Will The Irish Football Players Protest Before Game With Israel?
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Why is the Republic of Ireland scheduled to play Israel despite the Gaza conflict?
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one listener wants to know, why is Ireland playing Israel in football when Ireland wouldn't take part in the Eurovision and indeed won't be taking part next year? Well, that's because RT decided not to do so, but the Football Association of Ireland has decided that it has to for a whole series of reasons. Yesterday, Taoiseach Michal Martin at the United Nations was asked about an attack on the Irish football manager, the Icelandic manager Heimer Hall Grimson, by the Israeli FA. We've asked Stephen Doyle about that now from Pristina in Kosovo because the Israeli FA said that they were playing against ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity. A coach who embodied that because of comments made by Heimer Hall Grimson last week.
about genocide what did he have to say about that today
yeah well it was the first question he was asked at the press conference today matt which uh i have to say the mood was um pretty downbeat around the press conference i think amongst journalists and the uh the fai party as well um and as you said there it was just it's i suppose we're in a very strange uh situation at the moment when you've got the the leader of our country being asked at the united nations about comments made by the israeli fa but uh This is the situation we're in. And as you say, it was the first question he was asked about and Al Grimson, he was quite contrite regarding his own comments. He said, we're very grateful for the support we have in relation to Michal Martin's defence of him.
He said, look, it's created and taken over the headlines. What I said in the last press conference, we need to focus on the Kosovo game.
What did manager Heimir Hallgrímsson say about the genocide accusations at the press conference?
But then he said, look, maybe from a leadership point of view, it was not very clever for me to take the attention away. I need to be focused on the game. and the players need to be focused on the game. And he said it's a tricky time for us. So I think...
Do you get the suspicion, though, that he may have upped the ante a certain amount, that, you know, for all of the Irish people, not Irish people who don't want this game to go ahead, and that would be regarded by the Israelis as something of an insult in itself... that by making these comments accurate and all as they may be, and as Micheál Martin said, they very much fall in with what the Secretary General of the United Nations said about Gaza yesterday, that this has perhaps added fuel to the fire for next Sunday evening.
Yeah, look, I think the key word, Matt, is the word genocide. It's a word that, as everyone knows, the Israelis take huge, huge offence to. Listen, there's genocide scholars everywhere. in Israel, around the world, who've all said that what's going on in Palestine is a genocide. There's humanitarian groups have all come out to say exactly the same thing. But when you use that in the context of a match between Ireland and Israel, there was no doubt that the Israeli side were going to take huge offense to it. It was interesting that David Correll made similar comments to Hamer Hall-Grimson, but he said, we're not playing with Israel, we're playing against Israel. And maybe it is that maybe Hamer Halgrimson knows or he's aware now that he maybe stepped outside the official FAI message by using the genocide word.
And that is what's caused all the controversy. And look, I don't need to tell you, Matt, about how big these media outlets are, but you've got the likes of Al Jazeera, BBC, Dan Rowan of the BBC. You've got the likes of Martin Ziegler of The Times.
How is the word “genocide” influencing the Irish‑Israeli match controversy?
They're all reporting on this now. And I don't think the FAI, I think they maybe have underestimated how big this is going to get over the next couple of weeks, that this is huge. It's worldwide news. And I think they may have underestimated it slightly.
And then what about the players? We're going to play an extract of the press conference from this morning. And you feature in this asking questions of the footballer Dara O'Shea, who is going to be captain for Ireland over the coming matches because of the injury to Nathan Collins.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why is the Republic of Ireland scheduled to play Israel despite the Gaza conflict?
0:00–1:50
2
What did manager Heimir Hallgrímsson say about the genocide accusations at the press conference?
1:50–3:39
3
How is the word “genocide” influencing the Irish‑Israeli match controversy?
3:39–5:12
4
Are Irish players planning any on‑field protests, jersey swaps, or handshake bans?
5:12–6:49
5
What pressure are opposition politicians in the Dáil putting on the team to cancel the game?
6:49–8:00
6
How are other European teams, like Austria, reacting to playing against Israel?
8:00–9:09
7
What protests and political tensions are unfolding in Pristina during the match week?
9:09–10:54
8
What are listeners saying about the moral implications of the Ireland‑Israel fixture?
10:54–12:30
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