Ireland will take the field against Israel on Sunday in Group B3 of the UEFA Nations League, at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary. The decision was announced on Saturday by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) after a vote among the players — and after Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu told the group he would not play.
The meeting that settled the matter lasted around four hours and involved players, coaching staff and association officials, with the squad already in Hungary. The press conference scheduled for the eve of the match was delayed while the group deliberated.
The vote
"Ultimately, we carried out a vote among the squad to establish their sentiment on fulfilling the fixtures," said FAI chief executive David Courell. The result, he said, was "a significant majority that was returned with the intention to continue," and the association then took the decision on behalf of Irish football.
Bazunu was the only player to step away. "It would be wrong to participate," the goalkeeper said, in a statement quoted by the Irish Times.
The mood inside the group is not unanimous. Midfielder Jason Knight summed up the position of some of the players: "I don't think the game should be going ahead but it is going ahead."
The pressure to boycott
More than 160 Irish sportspeople signed an open letter urging the team not to fulfil the two fixtures against Israel. The FAI board had previously asked UEFA to suspend Israel from European competition, but members voted in July to play the matches.
The association's argument for not walking away is disciplinary: an absence would expose Ireland to severe UEFA sanctions, including a points deduction.
Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson had used the word "genocide" to describe Israel's conduct in Gaza in an earlier media appearance. The Israel Football Association called the remark "stupid, ignorant and hypocritical." Hallgrímsson walked it back the day before the match: "It is a strong word and the wrong word for me to use."
Two matches on neutral ground
Neither fixture will be played in the country nominally hosting it. Israel has been fulfilling its home commitments in Debrecen since the start of the cycle. The second meeting between the sides, set for 4 October with Ireland as the home team, has been moved to Bačka Topola, Serbia, and will be played behind closed doors.
With information from Al Jazeera, The National, the Irish Times and the Times of Israel.
