Anger grows as Ireland players find voice, but Israel game set to go ahead

David Sneyd reports from Debrecen, Hungary

An editorial note re: The 42’s reporting on the Uefa Nations League matches between Ireland and Israel is available to read here.

“ANGER AND CARNAGE.”

They are two of the words used by sources to describe the mood in the room among the Republic of Ireland players as they held a meeting to discuss fulfilling Sunday’s Nations League fixture with Israel.

The 42 understands there will not be a boycott.

A statement from the squad is expected to be released this morning, before manager Heimir Hallgrímsson and a player carry out the pre-match press conference at 9.15am Irish time.

The specifics of the message were something the players were still going through together on Friday night.

There will be a unified show of force, but the feeling is one of anger that the FAI have left the players in a position they should never have been faced with. 

The Ireland players are unlikely to shake hands with their Israeli opponents. It has been suggested they will also forego their match fee and donate it to charity instead.

FAI chief executive David Courell flew into Hungary from Dublin, via Munich, on Friday evening.

To give just one example of why the prospect of Ireland taking on Israel cannot be thought of as a normal fixture, consider this.

Rather than a debate being sparked on the back of Thursday’s 1-0 defeat to Kosovo about whether Hallgrímsson should switch from a back five to bolster his midfield, a key talking point is in fact whether there will be Mossad agents on the ground for Sunday’s fixture.

Such a comparison is not meant to sound frivolous, but it is a reality of this intense situation.

When they travelled to Norway for a World Cup qualifier last October, members of the Israeli intelligence agency were in tow, along with snipers in the stadium for added protection, and no-fly zones.

It was the country’s largest security operation for a sporting event since the 1994 Winter Olympics.

A similar operation should not be required at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen. For one, there will be nowhere near the same number of spectators, despite this fixture piquing interest around the world.

Jason Knight said in the aftermath of the defeat to Kosovo, “I don’t think the game should be going ahead but it is going ahead”, while Chiedozie Ogbene felt that “for Uefa to put us in this position, I think it is unfair on professional footballers”.

The Cork native added: “I am a practising Catholic and I have morals. I do not agree with what is happening. I feel sorry for the civilians, and that is where my heart is, the people who are being affected.

“I am not an idiot, I see some messages, fans have made their opinions heard, but I try not to read as much as I can.

“If the game goes ahead, that does not mean we are best friends with Israel. It is the Israeli government who are making decisions. These questions, I’ll be honest with you, the best people to answer them are in Uefa, not us. That’s the honest truth.”

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It’s understood that there could be a couple of hundred Ireland fans travelling to the game this weekend, although other estimates put that figure lower than 100, despite the fact the FAI were not selling their usual away allocation of tickets.

That has not stopped some Irish fans going online to purchase them. Of some concern, though, is the fact that tickets have not gone on general sale in Hungary as they usually would.

The expectation is that there will only be several hundred in attendance, some of Israel’s previous games here since Uefa moved their games for security reasons have had around 2,000.

Some Ireland fans have stated a desire to stage a form of peaceful protest.

On Friday morning, the words of Taoiseach Micheál Martin also began to travel around the world. In a speech to the United Nations in New York, the Fianna Fáil leader declared that “when the full truth of what has happened, what is still happening, in Gaza is finally known, when the evidence is gathered, when the testimonies are heard, when the true horrors are finally and fully revealed, it will shame the world. Nobody will be able to say that we did not know.”

So much has happened since last Sunday, when Hallgrímsson declared that “we’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide.”

The Israeli FA reacted with a furious, personal attack on the Icelander. “We have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy.”

The FAI, heeding the advice of external communications company Teneo, have opted not to respond.

The 42 has learned that privately the FAI has raised the Israeli FA’s broadside with Uefa, but there is also a feeling among the hierarchy that by getting involved in a public back and forth spat it would serve only to fuel a race to the bottom.

Israel suggested they would be the ones to issue a complaint to Uefa about Hallgrímsson, something that hasn’t actually materialised as of Friday afternoon when contacted by The 42.

Hallgrímsson said on the eve of the Kosovo game that it was ‘not clever’ on his part to become a central figure in this episode. Israeli players also said they would be the ones to make a stand against their Irish counterparts by not swapping jerseys.

Before their 3-1 defeat away to Austria in Linz, one Austrian journalist asked Israel striker Manor Solomon about comments made by Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen that Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza.

“I’ve never heard about this and I don’t care about it,” Solomon said.

The West Ham forward, like many of his peers, served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as part of his national service while making his way in professional football.

Never mind sport and politics mixing, Israel is a clear example of their football team and army being intertwined.

During that defeat to Austria, their goalscorer, Sayed Abu Farchi, was shown a second yellow card for his celebration when he removed the corner flag.

Some say it was a snooker cue motion, others claimed it was a rifle action.

All can agree that even leaving such a gesture open to interpretation at such a heightened time lacked decency and sound judgment.

Israel head coach Ran Ben-Shimon put the blame on himself for the actions of his player while Austria’s Patrick Wimmer and Phillipp Mwene both described Farchi’s celebration as “stupid”.

That was also the view of one Israeli journalist travelling through Munich airport to get to Debrecen on Friday.

They will have less of a presence than their Irish counterparts for the game, it’s understood only a few have travelled, and the press conferences to come on Saturday will be the next stage for increased tension and focus on these fixtures.