When John Aldridge declared for Ireland back in 1986, ITV's flagship magazine programme concerned with the beautiful game ran a feature on it.
After the piece finished, Ian St. John turned to his Cockney partner in crime for his opinion. Greavsie took a dim view.
I fink you gotta draw the line somewhere Saint. I mean my grandparents were Irish. I was born in the East End of London, I talk like this, 'ow can I play for Ireland?
Back then, we were inclined to tell him to get stuffed. In the post-Celtic Tiger era, it could be a different story.
In an interview with Paul Rowan in the Sunday Times, the head of scouting at the Polish FA breezily revealed that there are 12 unpaid scouts working in Ireland and their anticipation is they will have an Irish-born player in the Polish underage setup within the next five years.
The influx of Polish people began in 2004, after the country joined the European Union. It's fairly plausible that we'll have an Irish-born kid with Polish parents lining out for the Poles well within that five year timeframe.
In all the efforts to coax Mark Noble out of thinking he wants to play for England, the FAI shouldn't overlook the necessity of ensuring Irish-born kids of Polish extraction pick the right team.
The whole thing continues to long relationship between Poland and Ireland, which Eamon Dunphy detailed here. We've now met each other in competition roughly 1,001 times.
