{"id":146399,"date":"2026-06-05T09:01:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/146399\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:01:17","slug":"mick-lynch-fai-must-take-a-stand-and-refuse-to-participate-in-israel-game-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/146399\/","title":{"rendered":"Mick Lynch: FAI must take a stand and refuse to participate in Israel game \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first thing to say when commenting on whether the Republic of Ireland<\/a> football team should fulfil its Uefa<\/a> Nations League<\/a> game against Israel<\/a> in October is that I have some sympathy for the Football Association of Ireland<\/a> (FAI). <\/p>\n

Fifa<\/a>, Uefa, the Irish Government … none of them should have put the association in the position it now finds itself. That\u2019s said, I don\u2019t feel it should simply abdicate responsibility and put the players in the position of having to make personal decisions on whether to play or not. <\/p>\n

The issue of whether the game gets played should never have reached this stage, but now that it has the FAI should take a stand and refuse to participate.<\/p>\n

Why should they do that? Because, while I love the game, we can lose sight of the fact there are bigger things than football and sometimes you simply have to do the right thing.<\/p>\n

The notion that sport and politics should not be mixed is nonsense. It always has been. Governments have always exploited it for their own ends when it suited them and there is no reason to believe this is any different.<\/p>\n

\"ProtestersProtesters against the Ireland-Israel game scheduled for October threw tennis balls, featuring the Palestinian flag, on the Aviva Stadium pitch during last week’s friendly between Ireland and Qatar. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/INPHO <\/p>\n

In this instance, I suspect the Israeli government will be delighted with the way things are working out. There has been obvious annoyance there with the opposition in Ireland to what they have been doing in Gaza<\/a> and in now Lebanon<\/a>. I\u2019m sure they would have wanted this draw to happen so as to put the Irish Government on the spot.<\/p>\n

So far, it is turning out well for them because despite all the talk about how much the Government supports the cause of the Palestinians<\/a> and opposes the Israeli-perpetrated genocide, it seems as though the response from Ministers has been to shrug the situation around the game off and say it\u2019s not their problem.<\/p>\n

At least two leading politicians, Minister for Sport Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> and the Minister for State Charlie McConalogue<\/a>, have said they won\u2019t attend the game, but if it\u2019s right play the game then why aren\u2019t they going? It strikes me as hypocritical really.<\/p>\n

Will there be consequences for the FAI if it does refuse to play the game? Yes. But sometimes there is a price to be paid for doing the right thing and this is one of those situations.<\/p>\n

It is wrong that a country that has done the things Israel has done in Gaza should be allowed to compete in international sport<\/p>\n

Clearly, the position as it stands is that the Irish team would lose points and possibly face relegation from its Nations League group. Though nobody wants to see that, as an Ireland fan I have to say it feels to me like a price worth paying.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, it is hard to quantify the precise scale of the financial cost … the gate receipts for the game, obviously, and perhaps broadcast rights money or commercial revenues, but, again, how can you put a price on surrendering your principles.<\/p>\n

The position of the Irish people and Irish football supporters, has, I think, been clear since the outset of Israel\u2019s current assault on Gaza. I think it is equally clear the Government and association are out of step with the people they say they represent.<\/p>\n

I appreciate the FAI faces ongoing financial challenges, and that\u2019s one of the reasons I feel they shouldn\u2019t have been left to make this decision by themselves.<\/p>\n

In reality, Fifa and Uefa should be held responsible for allowing Israel to compete when Russia<\/a> were excluded from competition, and the international bodies having to compensate member associations who decide they cannot in good conscience play a game like this would seem only fair in the circumstances.<\/p>\n

Failing that, the Government should help the association to do the right thing. I\u2019m not saying they should give the association a blank cheque, but it should not feel it has to participate in a game against a team that, whatever the views, backgrounds or motivations of the individual players, will be representing a state that should be, and increasingly is, regarded as an international pariah because of its actions. <\/p>\n

It has been suggested the game should be played elsewhere, at a neutral venue, as the away fixture is currently scheduled to be, but for me that would be worse. Ireland would be subcontracting the problem to another country or association and I don\u2019t think it would be fair on the players either.<\/p>\n

And what happens if the game does go ahead in Dublin<\/a>? Will people buy tickets and turn up? I don\u2019t think so. Will Israeli fans be welcomed with the sort of open arms visiting fans from all over the world traditionally are in Dublin? It seems hard to imagine.<\/p>\n

Instead, the Government and FAI face the embarrassment of the game being played in a half-empty stadium with protests likely outside and perhaps inside during the match. There will be security concerns around the team and these will be leveraged by those who want to make the country look bad. <\/p>\n

Instead, those with the power to do so should take ownership of this situation, listen to the Irish people and the Irish supporters and tell Uefa they won\u2019t play \u2013 \u2013 and then fight their corner with regard to sanctions, seizing the opportunity to highlight a grave injustice.<\/p>\n

It is wrong that a country that has done the things Israel has done in Gaza should be allowed to compete in international sport as if there is nothing to be concerned about. Making a stand on that takes courage. Being prepared to accept the consequences, if it comes to that, needs resolve. The Irish people, though, have been showing that throughout this terrible time. <\/p>\n

Mick Lynch is a trade unionist, political commentator and Ireland football fan who regularly attends games. He will participate in a Stop the Game panel discussion at the Robert Tressell festival at the RDS on Saturday. Details are at www.tressellfestival.ie<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first thing to say when commenting on whether the Republic of Ireland football team should fulfil its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[47537,30416,2982,4002,2254,37,93,47535,4004,47536,4003,55,4005],"class_list":["post-146399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-charlie-mcconalogue","tag-dublin","tag-fifa","tag-football-association-of-ireland-fai","tag-gaza-strip","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-mick-lynch","tag-nations-league","tag-patrick-o-donovan","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-russia","tag-uefa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116696690462885200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}