Quote Originally Posted by McClef View Post
And it's not "only the British" - we would tend to use "Republic of Ireland" or "Irish Republic" these days just as we use "Northern Ireland" rather than "Ulster" or "The Six Counties."
When I was growing up it was always called the "Free State" or "The South". You only saw Eire on the stamps and the money. Ireland is confusing (at least while Northern Ireland remains partitioned) and in any case the team has players from both sides of the border.