Ireland make decision on boycotting Israel match after player refuses to play

The Republic of Ireland football team have confirmed that Sunday’s Nations League match against Israel will go ahead despite at least one player wishing to boycott the game.

Heimir Hallgrimsson’s team are scheduled to play Israel in Hungary with a return fixture to follow in Serbia on 4 October.

There have been increasingly vocal calls from supporters and former players for the match to be called off. The situation escalated further on Friday night when Gavin Bazunu declared during a team meeting that he did not wish to play.

A press conference scheduled for Saturday morning was called off at the last minute and training delayed for hours as further meetings took place at the team hotel in Hungary.

It was reported that several more players were considering joining Bolton goalkeeper Bazunu in protest but in the afternoon, a press conference was held announcing that a ‘significant majority’ of the Ireland team had voted in favour of playing.

‘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,’ Football Association of Ireland CEO David Courell said.

‘Based on that, the association took the decision on behalf of Irish football that this fixture would continue as we have always intended.’

Hallgrimsson then confirmed that one player had pulled out of the squad, before adding: ‘I don’t think anyone anywhere would understand the pressure on these players.

‘Since the draw was made in February, no matter who we have been playing, this fixture has always been on the agenda, every press meeting we have done.

‘There is a huge support in Europe, with the biggest support in Ireland for Palestine. There have been protests since day one to not play this fixture and that is the pressure that the players and the association will feel.

‘I felt that pressure growing day by day and it is almost getting to a breaking limit now.

‘By playing, we are not accepting what is happening in Gaza. By entering the field tomorrow the players are not supporting what is happening in Gaza. That is the statement..

‘The players feel like they are doing something wrong by playing this game, with the pressure from Ireland and that isnot a good feeling when you have that pressure from your own people who you want to play for.

‘So we just want to make clear, we are not supporting anything that is happening in Gaza. We are playing this fixture because of the rules of this game, because the rule of the competition we are in and that’s the reason we are here.’

Due to the conflicts in the Middle East, the game cannot be played in Israel and is scheduled to take place in Debrecen, Hungary instead.

Such is the political tension over the fixture, that the return leg on October 4 was moved from Dublin to a neutral location in Serbia but there is uncertainty whether it will still go ahead.

Earlier this week, Hallgrimsson said his side were ‘playing against genocide’, only for the Israel Football Association to accuse the Icelandic of ‘stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy’.

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