McClean's hurtful barbs insulting to North Bit of bitterness I detect, looking for the story to make him famous. Some journos, realy are ****ers and **** stiring twats. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0517/1224316238699.html DAVID ADAMS ITâS A pity that James McClean, the young Derry-born footballer, has opted to play for the Republicâs national team rather than Northern Ireland. He is a decent player, and Northern Ireland could be doing with him. Still, under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, as interpreted by Fifa, it is McCleanâs right to choose between the two, and his decision should be respected â if not necessarily the reasons he put forward for making it. McClean spoke of how, growing up in Derry, he always supported the Republic: âItâs a nationalist city, where everybody supports the Republic of Ireland. Youâre brought up that way.â Well, not quite everybody, James. There is still a Protestant/unionist minority of about 18 per cent in Derry, most of whom, it is probably safe to say, support the Northern Ireland team. Given his surname, it is also probably safe to say that at least one strand of young McCleanâs family used to belong to that minority. This may not be as irrelevant to the issue as it seems. If he felt it necessary to explain his decision at all, why did McClean not just talk about his life-long support for the Republic and leave it at that? Why do unnecessary damage to the Irish Football Association by claiming, âas a Catholic, you donât really feel at home in the [Northern Ireland] squadâ and âI think any Catholic would be lying if they did say they felt at home, seeing all those flags, and hearing the songs and chantsâ. Whatever else the IFA can be accused of, it is emphatically not a sectarian body. It bends over backwards to ensure that Catholic players, in particular, are made feel welcome. It should hardly need stating that many of Northern Irelandâs most illustrious footballers have been Catholic, including Martin OâNeill, McCleanâs manager at Sunderland. The current national team manager, Michael OâNeill, may well be Catholic. As for the flags, songs, and chants that James complains of, where and when did he experience those? He played for the Northern Ireland under-21s, who are lucky to attract more than 20 people to a game. It is regrettable that McCleanâs claims were left virtually unchallenged by a local media which knows better. It simply reported them at face value â opting for sensationalism, irrespective of the damage caused. What on earth possessed McClean to say such things? Religion may well be an issue for him, but not quite in the way he describes. Maybe he feels uncomfortable at the prospect of being part of a mixed-religion team. If that is the case then, self-evidently, he should be addressing his own attitudes, rather than trying to apportion blame to others. Or were his outbursts simply down to attention-seeking (something not unknown among young professional footballers)? His baiting of Northern Ireland fans on Twitter didnât add much clarity, and could be interpreted either way. Speaking of which, in keeping with everyone else, I condemn without reservation the death threats that were made against McClean by supposed Northern Ireland fans on Twitter. Even though, along with everyone else, I fully realise that these roughly equate to being threatened with a wet lettuce leaf, and will do neither him nor his profile any harm at all. One has to wonder who advises McClean. Did someone tell him it would be a good idea to try to permanently put Catholics off playing for Northern Ireland? There certainly are people determined to create an all-Protestant Northern Ireland team by default, which they can then point the finger at and accuse of sectarianism. Although the Football Association of Ireland is highly active in seeking to entice young (Catholic) Northern Irish players to its ranks, it is beyond imagination that any of its officials would have pushed McClean in that direction. There seemed, to my mind at least, a desperate neediness in his thrashing about for hurtful things to say. It was as though he was trying to prove something, to impress someone â his local community, perhaps? A few Northern Catholic friends with Protestant-sounding surnames, who grew up in staunchly nationalist areas, have told me how they would sometimes be taunted as âBritsâ or âProdsâ by playmates and neighbours. Last year, a family friend from west Belfast recounted how generations of her relatives had suffered from this type of name-calling. The jibes were mostly made in fun, but occasionally there was a disconcerting edge to them. Most of her relatives laughed it off, but a few were quite badly affected. I was reminded of this when reading McCleanâs description of his local community, and how he was âreally looking forwardâ to the âtremendousâ support heâll receive back home in the upcoming Euro 2012 finals. I wonder if, when growing up, McClean was ever taunted about his name and perceived origins. Does he still feel he has something to prove to the âtribeâ? And what about that âtremendousâ support â how welcome would he have been made feel by his neighbours if he had opted to play for Northern Ireland? A lot less welcome, I bet, than his teammates in the Northern Ireland squad would have made him.
I hope McClean has been told to keep his mouth shut from now on and concentrate on doing his job, he has achieved nothing yet
He aint done too bad for us, just political journos stirring the ****. the good friday agreement means **** all to them, long as it gives them an article. Mc Lean is ****ed if he does, and ****ed he dont. Lad cant win.
This, the lad will never win and by trying to suggest it's because of possible name calling (because of his surname) or willingness to play in a mixed team (Joke or not) is laughable and shows the journalist up more than anything. Also the way he belittles the threats but condemns them (big of him) but still fails to condemn the sectarian abuse he received even before he was selected. The truth of the matter is that although the IFA have done good work on kicking out sectarianism it still exists and will take many years of education and trust building before it will be removed.
To be fair the journo has a point but is maybe a bit strong of his condemning of him. The whole McClean thing is getting blown out of all proportion. O'Neill was the sensible voice in it all basically recognising the errors and guiding him towards concentrating on football. McClean made a couple of mistakes in how he dealt with it but he is a young lad with plenty gusto.
