Last night on Off The Ball, we were joined by The Irish Soccer Split author Cormac Moore to talk about how the North and south of Ireland became divided on footballing as well as political spheres.
But Moore also told us about the talks which occurred behind the scenes in the '70s between the FAI and the Northern Irish IFA with a view to bringing about a united Ireland soccer team.
John Giles was player-manager of the Republic at the time and he told Off The Ball that he was not made aware of those talks at the time.
But he says that if the discussions had led to a united Ireland team, players from both sides of the border would have been delighted.
"The vast majority of players would have wanted a united Ireland. The players [from North and South] got on very well," said John.
"Look at Arsenal at one stage during that particular time. They had three lads from the North and three lads from the South - all pals and never any problem. I never had any problem with any lads from Northern Ireland, Catholic or Protestant."
And he believes a good team could have been formed from a unified side from the '70s onwards.
"It would have been a very good team. The two of us were split. We had a decent team but from the Republic's point of view, we would have had Pat Jennings, Derek Dougan, Martin O'Neill ... the combined team would have been very, very strong."
And he reckons that the only chance of North and South uniting for football purposes is if both are doing badly at the same time.
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