Ruling gives NI selection headache

FIFA has told Northern Ireland their players must hold British passports if they are to represent their country.

The controversial ruling, despite representations made to the governing body by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, means players holding only Republic of Ireland passports would effectively not be able to turn out for Lawrie Sanchez’s side, currently on tour in America.

FIFA’s stance is at odds with the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which granted the people of the North the right to dual Irish and British nationality.

The ruling is an attempt to clear up problems for match commissioners, who have to establish the nationalities of participants.

The Irish Football Association today released a statement detailing the clarification it has received from FIFA “in the light of the rather exceptional circumstances that exist in Northern Ireland”.

“FIFA sees no alternative but to require players to hold the passport of the national association they are seeking to represent in order to allow the match commissioner to verify their eligibility,” the statement reads.

“The fact that a player holds an Irish Republic passport does not demonstrate conclusively that he or she is eligible to play for Northern Ireland.”

The development came as Sanchez and his players prepared for the final game of their United States tour against Romania in Chicago during the early hours of Saturday morning.

They may be glad to get back to football after an eventful start to their visit to the city, which will culminate in the game at Soldier Field, the home of NFL side Chicago Bears.

The tourists found themselves plunged into a sectarian row when they were greeted by around 80 protesters when they visited the city’s Gaelic Park following their arrival from New York on Tuesday.

They were greeted by objectors waving black flags, red cards and wearing shirts emblazoned with the words “IFA, you are not welcome”, although officials were quick to play down the demonstration.

“We must try, if we can, to get more focus with regard to this tour back to the football side of it, the playing side,” IFA chief executive Howard Wells told BBC Radio Ulster.

“There has been so much press coverage of things that, frankly, I think are just distractions, and I suspect this is just another distraction.”

Sanchez fielded a young and largely inexperienced side for the 1-0 defeat by Romania at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey at the weekend.

Leading scorer David Healy, captain Aaron Hughes, keeper Maik Taylor and long-serving midfielder Keith Gillespie were among 11 regular squad members unavailable for a variety of reasons, prompting the manager to hand debuts to Jeff Hughes, Sammy Clingan, Sean Webb, Mark Hughes and Kyle Lafferty.

Indeed, Jeff Hughes and Clingan were both included from the start, with Sanchez giving them a chance to prove their worth ahead of the up-and-coming Euro 2008 qualifiers against Iceland and Spain at Windsor Park Road in September.

The manager has given little away about his selection for the Romania game, but he confirmed that Aston Villa midfielder Steven Davis will continue as skipper in Aaron Hughes’ absence, while hinting that Doncaster keeper Alan Blayney may be involved at some point.