Guinness World Record Application - Appeal Denied

In January of this year, we sent an application to the Guinness World Records(GWR) on behalf of  Robbie Keane to recognise his record of scoring in 19 consecutive years of international football as a World Record with the title "International soccer goals scored in most consecutive years "

Following the submission, we conducted our own research to verify it, and were unable to find any player with a superior record.

Almost two weeks ago, GWR responded that they had rejected the application, but recommended appealing the decision with a different title, we suggested "Most consecutive years of scoring in international soccer"

The record manager handling the application has replied to the appeal with the following

We are not able to change the titles upon request. These titles and records have been set up for everyone to apply to. We have other criteria than the ones mentioned that need to be fulfilled as well and we don't feel like this is a record we should monitor. Kind regards

Needless to say we are very disappointed with this response after the effort put in over the last few months, and would like to thank everyone for the support received since we first launched the application five months ago, especially Joe Leogue of the Examiner who's been covering the story since the beginning.

If Robbie's record is eventually broken,we do hope that his achievement is recognised by the relevant bodies at that time. We suspect Cristiano Ronaldo may do it, but he'll have to continue scoring every year until 2022 in order for a new record to be set!

Irish Abroad Premier League 2016/17 review

Following the final whistle of the 2016/17 season, we've begun compiling the appearances statistics for Irish players around the world, and will publish the results after the Championship Play Off Final on Monday, 29th April

Before then, we have the appearance table for the just completed Premier League season, and it's not good news for fans of the Boys in Green

• Total appearances by Irish players dropped from 424 to 400
• Goals scored dropped from 31 to 19, with no player reaching double figures
• Only one player under the age of 25 played during the season, Declan Rice, and that was only a few minutes at the end of West Ham's last game - although both Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick turned 25 during the season

Positives from the season (and we admit to grasping at straws here) include

• Sean Dyche named four Irish players in the Burnley starting XI in their final game of the season against West Ham, the most to start for a team in the Premier League since May 2015

  TEAM NEWS: Here's your Burnley team for today's final @premierleague game of the 2016/17 season v @WestHamUtd pic.twitter.com/Yg7aOnVqbg

  — Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) May 21, 2017

• Five Irish players started for their respective sides when Burnley faced West Brom on May 6th, the most to start a Premier League game since March 2015

  TEAM NEWS: Here's your team for today's game v @WBA. pic.twitter.com/kk4igmvbmD

  — Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) May 6, 2017

  Albion team v Burnley: Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, M Wilson; Field, Livermore; McClean, Fletcher (c), Brunt; Rondon.#BURWBA #WBA pic.twitter.com/fnBQ1M9MAa

  — West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) May 6, 2017

• Jonathan Walters' goals this season took him 62, joint twentieth on the Stoke City all time scorers list with club legends Stanley Matthews and William Smith

Players who appeared in the Premier League in 2015/16, but not 2016/17

• Eunan O'Kane - transferred to Leeds from Bournemouth
• Josh Cullen - season on loan at Bradford, although he was an unused substitute for West Ham in the Europa League third qualifying round fixture against NK Domzale of Slovenia
• Kevin Toner, Ciaran Clark - relegated with Aston Villa
• Robert Elliot - relegated with Newcastle
• Stephen Ireland - injury
• Wes Hoolahan - relegated with Norwich 

Players who appeared in the Premier League in 2016/17, but not 2015/16

• Stephen Ward, Kevin Long - promoted with Burnley
• Jeff Hendrick - signed by Burnley
• Declan Rice - senior debut with West Ham
• David Meyler - promoted with Hull City

Player	Starts	Subs	Total	Goals
Stephen Ward	37	0	37	1
Harry Arter	33	2	35	1
James McClean	13	21	34	1
Shane Long	10	22	32	3
Jeff Hendrick	31	1	32	2
Damien Delaney	21	9	30	0
Glenn Whelan	26	4	30	0
John O'Shea	26	2	28	0
Seamus Coleman	26	0	26	4
Jonathan Walters	13	10	23	4
Darren Randolph	22	0	22	0
David Meyler	9	11	20	1
Robbie Brady	7	7	14	1
James McCarthy	7	5	12	1
Darron Gibson	7	5	12	0
Shay Given	5	0	5	0
Marc Wilson	3	1	4	0
Kevin Long	3	0	3	0
Declan Rice	0	1	1	0
	299	101	400	19

With the relegation of Sunderland, Hull City and Middlesbrough, it will mean a first season outside the Premier League for John O'Shea and Darron Gibson since loans to Royal Antwerp and Bournrmouth(O'Shea) and Wolves(Gibson), as well as David Meyler and Brian Lenihan's return to the Championship. On the other hand it could see the likes of James Talbot and Jean-Yves Poamé getting their chance at senior club level.

On the other hand, the promotion of Newcastle and Brighton will mean a return for Ciaran Clark, Daryl Murphy and Shane Duffy. Hopefully Richie Towell can overcome his injury issues at Brighton, but it has already been indicated by manager Chris Hughton that he will be sent out on loan in the new season

A Reading victory in the play off final on Monday would see a return for Paul McShane (suspended for the final) and Stephen Quinn as well as a Premier League debut for Liam Kelly, whereas a Huddersfield win would see Joe Murphy and Sean Scannell promoted to England's top division - however neither are regular starters for the Terriers

Round Up - Weekend of Friday, 19th May 2016

Friday, 19 May 2017

Scottish Championship Play-Offs

Falkirk 1-2 Dundee Utd

Sean Dillon started his first game in two months

Saturday, 20 May 2017

League One Play Off

Bradford City 0-1 Millwall

Colin Doyle made his 50th appearance for Bradford City
Aiden O'Brien made his 100th appearance in League One

Scottish Premier League

Kilmarnock 1-2 Ross County

Aaron McCarey started his first game since March 18th
Conor Sammon scored his 30th goal for Kilmarnock

Hamilton Academical 4-0 Dundee

Darren O'Dea made his 100th appearance in the Scottish Premier League

Sunday, 21 May 2017

Premier League

Burnley 1-2 West Ham United

The four Irish players named in Burnley's starting XI was the most in a Premier League side this season, and the most named by any team since May 2015
Declan Rice came off the bench to make his senior debut for West Ham

Southampton 0-1 Stoke City

Glenn Whelan was booked for the fifth time this season

Scottish Premier League

Partick Thistle 0-6 Aberdeen

Jonathan Hayes' second goal in consecutive games was his tenth goal of the season. This was the first time the midfielder scored in consecutive appearances since January 2012

St Johnstone 1-2 Rangers

Graham Cummins scored his 30th goal since leaving the League of Ireland

Round Up - Weekend of Friday, 12 May 2017

Friday, 12 May 2017

Premier League

West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Chelsea

James McClean was booked for the tenth time this season

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 1-3 Celtic

Adam Rooney's appearance off the bench was his 150th appearance for Aberdeen and his 50th appearance of the season
Jonathan Hayes scored his first goal in almost two months

Saturday, 13 May 2017

Premier League

Bournemouth 2-1 Burnley

Robbie Brady was booked for the first time in 2017 in what was his 200th career appearance

Middlesbrough 1-2 Southampton

Shane Long's appearance in the Southampton starting XI was his first start since April 8th

Championship

Fulham 1-1 Reading

Paul McShane was sent off for the first time for Reading, six years after his last red card in April 2011

Scottish Premier League

Dundee 1-1 Ross County

Darren O'Dea scored his fifth goal of the season

Kilmarnock 2-1 Inverness CT

Jake Mulraney made his 25th appearance in the SPL

Polish Ekstraklasa

Jagiellonia Białystok 2-0 Wisła Kraków

Cillian Sheridan scored his 15th goal of the season

Sunday, 14 May 2017

League 2

Blackpool 3-2 Luton

Glen Rea start was his 50th appearance in League Two
Alan Sheehan was shown his first yellow card in nearly two months

Carlisle United 3-3 Exeter

John O'Sullivan marked his 50th appearance in League Two with his first goal since April 1st

Guinness World Record Application - Update

In January, we submitted an application to Guinness World Records on behalf of Robbie Keane to recognise his record of scoring at international level in 19 consecutive years as a world record.

Unfortunately, yesterday we received a mail from Guinness to inform us that they would not be accepting the proposal as a World Records title. While we are disappointed with this, it might not be the end of the application, as we can submit an enquiry on the rejection. We felt that the following text from the email was interesting: "Unfortunately, after thoroughly reviewing your application with members of our research team, we are afraid to say that we cannot accept your proposal as a Guinness World Records title." Could it be that the issue is as simple as the title of the record?
If that is the case, we've submitted the following as an alternative title: "Most consecutive years of scoring in international soccer"

The email also included the following guidelines:
Every record verified by Guinness World Records must be measurable by a single superlative, verifiable, standardisable, breakable and also present an element of skill.
Let's examine each point here

• Single superlative: Robbie scored in 19 consecutive years. No other player in international football history has scored in more than 14 years, currently held jointly by Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo
• Verifiable: International goalscoring histories are freely available online, we've done our own research (see below) but are open to correction
• Standardisable: Comparison of two (or more) players' goalscoring records is straightforward
• Breakable: A player would need to scored in 20 consecutive years to break the record. Difficult, but not impossible
• Element of skill: No other international player in the history of the game has come close to accomplishing what Robbie did. We believe this qualifies Robbie's record as an element of skill

During our research, we found four men who have held this record, two jointly.

• Imre Schlosser-Lakatos(Hungary): The Hungarian striker set the record by scoring in 11 consecutive years from 1908 to 1918 (inclusive)
• Ferenc Puskas(Hungary): The Galloping Major broke his compatriot's record in 1954 with a goal against Turkey. This was the twelfth consecutive year in which the striker had scored
• Andres Oper(Estonia):  The Estonian striker equalled Puskas' record in 2008 with a goal against Malta
• Robbie Keane: Puskas and Oper's joint record was broken in 2010 when Robbie scored in a friendly against Algeria, and extended every year in which he scored until he retired in 2016

Finally, here's the table of players and their goalscoring records from our research

Names	Country	Goals	Career Length	Longest Streak
Robbie Keane	Republic of Ireland	68	19	19
Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	71	15	14
Wayne Rooney	England	53	14	14
Hakan Sukur	Turkey	51	16	13
Asamoah Gyan	Ghana	49	15	13
Tim Cahill	Australia	48	14	13
Ferenc Puskas	Hungary	84	12	12
Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	65	13	12
Samuel Eto'o	Cameroon	56	18	12
Lukas Podolski	Germany	48	13	12
Andres Oper	Estonia	38	20	12

Round Up - Weekend of Saturday, 6th May 2017

Saturday, 6th May 2017

Burnley 2-2 West Bromwich Albion

Kevin Long's first start in 2017 was also his first start in the Premier League and his 25th start for Burnley
Marc Wilson made his first appearance for West Bromwich Albion since signing for them on loan in January and was booked for the first time since September

5️⃣The five @FAIreland players starting @BurnleyOfficial v @WBA is a season high in the @premierleague and the most since March 2015. #penta

— Irish Abroad (@irish_abroad) May 6, 2017

League 2

Crawley 2-2 Mansfield Town

James Collins made his 50th start for Crawley
Mark Connolly was booked for the first time since the end of February

Grimsby 1-1 Plymouth

Graham Carey made his 100th appearance for Plymouth

Newport Co. 2-1 Notts County

Mark O'Brien' first goal of the season, also his first goal for the club, kept Newport in the Football League

Stevenage 0-3 Accrington Stanley

Seamus Conneely scored his first goal of the season, more than a year after his last goal on Tuesday, 19 April 2016

Sunday, 7th May 2017

Championship

Bristol City 0-1 Birmingham City

Stephen Gleeson was booked for the first time since February

Burton Albion 2-4 Reading

Liam Kelly made his 25th start for Reading

Huddersfield 0-3 Cardiff

On his 34th birthday, Brian Murphy made his first start since January

Norwich 4-0 QPR

Reece Grego Cox made his first appearance in the Championship, more than six months after his last appearance for QPR in October

Rotherham 1-1 Derby County

Lee Frecklington scored his first goal of the season, a year to the day after his last goal on Saturday, 7 May 2016

League 1

Scunthorpe 2-3 Millwall

Stephen Dawson scored his first goal since January

Scottish Premier League

Hearts 1-2 Aberdeen

Adam Rooney scored his 20th goal of the season, becoming the first Aberdeen player to register 20 goals in three consecutive seasons since the 1970's

Adam Rooney! 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/EIE6Ygod06

— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) May 8, 2017

Anthony O'Connor's striker was his first goal since December

Round Up - Weekend of Friday, 28th April 2017

Friday, 28 April 2017

Championship

Cardiff 0-2 Newcastle Utd

Robert Elliot made his 50th start for Newcastle Utd. This was the first game where three Republic of Ireland players (Elliot, Ciaran Clark and Daryl Murphy) started a game for Newcastle since February 2008 when Shay Given, Stephen Carr and Damien Duff were in the starting XI for the toon

Scottish Premier League

Ross County 4-0 Inverness CT

Jake Mulraney returned to the Inverness starting XI for his first start since the end of February

Saturday, 29 April 2017

Premier League

Crystal Palace 0-2 Burnley

Jeff Hendrick's appearance in the Burnley starting XI was the midfielder's 200th career start

Championship

Derby County 3-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Alex Pearce was booked for the fifth time this season

Ipswich 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday

David McGoldrick made his 25th start of the season

Leeds United 3-3 Norwich

Eunan O'Kane's first start since the beginning of March was also the midfielder's 25th appearance for Leeds United

Reading 1-0 Wigan

Liam Kelly was booked for the first time this season

League 2

Cambridge United 2-0 Crawley

Gerry McDonagh was shown the first yellow card of his loan spell at Cambridge in his first appearance since March 28th
James Collins made his 50th appearance for Crawley

Carlisle United 2-1 Newport Co.

Mark O'Brien made his 25th appearance in League Two

Cheltenham 1-0 Hartlepool

Padraig Amond was booked for the first time this season

Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 0-2 St Johnstone

Joe Shaughnessy was booked for the first time since September

Hearts 2-2 Partick Thistle

Daniel Devine was sent off for the second time this season

Hamilton Academical 0-2 Kilmarnock

Conor Sammon's opener for Kilmarnock was the striker's first goal since March 18th

MLS

Orlando City 2-0 Colorado Rapids

Kevin Doyle was booked for the first time in the 2017 MLS season

Australian A-League

Sydney 3-0 Perth Glory

Andy Keogh was booked for the fifth time this season

Sunday, 30 April 2017

League 1

Bolton 3-0 Peterborough

Chris Forrester made his 50th appearance of the season

Northampton 0-0 Gillingham

Mark Byrne made his 25th start for Gillingham

Rochdale 1-1 Bradford City

Joe Rafferty made his 50th appearance of the season
Kevin Toner's first start since Sunday, 26th March was also the defender's 25th career start

Southend United 1-0 Bury

Simon Cox made his 50th appearance for Southend United
Stephen McLaughlin marked his 100th appearance since leaving Derry City with his first goal of 2017

Polish Ekstraklasa

Jagiellonia Białystok 1-0 Pogoń Szczecin

Cillian Sheridan scored his fifth goal for Jagiellonia Białystok