{"id":157164,"date":"2026-06-12T14:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/157164\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:28:10","slug":"ireland-israel-matches-fai-shifts-goalposts-while-government-and-fifa-shirk-responsibility-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/157164\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland-Israel matches: FAI shifts goalposts while Government and Fifa shirk responsibility \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Israel<\/a> question staring the FAI<\/a> in the face, its response has been to shift the goalposts. Hence, Ireland<\/a> won\u2019t be hosting the Nations League<\/a> game in Dublin, as planned, later this year.<\/p>\n

The protests that interrupted last month\u2019s otherwise sleepy friendly between Ireland and Qatar moved the conversation on. Those tennis balls startled the FAI from its complacent view that the Israel game would proceed on October 4th like any other fixture.<\/p>\n

The FAI has confirmed that Uefa approved its request to move the home game against Israel to a neutral venue, though Hungary, hitherto Uefa\u2019s destination of choice for contentious international fixtures, won\u2019t be hosting this game. <\/p>\n

Not that deracinating the game will relieve the pressure on the FAI. The tennis balls, after all, were emblazoned with the message \u201cStop the Game\u201d, not \u201cMove the Game\u201d. Objectors to the game say the FAI is dealing with logistics when they should be reckoning with morality.<\/p>\n

But as could be confirmed this week by a glance across the Atlantic \u2013 where Gianni Infantino\u2019s craven asset-sweating is now in motion \u2013 the business of international football has long since stopped worrying about questions of morals. Although the professional game continues to spew public declarations about unity, solidarity and equality, its moneymaking moves reflect a different reality. It\u2019s Karl Marx in the streets, Groucho Marx in the sheets. These are my principles and if you don\u2019t like them … well, I have others.<\/p>\n

In resisting a boycott, the FAI is taking a far narrower view than the game\u2019s objectors wish, pointing to its obligation to do what is in the best interests of Irish football. In this, it is echoing in tamer language the words of Basketball Ireland\u2019s John Feehan, who rejected calls for a boycott of a women\u2019s international against Israel a couple of years ago by saying he \u201cwouldn\u2019t destroy my sport for a gesture that will have no impact\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"SecuritySecurity staff remove tennis balls with the words ‘Stop the Game’ emblazoned on them during last month’s friendly between Ireland and Qatar at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

On that occasion, Irish basketball was threatened with fines of up to \u20ac180,000 and expulsion from Eurobasket qualifiers through to the 2031 tournament. As it stands, the FAI faces a much lower-risk situation. A boycott would mean forfeiting both games 3-0, which seems a light sentence to a fan base that has seen Ireland lose exactly half of all the Nations League games they have played.<\/p>\n

The FAI, however, is understandably fretting about relegation to League C and its potential impact on their still-meagre bottom line. Dropping down a division would hurt Ireland\u2019s seeding position for future tournament qualifier draws, while season tickets for future Nations League games against a clutch of dowdy minnows would be a tougher sell. Failing to fulfil two contractually-required games would also probably mean losing a chunk of broadcast revenue.<\/p>\n

Then again, seeding has never been less relevant than it will be Euro 2028 given Ireland\u2019s status as co-hosts, even if we understand that finishing bottom of a League B group would no longer mean automatic relegation. With Uefa changing the format of the next edition of the Nations League, it is likely to give bottom-placed sides a new reprieve of a promotion\/relegation play-off against one of the aforementioned dowdy minnows.<\/p>\n

Beyond this, the FAI is worried about declaring a boycott and calling Uefa\u2019s bluff, given the governing body\u2019s own rules afford it broad powers to impose further sanctions. Up to this point, there has been no suggestion Uefa would levy anything beyond a pair of 3-0 losses. It also won\u2019t, as had been rumoured, strip Ireland of its Euros-hosting privileges.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s S\u00e9amus Coleman surrounded by tennis balls thrown on to the pitch during last month’s match against Qatar. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Still, a boycott would undoubtedly throw up problems in the event of Israel qualifying for Euro 2028. It would be impossible to guarantee they would not play against Ireland at that tournament in two years. There is also the possibility of Israel being drawn to play other games in Ireland.<\/p>\n

There have been dark but vague mutterings of \u201csignificant repercussions\u201d for Irish football were the FAI to boycott the Nations League game. Suffice to say, the FAI does not want to find out what the repercussions would be. Hence, those charged with running the organisation see it as their role to set personal opinions aside and emphasise fiduciary duty rather than moral obligation. They certainly won\u2019t be pushed towards a moral stand by global football bosses.<\/p>\n

Fifa, for instance, took almost two years to come to a decision on the Palestinian FA\u2019s submission for Israel to be suspended from competition, ultimately levying nothing but a token fine<\/a> of 150,000 Swiss Francs (\u20ac162,000). This was despite the scathing assessment of a Fifa disciplinary committee, which found that the Israeli FA had committed grave and systemic violations of Fifa\u2019s core principles in \u201crepeatedly failing to take decisive action against discrimination and racism\u201d.<\/p>\n

These instances included regular racist chanting from fans of Israeli clubs. Supporters of Beitar Jerusalem were documented singing \u201cLet the IDF win and f*** all Arabs\u201d. The Israeli FA administered fines to clubs totalling 346,000 Swiss Francs. Fifa described the fines as \u201cdisproportionately low when measured against the gravity and persistence of misconduct\u201d, before deciding to punish the Israeli FA with a fine of less than half that.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s political establishment has scarpered from the scene of responsibility too. The Government line strongly suggests this is solely a matter for Irish football and we\u2019ll let them get on with it. When it still seemed like the game would go ahead in Dublin, Sports Ministers Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> and Charlie McConalogue<\/a> told an Oireachtas Committee they wouldn\u2019t be attending it, inaugurating the phenomenon of Schrodinger\u2019s Dissenters: the Ministers making sure a game will exist but neither will attend it.<\/p>\n

With political leadership like this, don\u2019t be surprised the FAI is not seized by any moral zeal to take a principled stand against Israel \u2013 it has been given precious little incentive to do so. It is ultimately a lowly link in a long chain of football and political authorities who tell all to remain deaf to the poet\u2019s old phrase that there is no such thing as innocent bystanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Israel question staring the FAI in the face, its response has been to shift the goalposts.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[47537,2982,4002,37,4004,47536,4003],"class_list":["post-157164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-charlie-mcconalogue","tag-fifa","tag-football-association-of-ireland-fai","tag-israel","tag-nations-league","tag-patrick-o-donovan","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116737612865741759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157164","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=157164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}