The Republic of Ireland should not be playing Israel. Not in Dublin, not in Hungary, and definitely not a “home” match in Serbia. Not while Israeli forces are committing genocide.
We – as Irish people – could have faced down the consequences together. The Football Association of Ireland would have had my support as a former international. I like to think other voices would have rowed in behind it if Uefa triggered harsh sanctions.
Or any sanction at all.
But to take this stance required an alien approach from the FAI: it would have needed to show sustained courage in the face of inevitable waves of criticism from Israel and its allies.
A boycott would have positively rebranded the association, closed the book on the John Delaney era and all the reputational damage done by those years. It would have showed it to be a robust Irish sporting organisation with a moral compass.
But the FAI has blown it. Clearly, the board and senior leadership lack the vision that only comes from an organisation that knows what it stands for and who it represents. I fear these shortcomings will manifest themselves again and again until we are plunged into another crisis.
I do not believe Uefa would have banned Ireland or heavily fined the FAI if its stance were backed up by other nations. The FAI chief executive David Courell stated last week that external support from other nations was hard to discern during the decision-making process to play the match.
But first you need to take the stand. I do not believe we would have been left out in the cold.
Bohemians fans display a banner about the upcoming Ireland-Israel games during Friday’s match with Drogheda United at Dalymount Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
The co-hosting of Euro 2028 would have led to some uncomfortable conversations with our English, Scottish, Welsh and Uefa partners, but that is what should be happening as Israeli forces continue to commit atrocities in Gaza, the West Bank and southern Lebanon.
Leaders, for others to follow, needed to emerge from Abbotstown. Refusing to play Israel would have sparked a similar chain reaction of support to the one experienced this past week by the rapper Macklemore.
Instead, the FAI will forever be mentioned alongside Ed Sheeran and his cowardly refusal to stand with a friend and fellow artist who used his platform to say: “Free Palestine.”
What a shame.
If the FAI needs proof, it only has to look to the brave Irish acts on Sheeran’s tour who stood in solidarity with Macklemore by giving up the chance to play in stadiums across the US.
Tour T-shirts for sale outside an Ed Sheeran concert in Philadelphia on Saturday. Photograph: Matthew Hatcher/AFP via Getty Images
The FAI could have used its position as co-hosts of Euro 2028 to its advantage. Instead it highlighted the financial consequences of taking what was so obviously the right course of action.
Irish football is on the wrong side of history here.
The financial argument does not carry enough weight to play the games, in my mind. We have heard about potential losses ranging from €5.5 million to €10 million. How much money is the FAI losing by moving the second match from Dublin to Serbia? Could the Irish Government have underwritten any fines from Uefa?
Even the threat of relegation to Nations League C was lessened by new protocols around a relegation playoff.
I do not envy the players and coaching staff. The FAI leadership is saying the decision is theirs alone, but it is the players who must line out and show respect to their opponents.
The next few weeks will endure, unfortunately.
Republic of Ireland fans make their view clear during a home game against Hungary last year. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
The FAI did not want to go it alone. That is understandable. But a refusal to play Israel at this moment might have compelled the Irish Government or Opposition politicians or even other European football associations to stand with them.
We’ll never know.
Instead, what is about to happen will be a stain on an Irish sporting organisation similar to the IRFU welcoming an apartheid South Africa to Lansdowne Road in 1970.
The decision to move the tie to Serbia represents a new low. We’re hiding away. It will forever mark the FAI and leave a renewed sense of distrust among the Irish public towards those governing the game.
This was a chance for the FAI to represent a small neutral nation that fundamentally understands the difference between right and wrong. The FAI was not equipped to meet the moment. That in itself tells me all I need to know about the current leaders.
[ Uefa defend draw policy after Ireland request as Israel FA dismiss FAI commentsOpens in new window ]
I believe they will come to regret the decisions made during these dark days for Irish football.