Former world snooker champion Ken Doherty has unexpectedly become embroiled in the controversy surrounding a goal celebration by Israeli striker Saied Abu Farchi. The 20-year-old scored Israel's only goal in a 3-1 defeat to Austria in the Nations League on Thursday night, his first goal for his country. After cancelling out Romano Schmid's opener from the penalty spot, Abu Farchi went to the corner flag, pulled it from the turf and appeared to mimic firing a gun.
Red card and official response
Abu Farchi had been booked only four minutes before the strike, and the second yellow card, shown by referee Georgi Kabakov, led to the Colorado Rapids attacker being sent off at Linz's Raiffeisen Arena. Removing the corner flag is an offence in itself, while players can be booked for provocative, derisory or inflammatory celebrations.
It has since been claimed that Farchi was not firing a gun with his celebration at all, but was playing snooker with the corner flag. Ahead of the controversial meeting with Ireland on Sunday, the claim was backed by Shlomi Barzel, head of communications for the Israel FA.
'We contend that the first yellow card was incorrect and the second, which led to his sending off, stemmed from a misinterpretation by the match referee and the VAR team,' Barzel read from a prepared statement. 'Anybody familiar with Saied Abu Farchi knows that his celebration after scoring the equaliser was in imitation of a snooker player, such as the legendary Ken Doherty for example.'
Player and Doherty react
Israel manager Ran Ben-Shimon did not mention snooker when asked about the celebration, but said the Colorado Rapids striker has done the same thing before without punishment. 'I've seen it before and everyone can check,' said Ben-Shimon. 'When this young player scores, in the Israeli national team or the MLS or anywhere he plays, he celebrates in the same situation again and again and he never gets a yellow card about it.'
'He didn't know about it, this is his way to celebrate every goal he scores. He's a young player, I'm sure this lesson will stay with him a long time, he made a mistake.'
Farchi posted a reel on Instagram of his celebration with a pool ball emoji on the video. A song on the reel is translated from Spanish as 'And what happened? You didn't do anything!' Doherty has seen the funny side of his unexpected involvement, posting a clip of Barzel reading his statement with a laughing emoji.
Ireland match to go ahead
The Nations League meeting between Israel and the Republic of Ireland will go ahead in Debrecen, Hungary on Sunday evening. There was a possibility that Ireland would not play the match in protest at the ongoing conflict in Gaza, but a 'significant majority' of the Irish players voted to play.
'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.'
Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu was not in that significant majority, though, and has decided to boycott the fixture. The Bolton 'keeper wrote on Instagram: 'Representing my country means everything to me. I have the utmost respect for every single one of my teammates, the manager, his staff, and the Irish people.'
'However, I have reached a decision that I have not taken lightly. I am a man of strong faith, and try my best to be a person of character and principle, therefore I feel it would be wrong to participate in the upcoming fixtures against Israel. My decision is based purely on my personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong. It is important to note that my stance is not in opposition of the Israeli people or the Jewish community, but against the atrocities in the region.'
'There are a few times where you get a chance in life to stand up for something bigger, and I strongly believe that this is one of them.'
