{"id":467337,"date":"2026-05-30T06:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/467337\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T06:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:49:08","slug":"ireland-players-likely-to-make-statement-on-israel-matches-heimir-hallgrimsson-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/467337\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland players likely to make statement on Israel matches, Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Republic of Ireland<\/a> players have discussed releasing a statement on the Nations League<\/a> matches against Israel<\/a> in September and October, in response to the growing number of protests from within the Irish football community against the fixtures going ahead.<\/p>\n

The friendly against Qatar at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday was interrupted on three occasions in the first half as a group called League of Ireland Fans for Palestine threw tennis balls with \u201cStop the Game\u201d branding on to the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Russia is banned, then I don\u2019t see the difference why Israel shouldn\u2019t be banned,\u201d Ireland manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson<\/a> told Off The Ball on Thursday night, reiterating his stance from last October. \u201cBut I need to talk about the football side.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is apparent the Ireland players and coaches will continue to be asked about the game unless the Football Association of Ireland<\/a> (FAI) egm that was secured by members of the general assembly on Friday leads to an overturning of the FAI\u2019s intention to fulfil the Israel fixtures. <\/p>\n

If a motion to the egm is successful and is accepted by the FAI executive, Ireland will refuse to play Israel at a neutral venue on September 27th and at the Aviva on October 4th, citing \u201cboth legal and moral grounds\u201d. It was proposed by the Professional Footballers\u2019 Association of Ireland, Irish Football Supporters Partnership, CK United, Cork City and Bohemians.<\/p>\n

Following the protests on Thursday, Hallgr\u00edmsson remained steadfast in his view that the games should go ahead due to the detrimental impact a boycott could have on the men\u2019s senior team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we should boycott the games,\u201d he said. \u201cNumber one, it would cost us. We\u2019d probably be relegated to League C. Future national teams will suffer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut most of all we are giving [Israel] gifts. We are giving them six points, six-zero in goal difference, and they will most likely win the Nations League group if we do that. Then they have easier access to come and play in the finals [Euro 2028] in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aviva will host six matches at the European Championships in 2028, four group games, one Last-16 game and a quarter-final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just saying, this is the football side,\u201d Hallgr\u00edmsson continued. \u201cThe feelings of the [Irish] people, we understand and respect. And if the decision is made from higher up, then we have to respect that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are the football players, we are coaches. This is from a political level and those who are in Government should take these decisions. <\/p>\n

\u201cIreland is part of the EU so we need to go by the rules that are set. We are a part of Uefa and Fifa, and we need to obey the rules there. That is our job. We are not better if we break the rules ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

On whether the FAI, led by chief executive David Courell and president Paul Cooke, can be swayed by the Aviva protesters or leading League of Ireland figures such as Shamrock Rovers captain Pico Lopes and former Ireland manager Brian Kerr calling for the games to be stopped, Hallgr\u00edmsson said: \u201c[The FAI] have already said what their stand on this matter is.<\/p>\n

\"InternationalInternational Friendly, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 28\/5\/2026
\nRepublic of Ireland vs Qatar
\nIreland’s Jamie McGrath with Assim Madibo of Qatar
\nMandatory Credit \u00a9INPHO\/Ryan Byrne <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully the matter will be resolved before the Israel game in September. We will see what happens. The players will probably send a statement about the situation. The FAI have already done their statement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson clarified that a player statement would only be released to avoid every media briefing between now and September being dominated by questions on Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were talking and maybe it\u2019s best, especially for the young ones, that there is a statement from the players about the situation,\u201d the manager said.<\/p>\n

Hibernian midfielder Jamie McGrath, speaking after Ireland\u2019s 1-0 defeat of Qatar, conceded that the debate around playing Israel would not go away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to heat up over the next few months,\u201d McGrath told the BBC. \u201cHopefully the powers above us can work something out or use it for the greater good. I\u2019m not sure what the process will be. At the end of the day, we\u2019re footballers and we don\u2019t want to be caught in this, but sometimes we might have to be. We don\u2019t all agree with what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dara O\u2019Shea, Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher, Jack Moylan and Jayson Molumby have left the Ireland camp before the season-ending friendly against Canada in Montreal on June 6th, with uncapped Bohemians midfielder Dawson Devoy expected to be among three players added to the squad. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republic of Ireland players have discussed releasing a statement on the Nations League matches against Israel in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6865,85,46,202176,6864,105],"class_list":["post-467337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-nations-league","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}