Forum

Harry - you're nearly right! Having played both games with the same degree of mediocracy I would regard myself as a Ireland rugby & cricket supporter and I always would look out for the N.I. soccer result. I have no interest whatever in the Irish olympic team and I certainly have no time for nor
any interest in the Eurovision song contest. Having watched K.P. this morning I suggest that perhaps its time he caught the same taxi as Mr. Personality!!

typical english attitude - hussain was born in India!

Bit of a contradiction there, typo, should read typical Indian attitude

i would have to agree with andy, hussain was going on and on about ed playing for ireland again, although he was happy enough to have morgan move from ireland to england, piterson, trott.... and i could go on not englishmen by birth. typical english attitude. I have to say i usually support england but i certainly dont agree with hussain.

on a more local note, any more transfer rumours or new pros etc?

I would contend that the pendulum is swinging back in favour of Northern teams with regards to the Irish Cup.

Waringstown were knocking on the door last year, but one bad innings reply cost them when they had their southern counter-parts on the ropes at one stage and North Down have pedigree in depth and should be capable of beating any oppostion at club level, North or South.

So maybe Wylie will get his wish and one of two above teams will go all the way this year and lift the I.S.C. or maybe one of the other premier league N.C.U. clubs may be in with a good shout at least !

Andy, what about Ireland's chances of winning the world cup, was watching G. Doctrell last nite tie up a West-Indian University team at T20 cricket, he got 2 wkts and stifled them out of the match bowling for Somerset, like I say, "plenty of good home grown talent breaking through" !!

andy, why are you so touchy about what hussain says? and while we're on the subject of nationality what does it matter nowadays. You cant make any comments. You support Ireland at cricket and rugby, probably norn irn at football, ireland at the eurovision, ireland at the olympics, and you probably have a UK Passport lol.

I know that I have raised the subject of the English media before and as a result I have been (wrongly) accused of being anti-English but there was another example this morning when Hussain on Sky started querying how Ed. Joyce could be back in the Ireland side "Ireland to England to Ireland - that shouldn't happen - how can that happen, your country is your country, etc. etc."- and this coming from a guy born in India!! David Lloyd surmised that as Ireland is an "associate" nation, this was in order but this didn't stop Hussain going on & on about it. Methinks he may be getting a defence ready for England's demise in the World Cup!! Jeff - what's the odds on Pakistan winning the competition?ny

I would assume a big part of the reason why NI teams dominated the ISC back then was probably down to a higher skill level of the local players than those down in the ROI. Now a days there would be a strong argument that the main reason why this has been reversed since 2000 is due to the influx of highly skilled overseas players who have choosen to live in the ROI. Also would anyone know the stats on how many overseas players have settled in NI and went on to play for Ireland compared to their counterparts in the ROI for the last 10 years.

if any clubs in the ncu are interested in level 2 high performance coach from australia to do work this summer, and to play competively, get in touch. level 2 high performance, current coach of ACT state junior sides. get in touch. james.shannon2@gmail.com or on facebook. cheers

Is J Askin Justin (just for short) Askin?

There are currently two non-Irish born players in the 15 that I can think of that played for clubs in the NCU.

Re S McChesney

Usual Norn Ireland response in wondering WHO is saying something rather than WHAT is being said.

Anyway,"the troubles" didn`t seem to affect clubs from N.I. winning the Irish Cup almost every year from 1982 -2000........or was there no disturbance then.

Stop looking for excuses ......... I repeat, don`t navel gaze and DEVELOP your OWN players by using non Irish born players [your club professional] and others for cricket development ...........just not for safeguarding your position in the very very small pond of NCU cricket

having umpired in Dublin cricket down there is a bit like watching Canada in that current T/20 competition - not too many Canucks playing!!

Ed - before I get an influx of messages, can I point out I meant to say non-Irish born players, not non-NI born players. 1 island, 1 team and all that!

Ref J Askin (always happy to hear from someone who loves an alias)

I think you might be missing the point - the issue is that teams based in Dublin can benefit from the influx of players who have emigrated to Dublin and surrounding areas. Perhaps if you spent more time looking at the number of "local" players in the southern game compared to the north you may find the problem. This is not a slant on the ROI - quite the opposite - merely a summation of the (pre-recession) attractiveness of ROI. Obviously this puts the northern counties at a disadvantage. NI has always suffered from the exposure it obtained worldwide during the troubles.

How many of the non-NI born Irish players (and fair play to them) were playing their cricket in the north? It wont stop me supporting Ireland in the WC though.

Re Junior 2

Surely the NCU wouldn`t want to disregard its own rules/decisions. Pity it wasn`t rectified before "going public".

As far as the Irish Cup is concerned it won`t happen until clubs start to use their resources on DEVELOPMENT of THEIR OWN players and less on navel gazing. Who wins what local competition and "what league are we in" mindset is a waste of time when all they primarily do is try to resolve it by getting the cheque book out.

Anyone see Saintfields Kiwi pro Mark Elison fielding sub againest Pakistan last week ? ps was at king george kempton sat first bloke met was Gary Wilson from Collegians god them collegians lads enjoyed their trips too dundrum, pps lost @ races but backed all 4 games be draws on sunday free weekend , get on alec ferguson horse What a Friend win the gold cup in march