Both Feet!

It's usually the I.F.A. that 'shoot themselves in the foot', but on this occasion they are guiltless, or at least I hope they're guiltless. I'm talking of course about the ruling given by F.I.F.A. the world governing body of football concerning players born in Ireland. It seems, according to F.I.F.A. that if you're born in Ireland, you have the choice of who you want to play for, e.g. the Republic of Ireland, hereafter known as the 'pub' or Northern Ireland, known colloquially (in slang to the uneducated), as Norn Iron. Is this then just the 'thin edge' of the wedge and could it maybe lead to players born in say North Korea, electing to play for South Korea. This is just one example that springs to mind, I'm sure if one studied a map of the world there are many, many, divided countries where players could claim allegiance to one side or the other. Why I ask myself have the so called 'godfathers' of our beloved game made such a ruling. Were they all under the influence of alcohol, or even worse, drugs? If one analysis it logically there is no other conclusion that you can come to. To think that a group of people of sound mind and body could come up with such a conclusion, beggars belief. I'd hate to ask any of these individuals to explain the off-side law to me, somehow I don't think they'd make a go of it. On a personal basis I think that if a player doesn't want to play for the country of his birth, then you're better off without him. Give me 11 players playing for the shirt any day of the week, after all we have succeeded with this ethic so far and I see no need to change it, I definitely wouldn't want anybody donning the Norn Iron jersey who didn't believe it was their first choice. If that is the ruling of F.I.F.A. we'll just have to live with it, but I think they have just opened a 'can of worms' that may come back to haunt them, in other words they have gone in with both feet!