{"id":305081,"date":"2026-02-18T23:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305081\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T23:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:49:08","slug":"sinn-fein-td-to-resist-removal-as-drogheda-united-chair-after-call-for-ireland-to-boycott-israel-fixtures-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305081\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in TD to \u2018resist\u2019 removal as Drogheda United chair after call for Ireland to boycott Israel fixtures \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Louth Joanna Byrne says she will resist efforts which she claims have been made by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/drogheda-united\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/drogheda-united\/\">Drogheda United<\/a>\u2019s board to remove her as co-chairperson of the club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The alleged move by the board comes after Byrne called for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/football-association-of-ireland-fai\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/football-association-of-ireland-fai\/\">FAI<\/a> to boycott the Republic of Ireland\u2019s Nations League fixtures against Israel later this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cOn Monday morning, I was informed by the board of directors of Drogheda United FC that my role as chairperson of the club was no longer tenable with an expectation that I would resign, something I have told them that I intend to resist,\u201d Byrne said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/politics\/2026\/02\/16\/ireland-will-play-home-match-against-israel-at-neutral-venue-government-figures-suggest\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ireland will play home match against Israel at neutral venue, Government figures suggestOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThis unwarranted action was taken after my public statement last week that Ireland should not play Israel in the Nations League while a genocide against the Palestinian people continues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI stand over those comments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Since 2023, Drogheda is owned by The Trivela Group, an Alabama-registered family office formed by Ben Boycott and Ken Polk which holds \u20ac11 billion in capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/sport\/soccer\/2026\/02\/16\/ken-early-why-football-has-boycotted-russia-but-not-israel-yet\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ken Early: Why football has boycotted Russia but not Israel \u2013 yetOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Boycott is co-chair of Drogheda and CEO of the multi-club model that includes English club Walsall, Trivela FC in Togo and Danish club Silkeborg IF.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In response to Byrne\u2019s statement on Wednesday, Drogheda United commented: \u201cDrogheda United Football Club has noted the statement issued regarding our co-chair, Joanna Byrne. At this time, no changes have been made to the club\u2019s board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe concerns expressed to Ms Byrne by her fellow directors are unrelated to anyone\u2019s specific political or moral views, and at no point were any such concerns expressed. What was expressed was a concern over the open criticism of Uefa and the FAI regulatory bodies to whom the club is subject, as well as each club official\u2019s responsibility to respect the neutrality provisions of the Fifa Code of Ethics and the Uefa Statutes. To be clear, the substance of Ms Byrne\u2019s views has never been attacked by the club or Trivela Group.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Louth Joanna Byrne says she will resist efforts which she claims have been made&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[103980,13446,61,60,59269,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-305081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-drogheda-united","9":"tag-football-association-of-ireland-fai","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-nations-league","13":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305081","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=305081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}