Ireland players vote to go ahead with Israel games as pressure to boycott grows

Pressure to boycott upcoming Nations League games against Israel over that country’s actions in Gaza was taking its toll on the Ireland team Saturday when players ultimately put their participation to a vote.

Ireland is due to play Israel in Debrecen, Hungary in the first of those games Sunday, but the team’s press conference and training session Saturday were delayed by more than five hours as the players again held discussions among themselves in the team hotel over whether they should play.

“A player expressed their discomfort with fulfilling this fixture to the head coach and indicated their intent to withdraw from the squad," David Courell, the CEO of the Football Association of Ireland, told journalists in the rescheduled press conference. “As you can understand, this new variable required time and deliberation for the rest of the squad to consider.”

Courell said a vote was taken among the players and that “a significant majority” were in favor of continuing with the games.

“Based on that, the association took the decision on behalf of Irish football that this fixture would continue as we have always intended to fulfill the fixtures,” Courell said.

Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu reportedly told the team the night before that he did not want to play. His name was not mentioned in the press conference, but it appears he has left the squad.

“All the rest of the players are training today,” Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said. “It’s an ongoing discussion and we haven’t come to a kind of conclusion on this, but we are going ahead, the game is going ahead, we’re going to train. And there will be more discussions tonight and probably tomorrow."

Journalists in Debrecen — where Israel’s “home” game is to be played Sunday — were left waiting after being told the press conference was being pushed back until after training. That was 15 minutes before it was supposed to begin. Training was also significantly delayed, however.

Pressure builds

The team has been coming under increasing pressure in Ireland, where affinity with Palestinians is strong, to boycott the two games — the first on Sunday and the second, Ireland’s “home” game, in Backa Topola, Serbia on Oct. 4.

Ireland midfielder Jason Knight said after Thursday’s 1-0 loss in Kosovo that the players were in a difficult situation and that he didn’t think the matches should be going ahead.

Hallgrimsson previously said “we’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel, we’re not playing with Israel” — drawing a furious reaction from the Israeli soccer federation, which accused the Icelandic coach of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy.”

The FAI had resisted calls to boycott the matches, arguing the team could be hit be punishing sanctions by UEFA. Ireland is co-hosting the 2028 European Championship with England, Wales and Scotland.

More than 160 Irish sportspeople signed an open letter urging the FAI to reconsider its decision to go ahead with the fixtures.

There were protestors outside the team hotel in Dublin last week calling on the players to boycott the games. The SIPTU trade union displayed a huge poster in central Dublin beside the River Liffey asking the players to “Go with your conscience!” and “Don't play with genocide” beside an image of a blood-splattered ball.

Former Ireland coach Brian Kerr said the FAI had “lost of the respect of the Irish people” for going ahead with the games.

“The Irish people and the soccer-going public don’t want the games to be played,” Kerr said. “I think they’ve made their opinions clear over the last year. The FAI back in November actually went to UEFA and requested that Israel be put out of the tournament on a principle. And yet they went against that principle.”

UEFA has been asked for comment on Saturday's developments.