get going at all, McGeady, McClean, Hendrick and Long just didn't step up at all, at times I felt McGeady was trying too hard instead of just releasing the ball.

Hanley should have walked though, all I can think of is that the referee gave him a yellow for it being early enough in the game and the fact that he judged that Long wouldn't have caught the ball had Hanley not have taken him out. Still, I think it was a red card.

On the whole, no complaints really though. We had maybe a 10-15 minute period when it seemed we might nick it but Scotland scored at killer time for us, pathetic defending for the goal too but great play on your behalf.

Interesting group now, bring it on! :icon_mrgreen:

 

This thread summed up in a gif

 

Hanley was correctly given a yellow card for that incident. However, fifteen minutes later he should apparently have been given a second yellow (or a straight red?) for his challenge on the goalkeeper, never seen it myself so can't comment.

 

Nope. Very much untrue.

 

Aye he flung his arm out and hit Forde when it was clear he was getting nowhere near the ball. Strachan then seemingly sent Brown to go and tell him to calm the * down and Brown, Mulgrew and I think Naismith all had a word with him :smiley-laughing002:. I wouldn't imagine that incident being more than a yellow though had he not been booked already, it was a slap in the face aye but I still think a straight red for that would've been a bit harsh.

He should have been sent off aye but I don't want to complain too much about it because it'll deflect how poor Ireland were.

So once again, well done