Town defender Alex Bruce's eligibility to play for the Republic of Ireland is being questioned by the Northern Irish FA. Bruce won his first senior Republic of Ireland cap in a friendly with Ecuador in the summer and previously made three Irish U21 appearances and one at B level.

The IFA, Northern Ireland's FA, whose chief executive is Howard Wells who used to hold the same position with Town, have written to FIFA claiming that Bruce, Manchester United youngster Darron Gibson, Blackburn's Tony Kane and Marc Wilson of Portsmouth do not hold the necessary credentials to play for the Republic, but are eligible for Northern Ireland.

Article 15 of the FIFA Statutes outlines the criteria which players must fulfill to play for nations not of their birth: the player's biological mother, father, grandmother or grandfather must have been born within a national FA's territory or the player must have lived within that territory continuously for two years.

Bruce's Irish grandmother has always been claimed as the basis for his qualification for the Republic of Ireland, however, she was born in Bangor, County Down in Northern Ireland.

The FAI, the Republic's FA, argue that due to these connections Bruce holds a Republic of Ireland passport and is therefore able to play for them. However, the IFA contend that holding a Republic of Ireland passport does not mean he is eligible to play for Steve Staunton's side.

It is the case of highly-rated Manchester United midfielder Gibson which has brought the issue to the fore. The 19-year-old was born in Derry, Northern Ireland and played U16 international football for them until falling out with coaches after a trial with Manchester United forced him to miss a game.

Gibson recently made his senior Republic of Ireland debut in the 4-0 friendly victory over Denmark and has been named in the squad for the Euro 2008 games with Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The IFA say they expect FIFA to rule on the issue in the near future and are confident that they will declare that Bruce, Gibson, Kane and Wilson are not eligible to play for the Republic and will instead have to pursue their international careers north of the border.

Meanwhile, academy defender Tommy Smith wasn't included in the England side as they crashed out of the FIFA U17 World Cup at the quarter-final stage via a 4-1 defeat to Germany on Sunday. Smith was only involved in the tournament's opening game.

On Friday, boss Jim Magilton said centre-half Smith could come into his first team plans this season.

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