Ferguson issue exposes Northern dilemma

SOCCER ANGLES:When the FAI start approaching Protestant players in the North then they can claim to be truly cross-community

WE PROBABLY need to talk about Darron. And Shane, and a few others. We probably need to talk about jurisdiction, and nationality and identity. Again. It’s been a big week for it. Once that’s done, we can then talk about football and a match in Dublin next Tuesday night, if you’re interested.

Scheduling a mini-tournament at this stage of the season is hazardous. There will be call-offs from already depleted squads due to the toll of the season and while some players returning from injury will be fresh, and others will gladly tick over until June’s European Championship qualifiers, for plenty the tournament has marginal appeal.

The international managers like it in theory as they do not get enough time with their players. In reality, however, they may find themselves with players from the fringes or, in the case of Northern Ireland’s Nigel Worthington, with players trying to walk away – and not just to a beach but to Tuesday’s opposition.

Newcastle United’s Shane Ferguson is the latest it appears to follow a path that Manchester United’s Darron Gibson is accused-of/congratulated-for clearing. Like Ferguson, Gibson was born in Derry/Londonderry and like Ferguson, Gibson was thus eligible to be selected for or to choose to play for Northern Ireland. Due to the political history of this island, Gibson, like Ferguson, was also free to choose to play for the Republic of Ireland.

Which he did.

Listening to the Northern Ireland fans singing of their “hate” for Gibson at Lansdowne Road during the game against Scotland there in February, it is clear that to those doing so Gibson is on the same sliding scale as Neil Lennon.

Were Manchester United not in the European Cup final next Saturday, Gibson might have played on Tuesday. He might have been up against his United colleague Jonny Evans. The reception for Gibson would be different to that given to Evans.

And this where Shane Ferguson is. Ferguson has played for Northern Ireland at various youth levels, Under-21 and B level. He has even won a senior cap as a substitute in a friendly against Italy. The friendly status of that game meant, though, that Ferguson could still play for the Republic of Ireland if approached by the FAI.

There is no official confirmation of this but in Belfast the IFA are expecting the worst. As Worthington said this week: “I’ve left voicemails, text messages and made random calls to Shane but at no time did we get a reply.

“It’s frustrating and disappointing that a lot of time, energy, commitment and finance goes into these players over a period of years and then when they are 17, 18, 19 or even 20, there is the opportunity for them, because of the ruling, to vacate to another country. There is a good production line here and to lose them is disappointing.”

We have yet to hear from Ferguson but he may have views on Worthington, the IFA and “another country”.

Superficially, the fact that the FAI and the IFA have agreed to participate in this Nations Cup tournament is a sign of healthy relations.

But it is superficial if there is a back-channel where the FAI, once made aware of a player’s cultural if not political identity – and let us be honest, his religion – speak to players in the IFA jurisdiction about joining them.

When the FAI start approaching Protestant boys in the North then they can claim to be truly cross-community. But it’s unlikely and so what we have developing is one increasingly cross community which, not by design, is becoming a Protestant team. Is that what they FAI want? It isn’t what the IFA want.

At the same time, what do those following Northern Ireland expect when – enough of them to be heard – are still singing about “joining the YCV”, Bobby Sands and their disgust at Darron Gibson? Do they think this makes Northern Ireland attractive to Shane Ferguson? Do they think that regardless of Ferguson’s religious, cultural and political identity, his place of birth within a border they recognise but many Irishmen do not makes Ferguson “one of us”? Gibson has said his decision was based on “football reasons”, which few North fans believe. They are outraged by the suggestion in fact.

But if he had said: “Actually it’s because I’m an Irish Nationalist and I believe in mother Ireland”, would they have suddenly replied: “Fair enough”?

One doubts it.

Maybe the FAI and IFA should decamp to Con Martin’s house after Tuesday. He would have things to say about playing for them both. He lives locally.

And it makes you wonder what Niall McGinn thinks of it all. A young man who was sent bullets in the post from Northern Ireland to Celtic in January is in Worthington’s squad for Tuesday.

Ah, Tuesday. There’s a match on. There will be at least 22 players on view and whether they are Protestant, Catholic, Nationalist, Unionist, Irish-Irish, British-Irish or English-Irish or Scottish-Irish, it would seem that they have a couple of things in common.

Quote of the season

"GET YOURSELF down to the library and read a book. Seriously." – Alex Ferguson, yesterday.

In the rush to hail the work of Ian Holloway at Blackpool this season – and last – there has been an outpouring of his quotations to show just what the Premier League would miss should things go wrong for Blackpool at Old Trafford tomorrow. "Every dog has its day and today is a woof day. I just want to bark," was how Holloway greeted promotion last May. "I love the place. We're very similar. We both look better in the dark," was his assessment of the town of Blackpool.

Ferguson may have trumped Holloway for quotation of the season in expressing his concern at his players using social networking sites after Wayne Rooney became embroiled in a row this week – and after the Darron Gibson episode perhaps, when Gibson was subjected to a tsunami of hatred within minutes of opening an account. "I don't know why anybody can be bothered with that kind of stuff," Ferguson said. "How do you find the time to do that?"

In Rooney's (first) autobiography, My Story So Far, he says the last book he read was about the Beatles: "Well, I've got to page 80." If Ferguson gets his way and United ban things like "Bakebook" – as it's known in Belfast – Rooney might get his Beatles tome out and finish it.

Sorry, Ian Holloway. C'mon the libraries!