Philip Quinn Together always stronger so why do we have two Ireland teams?
MARTIN O’NEILL seemed genuinely taken aback on Monday when he learned he could have played for the Republic of Ireland, had he chosen to do so.
He thought it might have been because of his grandmother from Donegal but it was simpler than that as anyone born on the island of Ireland, of that time, was entitled to apply for Irish citizenship.
Either way, O’Neill stressed he never had any inclination to play for the Republic. His calling was Northern Ireland and when the jersey was draped on his back for the first time in 1971, he was hooked.
O’Neill played 64 times for the North and was captain at the 1982 World Cup finals where Billy Bingham’s boys famously beat Spain 1-0 in Valencia and reached the second phase of the competition (in effect the quarter-finals).
He was reminded this week how close the Republic of Ireland were to joining the North in those finals.
They were denied in Brussels by Portuguese referee Raul Nazare who disallowed a perfectly fair goal by Frank Stapleton and awarded Belgium a highly contentious free-kick from which Jan Ceulemans scored an 87th-minute winner.
Belgium was a cess pit of corruption at that time and Nottingham Forest, O’Neill’s old club, were on the receiving end of a 3-0 loss to Anderlecht in the 1984 UEFA Cup semi-finals. (The club president admitted later he had hired a local gangster to pay off the Spanish referee.)
On a level playing field, Eoin Hand, who accused the ref of corruption, would have led Ireland to those finals in 1982. Instead, Big Jack got the breaks, and the fame.
By the summer of ’82, the two teams from these islands were long regarded as separate sporting entities. In a small island of less than four million people, there were two international teams, both recognised by UEFA and FIFA.
There used to be one, but after the first split in 1921, initiated by Dublin, the FAI arranged international games for the Irish Free State XI, while the Belfast-based IFA oversaw the Ireland team which took part in the British Home Championships.
Curiously, the two associations regularly selected each other’s players until 1950. Dubliner Con Martin, who captained Ireland against Wales that year, always said he was looked after better on IFA duty than with the FAI.
Imagine, for a moment, that there had not been a split and Ireland competed as one team, one nation. What might have happened in 1982, for example?
What a composite team Ireland would have had. While it’s a subjective exercise, this XI wouldn’t have been half bad: Pat Jennings; Jimmy Nicholl, Dave O’Leary, Kevin Moran, Chris Hughton; Martin O’Neill, Mark Lawrenson, Sammy McIlroy, Liam Brady; Frank Stapleton, Norman Whiteside.
On the bench, you’d have the youth of Ronnie Whelan (20) and perhaps the guile of George Best (36), who always supported a return to an all-Irish team. It’s almost 70 years since the last of the old ‘Free Staters’ played for the IFA’s Ireland. In that time, the North have reached four major finals; the Republic six.
Had they stayed together, they’d have probably doubled that number of qualification and be established as a force in European football, and beyond.
As it is, the rugby boys have stood shoulder to shoulder, irrespective of political or religious beliefs, to continually answer Ireland’s call.
They are the world’s No 2 and have a fighting chance against the mighty All Blacks, on Saturday in an Aviva Stadium sell-out.
On the football front, the North are 34th in world, the Republic 35th, bobbing out on a sea of mediocrity.
Each Association knows ahead of the friendly in Dublin tomorrow that together is stronger, but they stubbornly refuse to do anything about it.
Imagine there had been no split in the associations. What might have happened in the 1982 World Cup?