One Irish player leaves team as remaining players vote to go ahead with soccer games against Israel amid pressure to boycott

Pressure to boycott upcoming Nations League games against Israel over that country’s actions in Gaza took its toll on the Ireland team Saturday when players talked for hours, voted on their participation, and one departed the squad.

Ireland is due to play Israel in Debrecen, Hungary in the first of those games Sunday, but the team’s press conference and training session Saturday were delayed by more than five hours as the players again held discussions among themselves in the team hotel over whether they should play.

“A player expressed their discomfort with fulfilling this fixture to the head coach and indicated their intent to withdraw from the squad,” David Courell, the CEO of the Football Association of Ireland, told journalists in the rescheduled press conference. “As you can understand, this new variable required time and deliberation for the rest of the squad to consider.”

Courell said a vote was taken among the players and that “a significant majority” were in favor of continuing with the games.

“Based on that, the association took the decision on behalf of Irish football that this fixture would continue as we have always intended to fulfill the fixtures,” Courell said.

Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu reportedly told the team Friday night that he did not want to play. His name was not mentioned in the press conference, but Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said a player was leaving the squad.

OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

Gaza is playing soccer again

“All the rest of the players are training today,” Hallgrimsson said. “It’s an ongoing discussion and we haven’t come to a kind of conclusion on this, but we are going ahead, the game is going ahead, we’re going to train. And there will be more discussions tonight and probably tomorrow.”

Courell said the players were uncomfortable dealing with questions “that are not about football,” so they had requested not to have to deal with media obligations around Sunday’s match.

“They also have the intention of wearing black armbands in recognition of all lives lost in the conflict,” Courell said. “And also there will be elements of the pre-match ceremony that will not be partaken in.”

He added that both the players and the FAI will be making a “significant contribution” to charity from both match fees – neither of which is open to Irish fans – and from Ireland’s game against Austria in Dublin on Oct. 1.

The team has been coming under increasing pressure in Ireland, where affinity with Palestinians is strong, to boycott the two games against Israel — Israel’s “home” game Sunday and Ireland’s “home” game in Backa Topola, Serbia, on Oct. 4.

The FAI said in June that Ireland’s home game was moving to a neutral venue for “operational reasons” and that no fans will be present . That followed widespread calls to boycott the match, and the FAI’s own motion the previous November calling on UEFA to ban Israel from club and international competitions.

“There’s a huge support – probably in Europe the biggest support – for Palestine in Ireland,” Hallgrimsson said. “And there’s been protests since the draw (in February) not to play this fixture. There’s been a protest from day one not to play the fixture in Ireland and that’s the pressure that the players will feel and the association will feel. I felt that pressure growing day by day and it’s getting almost to a breaking limit now.”

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 soccer 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 with punishing sanctions by UEFA. Ireland is co-hosting the 2028 European Championship with 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.

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 Ireland coach Brian Kerr said the FAI had “lost 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.”

UEFA did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday’s developments.

由于以色列在加沙的行动，爱尔兰队面临着抵制即将到来的与以色列的欧国联比赛的压力。周六，球员们进行了数小时的讨论，投票决定是否参赛，其中一人退出了球队。

爱尔兰队原定于周日在匈牙利德布勒森与以色列队进行首场比赛，但由于球员们在球队酒店再次就是否应该参赛进行了内部讨论，球队周六的新闻发布会和训练课被推迟了五个多小时。

爱尔兰足协首席执行官大卫·库雷尔在重新安排的新闻发布会上告诉记者：“一名球员向主教练表达了不愿参加这场比赛的意愿，并表示打算退出球队。正如大家所理解的，这一突发情况需要球队其他成员花时间和精力来考虑。”

库雷尔表示，球员们进行了投票，结果“绝大多数”球员赞成继续比赛。

“基于此，协会代表爱尔兰足球界决定，这项赛事将继续进行，因为我们一直打算履行这些赛事，”库雷尔说。

据报道，门将加文·巴祖努周五晚告诉球队他不想上场。新闻发布会上没有提到他的名字，但爱尔兰队主教练海米尔·哈尔格里姆松表示，一名球员将离开球队。

OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

加沙又开始踢足球了

“其他所有球员今天都在训练，”霍尔格里姆松说。“这方面的讨论还在进行中，我们还没有得出任何结论，但比赛照常进行，我们也会继续训练。今晚和明天可能还会进行更多讨论。”

库雷尔表示，球员们不愿回答“与足球无关”的问题，因此他们要求不必在周日的比赛前后履行媒体义务。

库雷尔说：“他们还打算佩戴黑色臂章，以悼念所有在冲突中丧生的生命。此外，他们也不会参加赛前仪式的某些环节。”

他还补充说，球员和爱尔兰足协都将从两场比赛的门票收入（爱尔兰球迷无法观看）以及10月1日爱尔兰在都柏林对阵奥地利的比赛门票收入中，向慈善机构做出“重大贡献”。

在爱尔兰，由于对巴勒斯坦人的亲近感，该队面临着越来越大的压力，要求他们抵制与以色列的两场比赛——以色列周日的“主场”比赛和爱尔兰10月4日在塞尔维亚巴奇卡托波拉的“主场”比赛。

爱尔兰足协（FAI）6月份宣布，由于“运营原因”，爱尔兰的主场比赛将移至中立场地举行，且比赛将空场进行。此前，已有广泛呼吁抵制这场比赛，而爱尔兰足协自身也在去年11月提出动议，呼吁欧足联禁止以色列参加俱乐部和国际赛事。

“在爱尔兰，巴勒斯坦得到了巨大的支持——或许是欧洲最大的支持，”霍尔格里姆松说道。“自从二月份抽签结果公布以来，就一直有人抗议不进行这场比赛。从一开始就有人抗议不要在爱尔兰进行这场比赛，球员和协会都会感受到这种压力。我能感觉到这种压力与日俱增，现在几乎已经到了极限。”

爱尔兰中场球员杰森·奈特在周四0-1负于科索沃后表示，球员们处境艰难，他认为比赛不应该继续进行。

霍尔格里姆松此前曾表示：“我们不是在与种族灭绝作斗争，而是在反对种族灭绝。我们是与以色列对抗，而不是与以色列并肩作战。”——这番言论激怒了以色列足球协会，该协会指责这位冰岛教练“愚蠢、无知、虚伪”。

爱尔兰足协曾拒绝抵制比赛的呼吁，理由是球队可能会因此受到欧足联的严厉制裁。爱尔兰与英格兰、威尔士和苏格兰共同主办2028年欧洲杯。

超过 160 名爱尔兰运动员签署了一封公开信，敦促爱尔兰足协重新考虑继续进行比赛的决定。

上周，在都柏林球队下榻的酒店外，有抗议者呼吁球员抵制比赛。SIPTU工会在都柏林市中心利菲河畔展示了一张巨幅海报，海报上印着一个血迹斑斑的足球，并配文呼吁球员“遵从良心！”和“不要拿种族灭绝开玩笑！”

爱尔兰前主教练布莱恩·克尔表示，爱尔兰足协因为继续举办比赛而“失去了爱尔兰人民的尊重”。

克尔说：“爱尔兰民众和广大足球爱好者都不希望比赛进行。我认为过去一年他们已经明确表达了自己的立场。爱尔兰足协早在去年11月就曾向欧足联提出，要求出于原则将以色列排除出本届赛事。然而，欧足联却违背了这一原则。”

欧足联没有回应周六事态发展的相关置评请求。