You may wish it was, but a “genealogical link to the territory of the FAI” is not a prerequisite to eligibility to play for that association. The concepts of national identity and nationality, upon which international football is founded, transcend territorial borders. As FIFA’s legal committee chairman, Ángel María Villar, said in June of 2011, “National identity … is the foundation of national teams.”

You’re mistaken. FIFA have not accepted that you can be singularly Irish or singularly British and play for NI. In fact, both themselves and the Court of Arbitration for Sport have been clear that the complete opposite is the case. Possession of British citizenship only is a prerequisite to eligibility to play for the IFA. Paragraph 78 of the Kearns judgment is pretty clear on this: http://www.tas-cas.org/d2wfiles/document/4385/5048/0/Award202071.pdf

Irish nationality is not a nationality shared by the FAI and the IFA; possession of it confers a right to declare for the FAI only. Thus, article 5 of FIFA’s Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes applies in the case of Irish nationals who seek to play for the FAI. The criterion laid out in that reads as follows:

“Any person holding a permanent nationality that is not dependent on residence in a certain country is eligible to play for the representative teams of the Association of that country.”

By the way, article 5 isn’t a loophole, nor was it ever “tweaked” to open up a loophole for the benefit of the FAI either. It applies universally, is the general principle of eligibility and has been so for quite some time. FIFA have been very clear that the rule is satisfactory and applies to the Irish situation as intended. As far back as the 1940s, the corresponding regulation (article 21, al. 2 of the Regulations of FIFA) read:

“The players (NB. of International Matches) must be selected by the National Associations concerned and be subjects of the country they represent.”

Consequently, Irish nationals born north of the border have been eligible to play for the FAI since 1956 saw the passing of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act and the island-wide application of Irish nationality law.

The Republic have used the granny rule for 20+ years and i have no problem whatsoever with that as any nation can use it, that being the case i have no problem with Shane Duffy playing for the Republic of Ireland as his father was born in the Republic, i have a huge problem with James McClean, Eunan O’Kane and others defecting to the Republic as whether you like it or not they have no genealogical link to the territory of the FAI and therefore should not be eligible for that team, they may be Irish citizens but that should in no way make them eligible for the FAI, FIFA have accepted that you can be Irish or British to play for NI, as long as you have a link to NI, so there is no justification for these lads being eligible for the Republic. The eligibility rules need tweaked again to close this ridiculous loophole.