Monday, September 7, 2009

BEING STEPHEN [IRELAND] by Gerry Moloney

“I would love to play for Ireland, absolutely love it”. Believe it or not this quotation is from Stephen Ireland. Not last week, but in December 2005. Just around the time he had broken into the Man City first team with a man of the match display in his debut against Everton in October of the same year. The future looked bright for the young man from Cobh. So why was there a desire to play for Ireland and why wasn’t he playing? Ireland had been told he would never play for Ireland again after having an argument with underage supremo Brian Kerr. The details being, a Republic of Ireland underage team were due to play in Cobh, and Ireland being a native of the seaside town thought Kerr would at least consider him worthy of a game in front of the masses of family and friends he had invited to the game. This wasn’t the case; in fact he wasn’t even considered for a place on the bench. Now considering Ireland had left Man City mid season you can see why he would be annoyed, to the extent he considered declaring for England or Italy (which he was entitled to do). Ireland was never too far away from the spotlight. In the 2007/08 season he decided to introduce a new goal celebration which involved dropping his shorts to reveal “superman” boxers. He was lucky to escape further sanctions. Then came the Bebo page scandal in which he publicly (on the web) declared his hatred for football and posted pictures that would make a sailor blush. When you thought it couldn’t get worse there was the “grannygate” scandal. Whilst away in Slovakia with the Ireland squad, then manager Steve Staunton received a call from Ireland’s girlfriend saying that Stephen’s grandmother had died. Staunton relayed the message to Ireland who contacted home, learning that sadly his girlfriend had in fact miscarried. Ireland went back to Staunton and asked to return home due the death of his maternal grandmother (who had partly raised Ireland from the age of 5). The FAI arranged a private jet to fly him home.

On his return home it emerged that in fact Ireland’s maternal grandmother was still happily alive if not a little bemused by the messages of condolences. When Ireland was then contacted by the FAI he replied that there had been some confusion and that it was in fact his paternal grandmother. After more investigation by the media it was discovered that Ireland’s other granny was also happily still alive. In the days that followed the true and sad reason for his departure from Slovakia Ireland had in attempt to shield attention from his private life had thrown it wide open. The media furore was possibly the biggest since Saipan and left most people bemused. Afterwards Ireland stated “I love playing for my country and am grateful for the understanding Mr Staunton and the FAI have shown to me since I told them the truth”

So where is Stephen Ireland? Since his self-imposed international exile he has flourished in the Premiership, scoring 23 goals in 96 games for Man City; he is one of only 3 first team players that started last season for Man City to be still there! Since “grannygate” a new manager of the national team has given us a renewed sense of optimism about Irish international soccer, one that hasn’t been there since the age of Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy. With 4 goals in 6 games for the national team it is obvious what we are missing. But we are on the verge of qualification, and it has become more obvious in recent months and weeks that Ireland is unlikely to come back. If interviews in the Sunday Times are to be believed it is “the best decision” he ever made. Whatever Ireland’s reasons for staying away, one is sure that in later life he will have regrets. The media are doing their bit to perpetuate the stand-off to the extent that Mr Trapattoni cannot hold a press conference without someone asking about Stephen Ireland. At this stage would it be fair for Ireland to come back into the squad? I don’t think so. Whose place would he take? Do the Irish squad want him back and how would he be received? I imagine that this has more to do with Ireland’s absence than anything else. It wouldn’t have happened in Jack Charlton’s day. In fact Jack Charlton recently said “I don’t agree with him, he needs to apologise. Come and play and say you’re sorry for what you said and did -- or bugger off and don’t bother”. There wasn’t much big Jack was wrong about.