FIFA farce could sectarianise football - Alliance

1.37.00pm GMT Tue 11th Dec 2007

Alliance Lagan Valley MLA Trevor Lunn

Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn has blasted FIFA's plans regarding footballer eligibility as one which will reinforce sectarianism in the sport. Commenting following today's debate in the Assembly on the issue, Mr Lunn said it also creates an extremely difficult precedent which could throw international football into turmoil.

The Lagan Valley MLA stated: "There are a number of reasons why this decision is fundamentally wrong. It bases eligibility on citizenship, where it has previously been based on birth, lineage and residence. It opens up a can of worms across Europe - with the potential for Romania-born ethnic Hungarians opting for Hungary, or Estonia-born ethnic Russians opting for Russia.

"The biggest problem about this farcical plan is that it has the potential to sectarianise international football on the island of Ireland. There is a massive danger that Northern Ireland might become the team for Ulster Protestants, and the Republic of Ireland could become the team for Irish Catholics. The ongoing community relations work of the IFA will go to waste. The recent success of our religiously mixed Northern Ireland team will be endangered. We will have another source and cause of division.

"This bizarre plan plants politics firmly in the centre circle of the football pitch. This cannot and must not be allowed to happen. FIFA should know better. Politics should be kept out of sport. Sport should be a uniting force not a factor for division."

ENDS