Is Scotland’s population size really the reason?

Our low population didn't hinder us from inventing the modern world (slight exaggeration). For decades.

Our low population didn't hinder us from regularly producing world class players in the past. For decades

Our low population didn't hinder us from producing the best managers in the world. For decades.

Our low population somehow became an excuse over the years rather than a badge of pride. We are happy to be mediocre now and even happier to blame the big bad English for causing said mediocrity.

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I visited Costa Rica a few years back. Every village in the country (no matter how tiny) has to have a grass football pitch, park and church.

Our low population got rid of the places for kids to kick around and put up 'No Ball Games' signs on the few grass spaces left.
 
Can see it panning out the same as usual probably another goalless draw and bow out as Gallant losers
As for small populations what about Iceland?

And we (the nation) will love it. Will love having that familiar comfort blanket to cling on to. It will give the the likes of Tam Cowan and Erin material for a few more years and the next one.

Meanwhile, in other countries, fans of countries who fail will have the Sports ministers' and Football governing bodies and management teams' heads on spikes.

The size of country has zero to do with it. The loser mentality is everything.
 
It’s just down to Scottish culture . It’s evident we have talented young players up to 15/16 then they got stale. What else happens around that age drugs , alcohol and women. The 2 are linked. Unless that changes (can’t see it ) then our level won’t change . Kids these days want the footballer lifestyle without the effort and being told they can’t drink at the weekend and chase skirt

I had a pal that was a very talented boxer as a child . Scottish champion, British finalist, went to Europeans etc. Up until 15/16 he was completed dedicated to training . As soon as he reached 15/16 he chucked it to drink and go out at the weekend and chase birds . It’s not exclusive to football it effects all sports. Wonder if he looks back now and regrets it
 
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Lot of decent points on this thread. Some I agree with some I don’t.

Ultimately whatever we try to do to fix this is going to cost money. That is where it becomes a population issue. Big population. Big viewing figures. Big sponsorship. Billions poured into the game, which directly or indirectly can find its way into grassroots and development.

There have been some good examples made of smaller countries doing well in major tournaments mentioned. Again though, I’d go back to my point earlier in this thread, how many of these countries have got genuinely strong domestic leagues? By and large that is not the case. Their better players are identified early and move into bigger leagues, as that’s where the money is. And as pointed out above, the money is inextricably linked to the size of the viewing population.

So directly or indirectly population is a major factor. That doesn’t mean it should be used as a major excuse though.

If it were down to me I’d use football as a focus for a significant and permanent public health drive. If we happen to increase interest and develop better players as a result then I would take that as a happy coincidence but I wouldn’t make it the focus.

I’d have kids doing something physical every day at school. And I’d be tempted to go back to the sort of grammar school or uni model of having wed afternoons reserved for sports, and actual competitive sports at that. Would need resourcing, for teachers, coaches and facilities. Personally I’d pay the penny on income tax if it meant we start producing fitter and healthier young people, who might also see a positive effect on mental health too. Like I say, we could tap into football as a vehicle for it, given it is the national sport, the way the Kiwis do with rugby. But it doesn’t have to be that.

Be bold. Start there. Go at it full tilt and support it. Realise it will take years to really see the effects.

In parallel, gut the professional game. Drastically cut the number of professional clubs, but make sure a pyramid system is there to allow development and progression. Have a serious conversation about quotas of foreign players, especially at youth level (and maybe even at the other end of the age spectrum too, the ageing journeyman type).

Anyway. Bored. Those are my thoughts.
 
It’s just down to Scottish culture . It’s evident we have talented young players up to 15/16 then they got stale. What else happens around that age drugs , alcohol and women. The 2 are linked. Unless that changes (can’t see it ) then our level won’t change . Kids these days want the footballer lifestyle without the effort and being told they can’t drink at the weekend and chase skirt
Yeah there are no drugs, alcohol or women in Wales. That's the difference B-D
 
It’s part of the reason but it isn’t the single reason.

It’s of no surprise that the consistently dominant nations have bigger populations:

Germany
France
Spain
Italy
Brazil
Argentina

Some small nations can have purple patches or ‘golden generations’ but population plays a significant factor.
 
It shouldn't be a hindrance, but you must have the boys you have actually playing the game as kids. That's our problem, too many young boys are doing other things instead of fitbaw. With such a small pool of boys to pick from in the first place then that's our problem right there.
 
Our low population didn't hinder us from inventing the modern world (slight exaggeration). For decades.

Our low population didn't hinder us from regularly producing world class players in the past. For decades

Our low population didn't hinder us from producing the best managers in the world. For decades.

Our low population somehow became an excuse over the years rather than a badge of pride. We are happy to be mediocre now and even happier to blame the big bad English for causing said mediocrity.

--

I visited Costa Rica a few years back. Every village in the country (no matter how tiny) has to have a grass football pitch, park and church.

Our low population got rid of the places for kids to kick around and put up 'No Ball Games' signs on the few grass spaces left.
If we had so many world class players, why did we never get past the first round of a single tournament?
 
Population has the square route of f%ck all to do with it, lifestyle, culture, climate and general day today life is Scotlands issue. Facilties for talented kids are 30 years behind compared to countries just across the North Sea, Norway, Sweden, Denmark etc their smallest communities have better facilities for the general public than a large percentage of our top tier clubs. Tells you all you need to know.
Scottish talent spotting network has been dugshit since forever, imo. I feel that is an issue also.
 
If we had so many world class players, why did we never get past the first round of a single tournament?

We didn't get past the first round because we did Scottish things.

Things like Hansen and Willie Miller running into each other, allowing the Soviets through on goal to score the equaliser that knocked us out. 2 very good centre backs.

Things like losing to 1-0 against Costa Rica when only a point was needed.

Scotland used to consistently qualify for World Cups. We're just prone to choking in glorious failure.
 
We didn't get past the first round because we did Scottish things.

Things like Hansen and Willie Miller running into each other, allowing the Soviets through on goal to score the equaliser that knocked us out. 2 very good centre backs.

Things like losing to 1-0 against Costa Rica when only a point was needed.

Scotland used to consistently qualify for World Cups. We're just prone to choking in glorious failure.
I tend to go the other way and think the other teams are just better than we are - and that we aren't as good as we think we are at all. You know, the more logical way to think about it versus thinking it's just bad luck on 10 separate occasions spanning nearly 70 years. Even now we've got 2 or 3 players at the highest level in Tierney, Robertson and McTominay. I'm sure Gilmour is well on the way to joining them but he's only played about 20 games in his entire career. We've still got 7 or 8 others on the park at any one time that aren't quite there when other countries have had closer to 11 and did much better as a result.
 
I'm only mid twenties and its actually gotten worse since I was younger. We had to play at concrete lockups because there was genuinely no place else. That early days of playing with friends and random children is where your love of the game is developed. Genuinely very sad to see.
I grew up in 60s and 70s and every kid could play football. Some better than others but in the park now when you see kids in the park in casual games they’re just nowhere near the level we were. There’s a dozen reasons but the biggest one is facilities and encouragement.
 
Our low population didn't hinder us from inventing the modern world (slight exaggeration). For decades.

Our low population didn't hinder us from regularly producing world class players in the past. For decades

Our low population didn't hinder us from producing the best managers in the world. For decades.

Our low population somehow became an excuse over the years rather than a badge of pride. We are happy to be mediocre now and even happier to blame the big bad English for causing said mediocrity.

--

I visited Costa Rica a few years back. Every village in the country (no matter how tiny) has to have a grass football pitch, park and church.

Our low population got rid of the places for kids to kick around and put up 'No Ball Games' signs on the few grass spaces left.
It was the likes of ernie Walker who started making excuses about population size. Too many folk happy to fill blazers and get perks whilst doing feck all. The SFA and SPFL constitutions are massively at fault and intentionally restrict change.
 
I grew up in 60s and 70s and every kid could play football. Some better than others but in the park now when you see kids in the park in casual games they’re just nowhere near the level we were. There’s a dozen reasons but the biggest one is facilities and encouragement.
I don't know how you'd even begin to quantify that but I have my doubts. I imagine there are fewer people playing in parks in casual games definitely but I would also guess more are actively involved in organized clubs with better equipment, more coaching and emphasis on tactics/skills. I'm more involved in tennis than football but I imagine with modern coaching and conditioning, even average players now (say 10th to 50th in the world) would be peerless if you were able to drop them back in time.
 
I've always been proud to be Scottish due to everything we've achieved as a nation historically. Nowadays it's now blame the English. Sad.
 
I don't know how you'd even begin to quantify that but I have my doubts. I imagine there are fewer people playing in parks in casual games definitely but I would also guess more are actively involved in organized clubs with better equipment, more coaching and emphasis on tactics/skills. I'm more involved in tennis than football but I imagine with modern coaching and conditioning, even average players now (say 10th to 50th in the world) would be peerless if you were able to drop them back in time.
Yeah it’s just a sense mate. But if you took kids out the park from back then and put them into a structured environment they would be even better. Literally everyone played football back then and the evidence was all the top English clubs had 5 or 6 scots. When Wenger did coaching badges at Largs he said the biggest inhibitor was weather. Back in the day it wasn’t an issue. We were out playing until dark and under street lights. It would be interesting to measure how many kids play football compared to before when we basically taught ourselves and used tennis balls etc. I’d wager the proportion who play in countries like Uruguay and Croatia are higher.
 
Got to laugh at those saying population size has no impact on how a nation performs.
The majority of the nations in the top 20 have huge populations compared to us, bar a few exceptions.

However this is only one factor. Can see with how nations like Denmark, Uruguay and Croatia perform that it can be done.

Sporting infrastructure and attitude/mindset being two other major factors.

We have poor facilities compared to a lot of countries similar to us, married with an array of social attitudes that are detrimental to reaching peak athleticism are hurting us bad.

No one can tell me a lad born in Glasgow has any less natural talent than a lad born in a London high rise.

We've tried to fix this with think cabinets and hiring of Dutch legends like Rinus Michels. Nothing has really worked yet.
 
Yeah it’s just a sense mate. But if you took kids out the park from back then and put them into a structured environment they would be even better. Literally everyone played football back then and the evidence was all the top English clubs had 5 or 6 scots. When Wenger did coaching badges at Largs he said the biggest inhibitor was weather. Back in the day it wasn’t an issue. We were out playing until dark and under street lights. It would be interesting to measure how many kids play football compared to before when we basically taught ourselves and used tennis balls etc. I’d wager the proportion who play in countries like Uruguay and Croatia are higher.
I don't think that was in any way due to the Scottish players being better than their foreign counterparts - which is evident when you see how they performed at international level against them. I get that the very best Scottish players could still mix it in the Premier League as they are just now in Robertson, McTominay and Tierney but I think it's much more likely the number of Scottish players reduced in line with better foreign players coming in. I doubt it's because they were any better personally.
 
Population has the square route of f%ck all to do with it, lifestyle, culture, climate and general day today life is Scotlands issue. Facilties for talented kids are 30 years behind compared to countries just across the North Sea, Norway, Sweden, Denmark etc their smallest communities have better facilities for the general public than a large percentage of our top tier clubs. Tells you all you need to know.

Spot on. Facilities and attitude.

I live in Denmark in a town of 12000 people. We have five full size grass pitches and ten grass Sevens pitches all fully floodlit, with changing rooms, shower blocks, professional line marking, turf maintenance and more than a dozen teams at various age groups using them nine months of the year.

In my previous wee village, we had 2000 people and the same level of support and facilities for three full size and four Sevens pitches.

The coaches are all volunteers and the local council pay for the upkeep of everything. I have never seen any sports facilities vandalised in the many years I have lived here.
 
I don't think that was in any way due to the Scottish players being better than their foreign counterparts - which is evident when you see how they performed at international level against them. I get that the very best Scottish players could still mix it in the Premier League as they are just now in Robertson, McTominay and Tierney but I think it's much more likely the number of Scottish players reduced in line with better foreign players coming in. I doubt it's because they were any better personally.
Although English clubs with scots dominated Europe. Even Newcastle managed to win a trophy.
 
When you look at the likes of England,France,Belgium and even Germany,it looks like immigration plays a huge part in them putting a top quality
side on the park.
 
Population is a factor. It would be daft to deny it, no matter how many exceptions we can quote. The most successful nations in world football tend to have bigger population bases to draw upon, that’s just a statistical reality. Since the exception of Uruguay more than half a century ago, the World Cup winners with the smallest population have been Argentina, with 45 million.

But there are many other factors.

Investment in facilities is one.

Investment in good coaching, to encourage rather than bully, is another.

Focus on skills development, rather than physicality, is another.

The relative appeal of other sports, and other pursuits, has an impact.

And there’s a great discussion in Soccernomics, by Kuper and Szymanski, of the negative impact of working class culture. The call it “the problem of exclusion” and explain that English football (their focus) draws on an overwhelmingly working class pool, which was OK up to the 80s, when 70% of kids still left school at 16, but not now that more than 70% stay on after 16. Middle class kids are scared away from football, because they feel increasingly alienated. This isn’t just about limiting the talent pool, it’s about the habits that become ingrained, some good, but many bad. Countries that are better at including the growing numbers of middle class youth tend to outperform those that don’t.
 
I watched about 20 minutes of a local boys team. Must have been u13s or something. Every time either keeper got the ball they just punted it up the park. One keeper couldn't hit the ball far from a goal kick so a big lump was sent to launch it. It was all just kick and rush. Nobody playing with their head up, no encouragement to get get ball on the ground and pass it. Some parent in a suit prowling up and down the touch line shouting and balling to get the ball up the park.

It was just awful football being encouraged.
 
Very straight forward and short, but absolutely on the money.

Killie saying they're skint - refusing more allocation to Rangers fans meaning they lose out on cash

Clubs saying they can't break in to the top two - Hearts proved it can't be done yet when Aberdeen become the top challengers to Celtic under Delia they shat the bed and were happy to sit in second and not get anywhere near them.

Clubs complaining that they can't improve and become more professional - Killie shit the bed and sack Alessio because the players are refusing to adapt to continental management.

Clubs complain that they are losing fans and attendances are going down - clubs then employ OTT security staff to clamp down on young fans trying to get behind the team meaning the younger fans become disillusioned and don't go back.

This post could go on all night with examples of the excuses and reasons for getting absolutely nowhere fast. Unfortunately there are aspects where our own club could improve.
 
I watched about 20 minutes of a local boys team. Must have been u13s or something. Every time either keeper got the ball they just punted it up the park. One keeper couldn't hit the ball far from a goal kick so a big lump was sent to launch it. It was all just kick and rush. Nobody playing with their head up, no encouragement to get get ball on the ground and pass it. Some parent in a suit prowling up and down the touch line shouting and balling to get the ball up the park.

It was just awful football being encouraged.

I'd absolutely love to coach a youth team and try to get them to play football and phase out that style. Infact I'm starting a course tomorrow to try and get in to football at some level.
 
I'd say your average Scottish young player will also be stupider, certainly in terms of common sense and decision making. And I really buy into the creativity thing....we organise kids too much, too early, and we should be letting them have lots of time on the ball and lots of bravery in making that pass, taking that touch.
 
Spot on. Facilities and attitude.

I live in Denmark in a town of 12000 people. We have five full size grass pitches and ten grass Sevens pitches all fully floodlit, with changing rooms, shower blocks, professional line marking, turf maintenance and more than a dozen teams at various age groups using them nine months of the year.

In my previous wee village, we had 2000 people and the same level of support and facilities for three full size and four Sevens pitches.

The coaches are all volunteers and the local council pay for the upkeep of everything. I have never seen any sports facilities vandalised in the many years I have lived here.
I worked in and out of Nyborg during the decommissioning of the Vindby Offshore windfarm few year back, lucky enough to visit quite a few different communities in Denmark and Sweden through work, some of the small Island communities in Scandinavia puts Scotland to shame in regards to sports facilities indoor and out, great point you make about vandalism and upkeep.. their is a different kind of pride when it comes to looking after their local belongings, no broken Buckie bottles, no stray needles or sharps and no graffiti, Holland is the same, all their facilities are well looked after and properly used by the community. We could have the best facilties in Europe however until attitudes and the social cultures change we will continue to be also rans, qualifying once every 6 or 8 tournaments will be the normal.
 
I don't know how you'd even begin to quantify that but I have my doubts. I imagine there are fewer people playing in parks in casual games definitely but I would also guess more are actively involved in organized clubs with better equipment, more coaching and emphasis on tactics/skills. I'm more involved in tennis than football but I imagine with modern coaching and conditioning, even average players now (say 10th to 50th in the world) would be peerless if you were able to drop them back in time.

There's sadly a lot of families that can't afford to pay for the coaching, equipment and travel costs.
 
Although English clubs with scots dominated Europe. Even Newcastle managed to win a trophy.
Which period are you talking about?
60s and 70s. English clubs were by far the most successful in Europe, mainly in the Fairs/UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup, until the mid 70s when they started to dominate the European Cup too.

And most of the top English sides had a couple of top class Scots: Chelsea had MacCready and Cooke, Arsenal had Ure and Graham, Spurs had Mackay and Gilzean, Man U had Crerand and Law, Leeds had Bremner, Lorimer and Gray, Newcastle had Moncur, etc.
 
The challenge is that the infrastructure Ajax have in place means that their net is incredibly wide and there at a very young age.

If we can get a player through every 2-3 years we’re doing very, very well.
It’d be a slight improvement on what has happened mate , but I think we should be looking for more , I think this is also the key to future great Rangers teams .
 
The challenge is that the infrastructure Ajax have in place means that their net is incredibly wide and there at a very young age.

If we can get a player through every 2-3 years we’re doing very, very well.
Ajax is the best example I can think of , but they’ve sold lots of players that have struggled in their new teams , I think they are so schooled in the way Ajax & the Dutch teams play that they can get a move & take backwards steps because although they are good players , the actual system that they came from , is the star .
 
I worked in and out of Nyborg during the decommissioning of the Vindby Offshore windfarm few year back, lucky enough to visit quite a few different communities in Denmark and Sweden through work, some of the small Island communities in Scandinavia puts Scotland to shame in regards to sports facilities indoor and out, great point you make about vandalism and upkeep.. their is a different kind of pride when it comes to looking after their local belongings, no broken Buckie bottles, no stray needles or sharps and no graffiti, Holland is the same, all their facilities are well looked after and properly used by the community. We could have the best facilties in Europe however until attitudes and the social cultures change we will continue to be also rans, qualifying once every 6 or 8 tournaments will be the normal.
Same in Alesund north west norway. Every village has a decent artificial pitch.
 
Which period are you talking about?
Forest, Villa, Liverpool, ManU, Newcastle, Leeds, Spurs, Arsenal all had scots in top European winning level teams.

English translation below that level full of Scots. Late 60s, 70s early 80s before they got kicked out post heysel. So basically post war generation and a bit.
 
I think it has been pretty obvious in the last decade that the introduction of the performance schools have made a difference.

Who would have thunk, actually having more pictures for youngsters to play on would make a difference?
 
Lack of facilities ie covered pitches , price of hiring facilities , the outdated pro youth system where hundreds of boys released every season and totally disillusioned , the Largs mafia ? , basically if you want good players it’s going to cost money
 
60s and 70s. English clubs were by far the most successful in Europe, mainly in the Fairs/UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup, until the mid 70s when they started to dominate the European Cup too.

And most of the top English sides had a couple of top class Scots: Chelsea had MacCready and Cooke, Arsenal had Ure and Graham, Spurs had Mackay and Gilzean, Man U had Crerand and Law, Leeds had Bremner, Lorimer and Gray, Newcastle had Moncur, etc.
Leeds had frankie and Eddie gray, Lorimer, McQueen, bremner , Harvey in goal. ManU had Jordan too. Crerand, Evans, McNaught, Kenny Burns, and Newcastle had 3 I think. There were more besides. All European trophy winners.Everton had andy gray.

Scottish teams did well in europe Rangers. Scum, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Dundee were all totally scottish.


In recent decades we’ve had Lambert and Robertson. I can’t think of any more.
 
We tend to have great talent at young age groups but it falls away the closer you get to first team football.

I think it’s a lot to do with our cultural issues mainly involving drink and drugs.
I think you’re right. As a nation we have a terribly unhealthy relationship with alcohol and more recently drugs. The ruling party in government has done the square root of %^*& all to tackle the problem.
 
Countries who would blooter us, with a population equal to, lesser than, or no more than 10% greater than Scotland's 5.45m.

Uruguay - 3.4m
Croatia - 4.1m
Norway - 5.4m
Denmark - 5.7m

Then we consider teams like world #1 Belgium who have 11m, or current holders Portugal who have 10m.

Population is a lot of utter shite. The problem is the attitude we have in this country and it starts in schools when the lads on the school team get free reign to be absolute arseholes. There is no incentive to be better professionally or personally.
Do they still have school teams?
 
Off the top of my head,
Drugs and booze.
No ball game signs everywhere.
“All weather” pitches locked up.
PlayStation and Xbox.
But probably more importantly we still put far too much stock in physicality over technical ability. Too much faith in older players and not giving youth as much of a chance (see Scotland vs Czech Republic for an example)

I know we had mitigating circumstances in 2012. But for the money we spent on our training facility at the time (modernised the last season or so thankfully) as a club how many good young players have we produced in the last 3 decades? Players that have gone on to do anything notable.
Barry, Fleck, Adam, Burke, Hutton, McGregor, Wilson & Gilmour and I’m scraping the barrel with some of them. (Probably missed someone pure obvious)
 
Relying too much on people’s goodwill to volunteer to coach. I did the first two levels and I know they were basic but I thought they were a waste of my time. People out coaching kids that don’t really know what they are doing, it’s great of them to give up free time. The government need to step up and work better with the SFA. They need to find a way forward. How many kids are lost to the game through a lack of facilities and good quality coaching
Kids football inevitably depends on parent support - parents stepping into the position of coaching children.
I’ve done it, and while it was an utter privilege working with the kids, the parents were an utter nightmare.

The clubs don’t help themselves either though. You come up against wee committee men, who treat the club like their personal empire.

A mate of mine coached his son’s team up in Glasgow and wanted to change a few things about training and to use a pitch that was a mile from where they currently trained. The committee utterly went for him and he ended up moving his son to a different club in the end.
 
I think there is plenty talented youngsters in Scotland but the system is terrible. I watched my son play from schools to pro youth with Clyde and Hamilton. At school I dont expect to see coaching as such, but when he started to play youth football it was all about kick the sh1t out of the opposition and work rate. My son was pretty good and played fir a team that won everything. Logic would suggest they must have some decent players but only one got a trial for Thistle and got the gig and got fed up with it chucked football. The boy was very good. Every one of these boys chucked football. My son loved football and certainly didnt drink etc... and was fit as can be.

When I watched pro youth training there was little or no coaching, certainly no individual coaching of how a player should play his position. Nor was there any player development. A training session consisted of the normal physical exercises, the some shooting and then some dribbling around cones etc.... really basic and boring stuff. Noteably there was actually very litte playing football involved nor having fun. The lack of fun I felt was important as that is what makes people start to play. The love of playing football. It was that bit that caused my son to chuck football. He lived for football and was desperate to play football. Scotlands pro youth system destroyed that love of playing football.

As a side note he fell in love with boxing and regarded the fitness and dedication of Scotlands professional footballers as a joke compared to boxers. Make of that what you want.

Our system isnt fit for purpose. Obviously as all our teams except Rangers or the mhanks fail at the first hurdle almost every year in Europe and win little or nothing is Scotland. It is nothing to do with youngsters talent. There is plenty of talented youngsters playing football. Just go out to our parks and see the numbers. Loads of school and youth teams. I dont believe its anything to with alcohol either. Even if that is the case then surely making a better system and keeping the players happy and enjoying playing football would educate them to keep clean and on the right track?

The fix is probably that we need to get rid of the circle Scottish footballers getting jobs managing and coaching the next generation. That goes for the SFA people as well. They all come from a Scottish football industry that has failed for decades. We need new blood and it looks as if that for a few generations it needs to be for the most part non Scottish people. People from countries that have a winning culture and have a culture of developing players. If we dont do something radical nothing will change. In 50 years this conversation will be repeated over and over.
This is by far the best reply I’ve seen…….so simple but so true……by constantly hiring ex Scottish footballers etc who have never accomplished anything that really matters like being part of a European cup winners team or even just making it to knockout stages in international football, it stands to reason, the standard will never improve!!!! I’m totally on board with the idea of bringing in coaches from any country who have tasted success and know what is required to succeed at that level. Not saying all Scottish ex footballers are wasted as coaches/managers, but like you I think it’s certainly worth exploring the idea. That, and definitely getting rid of the idea that being physical is more important than being skillfull, and as previously said, full time professional refs would be a step in the right direction as would junior refs being told to punish any physicality in junior football to encourage skill above all else
 
A simple look at recent international football tournaments with the relative success of Croatia, Iceland, Wales and Northern Ireland utterly destroys the population myth.
We also have a situation where an already small talent pool is further diluted by those who for reasons of their own refuse to represent NI. Or even worse, play for NI at junior level and then suffer selective amnesia at that stage.

I actually have every respect for RCs who have played for NI, some of them being legendary status.
 
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