One journalist asked, “What do you say about the people that you support? Their ideology is based on murder… Just this week, one of them tried to kill 170 Israeli passengers, including 27 innocent children and thousands of others,” to which an Irish press officer said, “We are not doing any questions like this today. We are doing football questions.”
The coach refused to respond when a second journalist asked why Irish players “call our players monkeys during the [previous] match…” according to The Guardian.
The microphone was then taken from the journalist immediately after the question, and Hallgrimsson left the room.
The upcoming match, scheduled to take place in Serbia after Ireland beat Israel 3-0 in their first match in Hungary, is part of a series of controversial incidents between the two countries.
During the match in Hungary, the Irish team, which wore black armbands in protest of Israel, bowed their heads while the national anthem played and refused to shake hands with the opposing team’s captain after the match.
According to UEFA rules, black armbands are reserved for universally recognized tragedies, periods of national mourning, or the passing of prominent football figures, and require prior approval from the soccer association.
The two teams are playing despite calls in Ireland to boycott the match. Despite the a vote confirming the team’s decision to play and the Football Association of Ireland announcing that the match would indeed take place, backup goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu boycotted the match and did not participate.
“The player expressed his discomfort with participating in the match, after which there were another four hours of talks between the players, the coaching staff, and association leaders, and we heard a great many viewpoints,” the FAI CEO David Courell said at a press conference.
Multiple protest marches, public meetings, demands from opposition politicians that the Irish government intervene to stop the games, and incessant social media pressure on Irish players had clearly contributed to internal divisions within the team.
The controversy and concurrent cancellation attempts are symbolic of the rift in relations between the two countries and are the result of tension stemming from public opinion in Ireland toward Israel and its policies during the war in Gaza.
Tobias Holcman and Alan Shatter contributed to this report.