by Jeremiah Allen
There was a time when players would do their utmost to impress at their club to give themselves a chance of winning a place in their respective country's squad.
Not anymore, getting a call-up nowadays seems more of a hindrance than an opportunity. Over the past few years, we have seen a notable decline in the interest shown by international players and this is largely due to the apathy shown by a whole host of these over hyped and over paid 'stars'.
Steven Carr's retirement rounded off a pretty miserable week for supporters of the Republic of Ireland international team and even more frustrating is the fact that he has made this decision at the young age of 29.
The Newcastle defender cited the fact that he would be 34 by the time of the next World Cup but is there not qualification for the European Championship taking place over the next couple of years?
Ireland is not abound with talent at the moment and surely Carr's experience would prove helpful to our up and coming youngsters but he has opted to focus all his attention on Premiership strugglers Newcastle.
It is extremely sad to people, who are working week in week out to promote soccer at grassroots level to see players turn down the opportunity of putting on the green jersey so lightly.
Irish players, plying their trade abroad, should be trying to enhance the image of the game to our children and should be idolised for lining out in the green and not the colours of mediocre Premiership clubs in England.
Are we producing players for English clubs, who later decide they have had enough of taking a one-hour flight back to Ireland for an international.
5,000 people travelled to Switzerland, 40,000 to Paris, 5,000 to Israel, thousands were stuck in airport lounges due to fog trying to get to the Faroe Islands and 15,000 made the trek to Cyprus, now that's dedication. If only the same dedication had been shown by our current Rolex Stars lining out for us on the pitch.