{"id":635298,"date":"2026-10-03T15:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T15:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/635298\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T15:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T15:34:08","slug":"heimir-hallgrimssons-press-conference-ended-after-verbal-attack-from-israeli-reporters-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/635298\/","title":{"rendered":"Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s press conference ended after \u2018verbal attack\u2019 from Israeli reporters \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FAI press officer ended Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson<\/a>\u2019s prematch press conference early ahead of the Uefa Nations League<\/a> meeting between the Republic of Ireland and Israel<\/a> on Saturday morning, after what the Ireland manager later described as a \u201cverbal attack\u201d from Israeli reporters.<\/p>\n

When Hallgr\u00edmsson was asked to comment on an \u201cideology that is based on murder\u201d the question was interrupted by the FAI press officer who said: \u201cWe are only concentrated on football questions today. Heimir respected that question last [Saturday in Hungary].\u201d<\/p>\n

When a second Israeli reporter then alleged that the Ireland players had abused their Israeli counterparts during the match last Sunday the Ireland press officer interjected again, saying: \u201cThat is completely untrue. You just broadcast a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Words were then exchanged between FAI staff and the travelling Israeli media before the press conference was brought to a close. Hallgr\u00edmsson was followed into the corridor by an Israeli television reporter who demanded further access to him, outside of the Uefa-mandated prematch access. He was blocked by the association\u2019s security. A Uefa delegate was not at the press conference.<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson subsequently spoke to the Irish written press in the changing room before training.<\/p>\n

It was earlier revealed in the press conference that Ireland captain Dara O\u2019Shea has yet to travel to Serbia as his wife went into labour back in England. O\u2019Shea could join the squad before Sunday\u2019s 7.45pm kick-off at the TSC Arena.<\/p>\n

Conor Coventry, Hallgr\u00edmsson also revealed, is leading a pregame prayer huddle in the Ireland changing room since the first Israel game.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we have changed in the last games is before we go on to the pitch we do a little prayer, a huddle with the players and all the staff, just to cool our heads. Conor Coventry has taken the prayer so he is now called \u2018Brother Coventry\u2019 in the squad,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is really good when you go into a high intensity, big pressure games, like we have been doing, to start the game with cool heads, instead of motivating ourselves by shouting and screaming before games. We are focused going on to the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Abankwah remains with the squad despite being suspended for the Israel game, while Jimmy Dunne has been passed fit after an ankle issue.<\/p>\n

On giving up 2-0 leads against Austria on Thursday and in the World Cup playoff against the Czech Republic in Prague last March, Hallgr\u00edmsson took a glass half-full perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t forget that when you lose a 2-0 goal advantage, you\u2019ve gained a 2-0 goal advantage. So do you see the glass half-empty or half-full? If I am honest, in the second half, Austria were better than us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other game, in Czechia, was just totally different. They scored from our mistake and we gave them a penalty and then a fluke goal after a corner. There was no mistake from us in these games.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The FAI press officer ended Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson\u2019s prematch press conference early ahead of the Uefa Nations League meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6865,85,286628,46,6864,105],"class_list":["post-635298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-il","tag-ireland-v-israel","tag-israel","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635298","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=635298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}