Try the IFA's website. They sell replica kits and T-shirts etc. Here's a link to the replica page: http://www.irishfa.com/shop/category/1/replica-kits/
I was going to start a thread on Norn Irn's chances of qualifying for 2010, but apparently I'm too new to start any new threads yet. So, with the Czech Republic not at the top of the group, do we have a chance of qualifying this time around? It seems to me that, while we can beat the bigger teams, we often have trouble with the minnows, ironically.
David Healy joins Ipswich town on loan http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/i/ipswich_town/8491936.stm
Irish Federation going to court over players born in Northern ireland but playing for the Republic of ireland http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/8538702.stm
NI plays Turkey in New Britain CT the day after the US-Czech Republic game in East Hartford. http://www.newbritainct.gov/liv_prknrec2.html
don;t see many NI fans travelling. most seem to be saving for the competitive games later. worthington is using this and the chile game to try some players out. i don't know the full squad but these guys are all included. irish league: mcmullan - cliftonville (attacking midfielder) braniff - portadown (midfielder) garrett - linfield (midfielder) patterson - coleraine (forward) coates - crusaders (centre back) league of ireland: mannus - shamrock rovers (keeper) and: craigan mcgivern little feeney mcauley
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/8785680.stm I'm not Northern Irish or Irish or whatever but I noticed a story today that your FA is entering back into a deal with Linfield for the "national stadium". To me this is pretty sad stuff that any single club benefits that much from an agreement with a national FA supposed to represent the whole footballing community. Terms include 200,000 pounds a year to Linfield for rent and all maintenance being done by the FA. Seems like good news for the status quo for football Northern Ireland. Probably you will continue to hemorrhage half of your good young players to the Republic until someone with the FA pulls their head out of their butts and embraces a neutral ground for the national team.
players swapping fa's is to do with dubious fifa rules and the republic's breaking of a long standing gentleman's agreement not to poach players. fifa assume a passport/citizenship to show eligibility when a passport/citizenship really isn't enough in this case (imo). the reason it isn't enough is because people in northern ireland can avail of a republic citizenship without ever having anything to do with the republic, no family, no grandparents, not living there, never lived there, and therefore without ever having enough to meet the eligibility criteria to play for a national team that is behind the ethos applied to any other fa's national team, an fa representative team which, according to fifa's own rules, is SOLELY to represent an fa's own jurisdiction, not to represent a nation as such. the fai (republic) do NOT have jurisdiction over northern ireland (ifa jurisdiction) and therefore players like darren gibson, who would not ordinarily meet the criteria to play for the republic, are being allowed to play for the fai representative team (republic of ireland...note, not an "all ireland" team). it's a loophole which is being thoroughly exploited by the fai. basically, it's like the USA randomly giving totally canadian people US citizenship and the US fa playing them, unilaterally assuming the US fa now considers canada within their jurisdiction for their national team pool of players, and because the players have now have citizenship then fifa will allow it, as all they require is citizenship, despite what an fa representative team actually is and which is contrary to how fifa perceive uk citizenship, for instance. this is why it is being brought to CAS in geneva. imo fifa need to acknowledge that northern ireland now, in effect, has 2 citizenship options and that players without the same connection to another fa as is expected of any other player should really not have the option of picking between teams unless they meet the parents/granparents/naturalisiation rules of another fa jurisdiction that apply to everyone else in the world. right, the stadium....sad indeed......a neutral siting for the ground isn't really the big topic (bit of a red herring imo). it partly goes back 30 odd years to when linfield had massive influence and a 100 year contract was signed by the ifa, in their stupidity, for rental of windsor park. they are kind of stuck in it, despite paying for upkeep of certain parts that should have been linfield's problem as paid landlords. the stadium option was a forced offer sited well outside the city, basically in the back of nowhere, needing infrastructure etc and imo would have been a white elephant. thepitched idea was to share it with ulster rugby and the gaelic sports, both of which need a bigger pitch, in gaelic's case a massive pitch (see below for difference). the gaelic sports also wanted a far bigger ground, way more than the national football team ever wanted. there were no other sites offered and the reason this was the only one was that the govt (who were going to finance the deal) already owned it. they were not interested at all in any other site anywhere in the country. it was "there or nothing", it was "have it too big or nothing", it was "have a huge pitch and live with it or nothing". rugby said no, football said no. the gaelic guys didn't really care either way as far as i know. there were alternative sites inside the city, with infrastructure, hotels and entertainment already in place, but the govt didn't want to know. this has all led to the cheapest alternative, which is to upgrade windsor park and live with basically being a sugar daddy and bankrolling linfield fc yet again. so much for a level playing field in the league..... personally i wanted a new ground away from windsor and not at the maze, but that's just my opinion. a poll was conducted by the NI supporters association and showed overwhelming disapproval of the site offered outside the city. gaelic games pitch size - 137 – 145 m long and 80 – 90 m wide. football pitch - 100–110 m long and 64–75 m wide. can you imagine how far away the seats would be to watch a football match? wow, that was a bit longer than i ever intended!
Don't worry about the long post, good info. As far as the stadium goes, I can see that it was an impasse that would be difficult to overcome. From an outside point of view though it's still an awful situation that makes it look like the national team does not represent the whole population when they are so tightly affiliated with one club with the kind of historic reputation that club has had. As far as the nationality rules go, the Fifa laws are one thing but people are choosing to represent the republic of their own free will. Whether Fifa closes the loophole or not is beside the point when players don't want to represent the country. I'm sure there are different circumstances in every case and some career based opportunism, but to me it appears that people on one side of a cultural divide that exists feel that the national team is not inclusive towards them. We have had tonnes of defections in Canada and I can tell you that with a weak domestic league, the top players always play abroad long enough to have other options. Making a deal with Linfield like the FA did was probably the worst possible outcome.
just an update on the player eligibility case. the ifa case was heard on monday at the cas, with a decision expected within 6 weeks.
the ifa lost their case of fai player stealing today. full report in a few days. not unexpected as i have no faith in the ifa to pick their collective noses, but it will be interesting to see what line of argument they used. there are a few roads they could have taken. back to the drawing board and try another line of argument for the next theft.
Healy hoping to prove his worth in the Eurocup Qualifying matches http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/irish/8963502.stm
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAwD4H02lQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAwD4H02lQ[/ame] A very promising player we have on our hands.
great result, strong defending, but we have problems moving from defence to attack. goal apart, we looked a bit thin on ideas in that dept.
Just starting watching five minutes ago but if the score holds, it will be a very good result for the Northern Irish. 0-0.
David Healy joins Doncaster on loan http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/d/doncaster/9157212.stm
Northern Ireland's upcoming games. Northern Ireland v Slovenia, Tuesday 29 March 2011 Northern Ireland v Faroe Islands, Wednesday 10 August 2011 Northern Ireland v Serbia, Friday 2 September 2011 Northern Ireland v Estonia, Friday 7 October 2011 Go Northern Ireland and Portugal! Drink Guinness and Baileys responsibly, its good for you, cheers!
