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.
Squad vote and player withdrawal
The situation escalated 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 was 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.
FAI statement and coach’s comments
‘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.’
Fixture logistics and political tension
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, the return leg on 4 October 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’.
