{"id":776,"date":"2012-06-07T10:03:37","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T09:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=776"},"modified":"2012-06-08T16:37:51","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T15:37:51","slug":"james-mccleans-dubious-excuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=776","title":{"rendered":"James McCleans’ Dubious Excuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

James McCleans\u2019 Dubious Excuse<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday the media carried a story where former Northern Ireland international Keith Gillespie criticised James McClean for choosing to represent the Republic of Ireland rather than his native Northern Ireland.\u00a0 Gillespie believes that McClean is using his religion as an excuse\u2014and a not very well disguised one\u2014not to play for the country of his birth.\u00a0 McClean had previously stated that he had no desire to play for Northern Ireland because he felt uncomfortable playing in front of a Union Jack and Ulster flag waving crowd.\u00a0 Never mind that both flags are representative of the land he was born in and had no problem in representing through all the International set-ups right up to Under 21 level.\u00a0 Gillespie makes the point that although he accepts that there is a minority amongst the Northern Ireland fans who may be sectarian the vast majority of supporters welcome and in many cases embrace players irrespective of their religion.\u00a0 He cites former players who achieved hero status\u2014players like Pat Jennings\u2014Gerry Armstrong\u2014Mal Donaghy\u2014John O\u2019Neill.\u00a0 There are many more examples of course but we need to be careful that we don\u2019t fall into the trap of making it an issue over and above the shenanigans currently taking place.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\nThere is a problem here\u2014and a quite simple one.\u00a0 As it stands James McClean is absolutely within his rights to choose whichever country he wants to play for.\u00a0 The rules clearly state that any footballer can pick either the North or South when it comes to representing his country.\u00a0 It seems that all that is required is to be the owner of a passport from both of the respective countries.\u00a0 And of course young McClean isn\u2019t the first\u2014and is unlikely to be the last\u2014person to \u201cdefect\u201d as Keith Gillespie correctly pointed out.\u00a0 In recent years cases like Darren Gibson and the young Everton player Shane Duffy highlighted the dilemma facing the Irish Football Association.\u00a0 In 1993 the then Manchester City centre back Alan Kernaghan chose to represent the Republic when he had actually been brought up in Bangor, County Down.\u00a0 The difference here was that at that time the Irish Football Association didn\u2019t allow players to represent Northern Ireland if they or their parents hadn\u2019t been born here.\u00a0 Kernaghan and his parents were actually born in England although they lived in Bangor since Kernaghan was four years old.
\n\u00a0The press and media have made much of Keith Gillespie\u2019s claim that McClean is a defector and some feel that he is being a little bit extravagant in his claims.\u00a0 But a closer look at the facts lends weight to the point Gillespie has made.\u00a0 Twenty three year old McClean was born in the Creggan area of Londonderry\u2014which we all know is Northern Irelands second city.\u00a0 As a young player at Trojans and then at Institute McClean was lucky enough to be selected to represent his country at Under-18 level.\u00a0 He progressed\u2014with the excellent coaching staff employed by the IFA assisting along the way\u2014to Under-21 level, where he played a total of 7 times during 2009\/2010.\u00a0 The amount of effort\u2014and expense– that is put into coaching and nurturing all of these young players is considerable and should not be disregarded.\u00a0 For young men like McClean to proceed to a stage where the next move is a full cap, before jumping ship is nothing short of scandalous and it is something that needs to be addressed.\u00a0 At what stage exactly did he realise that he was playing for the \u201cwrong\u201d country? \u00a0\u00a0Obviously if there is a system in place that can be bucked it will happen again and McClean won\u2019t be the last to defect.\u00a0 Northern Ireland are going through a tough time at present in footballing terms and need to nurture and progress all the young talent at their disposal.\u00a0 Now is the time for FIFA to act and bring to an end this unacceptable and ludicrous practice.\u00a0 However, knowing the track record of both Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini on administration issues this outcome is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n

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