STEPHEN FINN asks what does playing for the national squad mean in the context of a divided Ireland? DARRON Gibson may be simply a footballer but he has inadvertently become embroiled in a saga that has tested the wording of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Derry-born youngster’s international debut for the Republic of Ireland against Denmark has caused a row between the two football associations of this island.
Manchester United midfielder Gibson played schoolboy football for Northern Ireland – run by the Belfast-based Irish Football Association – before switching to the Republic – administered by the Football Association of Ireland, headquartered in Dublin.
Although he has Irish citizenship and an Irish passport, the IFA believe the 19-year-old is not eligible to switch to the Republic under FIFA’s laws on eligibility for international football.
The IFA insist that Gibson should not be allowed play for the Republic of Ireland as he was not born in the twenty-six counties, nor has parents or grandparents that were born there.
This wording was introduced by FIFA in May 2004 after a number of countries engaged in sharp practice to work their way around the previous legislation.
Prior to the change in regulations three years ago, a player could play international football for whatever country they qualified for through the citizenship laws of that nation.
For example, Northern Ireland could cap any player with a British passport not born in England, Scotland or Wales, should they so wish. This has seen Jersey-born Trevor Wood and German-born Maik Taylor play for the North even though they had no links to it at all.
Germany used residency rules to bring Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose into their international squads, while England also capped Jamaican-born John Barnes and Australian Tony Dorigo through naturalisation.
However, when Qatar decided to give caps to Brazilian trio Ailton, Dede and Leandro in 2004 the authorities opted to tighten up the regulations.
None of the three Brazilians had any links to the Gulf state nor had ever even been there before but the Qatar FA had managed to persuade their government to make the players citizens.
"Naturalisation that allows players with no obvious connection to the new country to play for that country's national team is not the aim and object of the FIFA statutes," said FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
FIFA’s rule-change was designed to prevent a repeat of that fiasco and it was perfectly understandable.
What the governing body did not consider was the impact such a ruling would have on the ambiguous nature of citizenship in certain countries – Ireland being one of them.
A basic tenet of the Belfast Agreement: that people can be British or Irish – or both at the same time.
The wording of that historic document says: "The birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland."
In recent times the IFA has been angered by the decision of Tony Kane and Michael O’Connor to switch from the North to the Republic.
Although the players would have no problems in switching from England to Ireland – as Chelsea’s James Simmonds has just done – the fact that they were both born in Northern Ireland has slowed the processing of their switches.
IFA Chief Executive Howard Wells stated earlier this year what that association feels is the case regarding Gibson, Kane and O’Connor: "We have presented the case to both FIFA and UEFA and are waiting for their decision," Wells told the Belfast Telegraph.
"We were asked to produce case studies and Darron Gibson is one of those case studies. There is a meeting scheduled for April when a decision will be made. It is not about passports, it's about eligibility and we have asked FIFA and UEFA to apply their rules. We have told the FAI about this and we will see what happens. The articles are clear and very precise and we have asked FIFA as the world governing body to take responsibility."
Despite those comments, FIFA has still to make a call on the issue as it is far from as straightforward as Wells claimed.
While the IFA’s disappointment at losing good players is simple to understand, there is an obvious element to the story that can’t be ignored.
Despite the fact that many of the current players hold Irish passports, Northern Ireland’s football team does not resonate with a large section of their own community.
A significant number of nationalists in Northern Ireland would have little interest in the progress of Nigel Worthington’s team but would instead follow the progress of the Republic of Ireland team closely.
This issue makes the IFA stance delicate to say the least and if they try to force players to play for Northern Ireland, they may lose them entirely as they could opt not to play international football at all.
To add to the confusion, it is my belief that having researched this matter thoroughly, they have no case in the Gibson matter.
Quite simply, he was a Republic of Ireland player before the rules were changed.
As he had not played in a competitive game at underage level for the North, he was perfectly entitled to make the change of allegiance when he moved to the Republic in October 2003.
On October 21 that year, in a small Austrian village called Brühl, Gibson lined up for UEFA under-17 Championship qualifier alongside the likes of Darren Randolph, Darren O’Dea and Anthony Stokes.
So eight months before FIFA made their decree, Gibson was already a Republic of Ireland player. As far as I can see, that’s case closed and he will not be changing nations now.
As for Kane and O’Connor, the situation is less certain and Kane has already lost out by being forced to miss a UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier for the Republic against Portugal on September 7 as he awaits word from FIFA.
This is one story likely to drag on for some time yet.
