It looks like a football tournament(1), comprising of the *Celtic* (there's that rather meaningless, catch-all description again) countries will begin in 2009. It'll comprise of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland and be contested for in the years where there are no World Cup or European Championship finals.
It's hoped that England (as soon as it's also been officially redesgnated as a "Celtic" country presumably) will join the fun at some point in the future.
Is there really a demand for such a tournament?
I'm not sure, a N.Ireland v Republic game will pull in the punters; the Scottish Celtic fans will probably, as they've done in the past, turn up in their droves to support the "Mother Country" when it plays Scotland (i.e that is the country they were actually born in). Apart from those two fixtures though, which would be sellouts (although for reasons other than footballing ones), I can't see there being that much interest...how many will be turning up for a Wales v Republic game on a rainy Wednesday night in Cardiff?
Bring in England though and the interest in the other four countries would automatically sky rocket, problem is that the security concerns would also increase dramatically. For the English FA it makes more sense to stay with the high profile, low risk friendlies. But, unless they are on board, I really can't see this tournament having much of a future.
(1)http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_headline=celtic-cup-planned%26method=full%26objectid=19323913%26siteid=50082-name_page.html
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