aiden mcgheadinho at falkirk today

trueblue · aiden mcgheadinho at falkirk today

got some amount of abuse right through the game because

1. falkirk fans are secterian bigot's and chose not to pick on the lurgan bigot today just wee aiden.

or

2. he is a wee turncoat b****rd

Rinty · or

Or

3. The falkirk fans are ignorant and insular enough to not know the circumstances re McGeadys international choice.

4. The falkirk fans are inconsistent enought to boo young men who choose to play for another country while cheering men who choose to play for Scotland when they were not born in Scotland.

5. The Lurgan bigot is actually the lurgan victim of bigotry. How can you call Lennon, who was proud to play for Northern Ireland a bigot? It was the booing by bigots that stopped Lennon playing for NI coupled with the death threat graffitti in his home town wher his parents live. I find it stunning that man who has suffered the abuse Lennon has suffered, including death threats in NI, where these things can easily become more than threats, is the one considered the bigot and somehow to blame for his attacks on him.

Do you think English fans all booed Sturat McCall at every ground? Or ryan Giggs? Or Nigel Quashie or Neil Sullivan? Of course they don't.

SLG

I wouldn't assume that someone is 'insular' just because they don't know the details of his actions. I didn't know the details till I read about them after they were mentioned here. Regardless, I would put it down to a bit of banter from the Falkirk fans - looking for a way to disrupt a Celtic team that was putting their side away without much bother.

trueblue

1. the booing stated b4 ra sellik scored.
2. i applaud any englishman or otherwise who chooses to play for scotland, though some of the pish stained tartan army cannot hide their displeasure.
3. i despise any wee ratbag who IS scottish leaving his own behind.

ie. come to me and you'll be loved, leave me after being loved then you are a wee s***e.

4. the lurgan bigot is a bigot, how else can you explain his 'dirty orange bastards' outburst. what if wee barry screamed 'papist bastards' at the celtic fans or spat on there scarves-would he be a bigot or goaded into biggoted action.

parkhead_rfb

btw trublue any rangers players get booed after they score a goal, or is it getting that long since they scored you cant remember? Laughing

azzuri

trueblue

parkhead_rfb

hes having to go all the way back to sally mccoist now Laughing

eck must stay!

trueblue

parkhead_rfb

rs understood my point, il write it in crayons and post it to yi Laughing

leads over rangers are cheaper by the dozen

trueblue

what was your point about booing players when they score?
mcgheadinho was being booed b4 he scored if that was the point.
weird man.

Rinty · a

Aiden McGeady played for Celtic youth teams when he was 14.

Celtic did not allow players signed "S" form with them to turn at for their schools after the age of 14. (Rangers and other clubs have the same practice.)

The SFA do not allow boys who do not play for their schools to play for Scotland at under-15 and under-16 level (this may have changed recently).

McGeady was asked to play at Under-15 level for Ireland as one of his parents is Irish. He accepted as he was not allowed to play for Scotland.

A few years later Scotland asked him to play for their Under 17 team. He turned them down after a lot of consideration as he had a built a strong relationship with Brian Kerr and the Irish set up after being there for a few years.

Most other kids who miss out for Scotland at Under 15s when they are at Celtic dont have the chance to play for another country so when the SFA coma back in at Under 17 they will not have the same difficult dilemma that McGeady had to make.

He has never been selected to play for Scotland since he was 16!

Questions -
What would you have done in his shoes if your parents had moved to England and you were born there. Would you play for Scotland or England?

Whay would you have done at 15 if you were asked to be an international player for one team when the other team you wanted to play for hadn't asked?

If McGeady was s***e and had been capped by Northern Ireland and never asked to play for Scotland would anyone be booing him?

trueblue

SCOTLAND.
WAIT.
YES.

Rinty · m

So we can expect a round of booing equivalent to what McGeady got when Motherwell next visit Falkirk? Brian Maclean, former Rangers player and born in Scotland of Scottish parents has just accepted the offer of playing for Northern Ireland. Somehow I doubt that he will get even remotely the treatment Aiden got if even booed at all.

azzuri

maybe that's because he isn't as high profile, or because he doesn;t play for one of the old firm.

be really interesting to see how the rangers' fans would have treated mcgeady had he played for them.

trueblue · Re: m

trueblue

Rinty · r

trueblue · Re: r

Rinty · n

trueblue · Re: n

parkhead_rfb

looks like mcgeadinho the oirish man scored today at ra sellik park

get it right up yi Laughing

easy easy easy easy

trueblue

an excellent response to my points raised.

easy indeed.

Dave78 · Re: r

parkhead_rfb

i dont know where you got thhat from dave aidans father was a teacher at my school and was always very proud of his irish roots so i dont imagine he would have a problem wth his son choosing to play for Ireland.

Dave78

SLG

Well spotted Dave. You wonder who is giving him advice outwith his family for him to make that decision. At that age, I don't think I would have gone against my dad's wishes. Maybe folk in the Ireland camp were filling his head with images of world cup glory etc. It's a tough decision to make as a 14/15 yr old.

It's really not that uncommon in sport though. Look at all the New Zealanders that play in the scotland rugby team, Nigel Quasie etc. The other way you have Peter Nicol the world no 1 at squash, who became English for the extra cash. It's now part of the game and at the end of the day it's a pretty minor offence. The only way to stop us losing out in future is to have a team that can reach the major competitions, with good facilities and who treat the kids well.

parkhead_rfb

i consider myself scottish born and bred but im also proud of my irish roots. also my father takes less interest in our families roots than myself, didnt stop me. its all down to the individual and imo opinion this has only courted so much publicity due to aiden choosing ireland.

SLG

parkhead_rfb

what if aidan had been muhammad and chose pakistan for example? i think people would have been scared to question it as they would have been labelled racist, so i dont see why the man who chooses ireland is fair game. no one has a right to define someone elses nationality.

SLG

parkhead_rfb

i'm not saying everyone who is dissapointed at his decision is anti irish but it is my opinion that there is a fair amount of anti irish racism behind some of the criticisms. just in the same way that a lot of racists will hide their racism and try and justify it i feel many are doing the same with mcgeady. the fact it has been made such a big issue convinces me even more that this is the case.

SLG

Well as I've said, I think it's become such a big issue because the Scottish team were in such a state at the time and that this situation is something that hasn't come up before.

I'm sure some folk do use it as an excuse for the anti-Irish stuff (jsut as some folk would use it as an excuse to be racist is it was a Pakistani kid), but I'm pretty sure it only exists within bona fide bigots and not the general public. I've never really got into the sectarian debates on this site as I have never lived in the west central belt. It may be different there, but I really don't beleive this is a big issue in the rest of the country.

Dave78

parkhead_rfb

i cant claim that its true of everyone who disagrees with his decision i just feel that there is a large amount of anti irish feeling involved with a sizeable number of others and i dont feel that this is acknowledged a lot of the time.

by the way unlucky moving to dublin, hope your a rich man if you like a pint Laughing

ps though you will find many with anti irish sentiments who have been born and bred in dublin, west brits is the term we use for them.

SLG

I remember being totally amazed when I met an Irish girl who told me that she thought the ROI would have been better off remaining part of Britain and that even now she though that they should become part of Britain again. There can't be many of them about though is there??

Rinty · ch

Look, let's get this straight.

Scotland only pick players who play for their schools at U15 and U16 level. At U-14 it is only "representative" teams for tournaments and dozens of young players take part, this is not recognised as an official international and at times there are several "Scotland" teams playing at this age group.

Celtic (and Rangers and others) do not allow players to play for their schools after the age of 14. This is a decison that most pro clubs take as kids at that age start to seriously prepare for a professional career and schools cannot guarantee the correct level of coaching and players must fit in to a set programme of training and playing hours.

Celtic allowed McGeady to play for Ireland but not his school, they would also have allowed him to play for Scotland, but Schools FA rules meant he was not eligible.

My friends son is currently on the books of Rangers and recently featured in a Scotland U18 game. This was his first outing for Scotland for 3 or 4 years as he fell victim to the same rules as McGeady (he could not play for his school so therefore could not play for Scotland). This lad does not qualify for any other country so therefore did not have a choice to make. McGeady did.

McGeady's choice was simple - either play international football aged 15 and 16 for Ireland or play NO international football at all. His choice after that was simple - play for Ireland where you know you are part of the set up and know the staff and squad, or take the risk of choosing Scotland where you have not been part of the set up and attempt to establish yourself all over again.

From Daves post it would seem clear that McGeady did not take the decision based on his roots but rather on his footballing situation at the time.

As I said earlier, no-one would care if McGeady was an average player, just as no-one cared when Owen Coyle, Ray Houghton or Tommy Coyne played for Ireland, no-one cares that Brian McLean turns out for Northern Ireland. No-one gives a s**t either when a lad with Scots parents or Grandparents chooses Scotland over England, South Africa or any other country.

Richard Gough chose Scotland, Burton O'Brien chose South Africa, Liam Miller chose Ireland although he could have played for Scotland, many others have chosen Scotland over Ireland. The list is endless, the question is - WHY SINGLE OUT MCGEADY FOR ABUSE?

The answer, in light of all the posts here would seem to be twofold.

Reason One - he is a great wee player and Scots want him to play for us.

Reason Two - Bigots who hate all things Irish see him a wee "turncoat" or fenian.

Some people object two McGeady's decision for one of the above reasons others for a combination of both.

SLG

Are there any signs that the SFA are looking to change there policy on this? It seems to be them that are losing out, and could lead to the same situation in future...