{"id":295074,"date":"2026-02-12T23:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/295074\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T23:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:55:08","slug":"sinn-fein-calls-for-boycott-of-irelands-israel-fixture-as-uefa-faces-criticism-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/295074\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in calls for boycott of Ireland\u2019s Israel fixture as Uefa faces criticism \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Political and sporting figures have called for the Football Association of Ireland<\/a> (FAI) to boycott scheduled soccer fixtures against Israel<\/a> in the Nations League<\/a>, with Uefa<\/a> criticised for putting Ireland<\/a> in a difficult position by refusing to suspend the Israel Football Association.<\/p>\n

The FAI confirmed on Thursday after the Nations League draw\u2019s conclusion that it intended to fulfil the fixtures<\/a> as scheduled.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> criticised the decision. In a statement on Thursday evening, the party\u2019s spokeswoman on culture, communications and sport, Joanna Byrne, said: \u201cIn November, the FAI voted to submit a motion to UEFA to ban Israel from its European club and international competitions. That was the correct moral and principled position to take. <\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, I am extremely angry and dismayed that the FAI have confirmed they will play against Israel. It appears that their morals, and principled position, was only on paper \u2013 not in actions where it counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrne, chair of League of Ireland club Drogheda United, also levelled criticism at Uefa, and said European football\u2019s governing body should have expelled Israel \u201cas soon as Israel went into Gaza on a genocidal, ethnic cleansing mission that has seen tens of thousands of innocents murdered, including hundreds of sports men and women\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Louth TD criticised \u201cdouble standards\u201d which saw Russia expelled but Israel allowed to remain.<\/p>\n

The vote Byrne referenced occurred last November, when the FAI passed a motion calling for Israel to be banned from competing in Uefa competitions. That vote was proposed by Bohemian Football Club, whose chief commercial officer, Daniel Lambert, spoke to Newstalk\u2019s Off the Ball on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

Lambert said Uefa should have already expelled Israel from its competitions, and that unfair pressure was now being placed on the FAI, Irish players and fans. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation is already legislated for in the Uefa statutes,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a rule book there, and that rule book exists for a very good reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s not my decision if you play or not\u2019, says Hallgr\u00edmsson after Ireland draw Israel in Nations LeagueOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Lambert said Israel had \u201cteams playing in occupied territories, without the permission of the Palestinian FA, and the penalty for that is suspension and expulsion\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d call on the Irish Government, other high profile Irish sportspeople, people within the game [and] outside of the game,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should all be absolutely calling for Uefa to suspend Israel, because we should not be put in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the prospect of Ireland now boycotting the fixtures, Lambert said he would not personally attend or support the games if they went ahead, but reiterated that he believed it was an unfair decision for Irish football to face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do feel [a boycott] would be effective. I think it would represent the mood of the Irish people, but I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s something that should be placed on the shoulders of the FAI or the players or fans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fine Gael<\/a> Senator Evanne N\u00ed Chuilinn<\/a> said the onus to resolve the situation was on \u201chuge global bodies\u201d like Fifa or Uefa, and not on a small nation like Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast November the FAI issued a formal request to UEFA for the immediate suspension of the Israel Football Association from UEFA competitions for a breach of UEFA statutes,\u201d N\u00ed Chuilinn said. \u201cUEFA failed to do so, but Ireland can\u2019t be expected to take sanctions for not fulfilling their fixtures. The duty here lies with the superpowers, not the minnows.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Austria, Israel and Kosovo: A closer look at Ireland\u2019s Nations League opponentsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport said: \u201cNational governing bodies of sport and international sporting federations, including the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), are independent, autonomous bodies responsible for the governance of their own sports, including the organisation of sporting fixtures. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government and Sport Ireland have no role in determining or supporting the organisation of such fixtures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Political and sporting figures have called for the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to boycott scheduled soccer fixtures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[140560,61,60,3410,59269,43,1842,3415,3405,30918],"class_list":["post-295074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-evanne-ni-chuilinn","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-nations-league","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-sinn-fein","tag-soccer","tag-uefa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}