Northern soul
One of my favourite things about the Six Nations is the national anthems.
Those rugby lads, unlike their footballing counterparts, really know how to belt out a tune; the sight of 22 hulking, bearded Scotsmen crying their little eyes out as ‘Flower of Scotland’ rings around Murrayfield is sporting nirvana. There’s also the floor-filler of national anthems, ‘The Marseillaise’, with its impossibly jaunty refrains, the Italian one which always makes me wish I had some Roman blood, and the Welsh number with its indecipherable verses. The less said about England’s anthem the better.
However, if Ireland are playing at home, I purposely avoid the musical overtures. Throughout my own, admittedly limited, sporting career, I suffered badly with big game nerves, annual relegation battles reducing me to a quivering wreck. But at least I didn’t have to stand out on the pitch and endure not one, but two, lengthy concertos, all while a camera scrutinised my visage for the merest flicker of emotion.
This tiresome tradition hasn’t affected our performances in this years’ tournament, but I would wager that even the most dyed-in-the-wool Ulsterman would sooner mumble his way through Amhrán na bhFiann and be done with it than stand in the shivering cold for ‘Ireland’s Call’.
Such is the lot of a nation divided in two. This is merely the cost of ensuring our rugby team remains as one. And given the performances of Stockdale, Best et al thus far, it’s a small price to pay.
It’s certainly preferable to the footballing scenario, where the enmity between the Republic and the Northern Irish teams has now extended to the managers and their recruitment policies. Reacting to the phenomena of northern-born players declaring for the Republic, Michael O’Neill has accused the FAI of only targeting Catholic players, the feeling being that they may be more open to a switch.
The other O’Neill, Martin, has distanced himself from the argument – wisely, given his own background – and his namesake swiftly retracted his comments, but the damage was done.
In truth, relations between the associations have always been frosty, a situation not helped by the ‘poaching’ of high-profile talents like James McClean, Darron Gibson, and Shane Duffy, and countless others who failed to make the grade. But the FAI are well-versed in the art of recruitment, they always have been, and with players born in the north eligible to play for either national side, they are entitled to court the best of them, regardless of their religion.
We, as in the Republic, hold all the aces here. Not only do we benefit from a diaspora which has seen players from all over the UK, and in some cases further afield, pull on the green jersey, but we can also handpick any promising young Ulstermen who intimate an interest in joining the cause.
Meanwhile, Michael O’Neill is left to choose from an ever-decreasing pool of players, their loyalty often governed by familial traditions and age-old obligations. That his side compete at such a high level is testament to his managerial abilities.
Yet, in these pre-Brexit times, this underlines just how tenuous identity is in the North. We often hear of a new generation of Northern Irish people, a breed who see themselves as neither British nor Irish, Catholic nor Protestant, Union or Republic, but as Northern Irish, plain and simple. Despite their efforts to forge a new country, one free from the turmoil of the past, from sectarianism and division, these young men and women are being dragged back to those dark days by a sporting clause which obstinately ignores the North’s unity and seeks to deepen rifts which have only just begun to heal.
It may not be a popular opinion, and it would leave players like James McClean in a difficult position, but until this nation is reunited in a geographical sense those born in the north should only be able to play for the country of their birth, i.e. the United Kingdom. Whether that be for Northern Ireland, England, Wales, or Scotland would be up to them.
Anything else is grossly unfair and maybe even unconstitutional. Besides, even if FIFA did change the ruling, we could still rely on our old pal, the granny rule, and her close relative, the parentage rule, to ensure we took our fair share of reluctant northerners.
