Call them the Badwill Games. Ireland scored three early goals and cruised to a 3-0 victory over Israel in the first of two matches between the teams that have already had everyone saying ewwwwww.
The match, played in Debrecen, Hungary, was the first of two highly controversial matches between the national teams in the UEFA Nations League competition. Ireland had asked UEFA to exclude Israel from the tournament, but this was refused, as was a subsequent appeal to be removed from the same group.
A national campaign then formed in Ireland to prevent the matches from taking place. A group of 160 Irish athletes signed a petition published late last week calling for the matches to be cancelled. RTE, Ireland’s national broadcaster, announced that it would only provide limited coverage of the matches. Heimir Hallgrímsson, the Icelandic manager of the Irish team, defended the presence of a team by saying: “We are not playing with a genocide. We are playing against a genocide.”
Micheál Martin, the Irish Taoiseach (or Prime Minister), took a break from the UN General Assembly in New York to defend his country’s national team coach.
“We are very clear and I think (UN Secretary-General) Antonio Guterres reiterated this morning, he has never in his life seen the level and scale of death and destruction that he witnessed in the Israeli government’s war on Gaza following the horrific Hamas attack preceding the war,” Martin said, according to a Yahoo report. “Our manager says exactly the same thing. Israel cannot continue to deny what the world knows and what the world understands.”
Hallgrímsson backtracked when asked at a pre-match press conference whether he regretted “saying that Israel is committing genocide” while defending the game, admitting that public pressure to boycott matches had gotten to him. The director, even if he did not say the word “genocide”, indicated that he regretted having used “a strong word and a bad word on my part”.
“We just want to make it clear that we do not support anything that is happening in Gaza. We are playing this game because these are the rules of our game,” he said.
Late last week it was reported that Irish goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu had told the team he would not play against Israel.
“My decision is based solely on my personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong,” Bazunu said in a statement posted on Instagram. “It is important to note that my position is not against the Israeli people or the Jewish community but against the atrocities committed in the region. There are few moments in life when you have the chance to stand for something greater and I firmly believe this is one of them.”
After a team vote on whether to boycott, the rest of the Irish team showed up. Ireland announced that there would be no handshakes or exchanges of pennants before the match. Israel responded that it would not exchange jerseys after the match. On match day, Irish players wore black armbands and bowed their heads when the Israeli national anthem was played before kick-off.
As for the football itself: Irishman Troy Parrott scored after 13 minutes of play. His teammate Adam Idah scored three minutes later thanks to an assist from Jack Moylan. Then, in the 25th minute, Moylan made it 3-0 and drew attention to his black armband in celebration.
The Irish accused the Israeli contingent, estimated at around 150 supporters, of launching “monkey chants” against Ireland’s Idah during the first half. RTE reported that Idah’s teammate Jayson Molumby alerted referee Harms Osmers and other match officials of what was happening. But as neither Molumby nor any other member of the Irish squad has specifically cited “racism” at this time, UEFA will not be investigating the allegation. RTE said the Irish federation would look into the allegations itself.
There have also been reports that Israeli fans chanted “IDF” at the Irish team, and a video posted by an Israeli fan confirms this.
Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz told Israeli media that the Irish players’ actions “all stem from ignorance.” And Israel captain Manor Solomon, who reportedly had an on-field altercation with Ireland’s Jake O’Brien after the break whistle, told reporters he could not talk about the Irish team. “If I say what I think about them, I would probably be suspended for a few matches,” he said. “Obviously they hate us. We don’t like them.”
Now calls in Ireland are for the team to not show up for Sunday’s scheduled second leg against Israel. The match was originally scheduled for Dublin with Ireland as the official host, but Irish football authorities did not want to host Israel, so it is now scheduled for Backa Topola, Serbia. No fans from either side will be allowed inside the stadium.
“I’m looking forward to the next game against them,” O’Brien said. “It will be a completely different game.”
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