The Republic of Ireland’s controversial Nations League fixtures against Israel will go ahead after a “significant majority” players voted for the games to be played following a four-hour summit Saturday morning in Hungary.
Football Association of Ireland chief David Courell also confirmed one player, widely reported to be goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, “expressed their discomfort with fulfilling this fixture” to manager Heimir Hallgrimsson and “indicated their intent to withdraw” from the squad.
Earlier Saturday, the Republic of Ireland postponed a scheduled news conference at 10:15 a.m. local time and their training session, both of which took place later in the afternoon following the meeting at the team hotel in Debrecen, Hungary.
“Hopefully you can understand it’s a challenging time,” Courell said at the rescheduled news conference, which took place at 3:30 p.m.
“The squad were in Pristina yesterday, an extensive conversation took place where ultimately the consensus was to travel to Hungary. That was something that we all entered into this window with our intention to fulfill these fixtures, and that was the consensus that the group finished on at the end of that two-hour meeting yesterday.
“This morning, a player expressed their discomfort with fulfilling this fixture to the head coach, and indicated their intent to withdraw from the squad. As you can understand, this new variable required time and deliberation for the rest of the squad to consider.
“What proceeded was another four hours of conversations, predominately amongst the players themselves, but also at times with the coaching staff and at times with the executive.
“There were a lot of positions presented, and I think it is important to say that from an association perspective and for everyone involved in those conversations, we were fully respectful for everyone’s right to their respective opinion on these topics.
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“Ultimately, within maybe the last 90 minutes, we carried out a vote amongst the squad to establish their sentiment on fulfilling the fixtures, and it was a significant majority that was returned with the intention to continue.
“Based on that, the association took the decision on behalf of Irish football that this fixture would continue as we have always intended to fulfil the fixtures.”
The developments come amid the backdrop of the team coming under increasing pressure at home, where affinity with Palestinians is strong, to boycott the two games — the first on Sunday and the second, Ireland’s “home” game, in Backa Topola, Serbia, on Oct. 4.
Republic of Ireland midfielder Jason Knight said after Thursday’s 1-0 loss in Kosovo that the players were in a difficult situation and that he didn’t think the matches should be going ahead.
Hallgrimsson previously said “we’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel, we’re not playing with Israel” — drawing a furious reaction from the Israeli football federation, which accused the Icelandic coach of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy.”
The FAI had resisted calls to boycott the matches, arguing the team could be hit be punishing sanctions by UEFA. The Republic of Ireland is co-hosting the 2028 European Championship, with matches also taking place in England, Wales and Scotland.
More than 160 Irish sportspeople signed an open letter urging the FAI to reconsider its decision to go ahead with the fixtures.
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There were protesters outside the team hotel in Dublin last week calling on the players to boycott the games. The SIPTU trade union displayed a huge poster in central Dublin beside the River Liffey asking the players to “Go with your conscience!” and “Don’t play with genocide” beside an image of a blood-splattered ball.
Former Republic of Ireland coach Brian Kerr said the FAI had “lost of the respect of the Irish people” for going ahead with the games.
“The Irish people and the soccer-going public don’t want the games to be played,” Kerr said. “I think they’ve made their opinions clear over the last year. The FAI back in November actually went to UEFA and requested that Israel be put out of the tournament on a principle. And yet they went against that principle.”
