October 5: Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has called on UEFA to keep Ireland and Israel separate in future draws after an extraordinary Nations League double ended in a 1-1 draw behind closed doors in Serbia.
The renewed Irish call-up comes in the wake of an allegation that a member of the Irish squad was spat at during Sunday’s UEFA Nations League draw.
Ireland’s pre-match press conference was interrupted on Saturday after exchanges with Israeli journalists. One tried to question Hallgrimsson about the incident involving a Flydubai flight and accused the manager of supporting an “ideology based on murder”.
Another journalist alleged that Irish players had racially abused Israeli opponents, a claim immediately dismissed as “completely false” by an FAI official. The press conference ended soon after.
In Sunday’s game, Troy Parrott put Ireland ahead from the penalty spot after 39 minutes at Bačka Topola before Israel captain Dor Peretz equalized shortly after the break. The result leaves Ireland third in Group B3 with five points, having beaten Israel 3-0 in the reverse fixture in Hungary a week earlier.
As in the first match, Ireland’s players wore black armbands, bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem and rejected the usual pre-match handshakes and pennant exchange. The FAI said its armbands recognize “all the lives lost in the conflict” in Gaza. Israel also wore black armbands, which its federation said commemorated those killed in the Hamas-led attacks three years ago.
Football itself almost became the quietest part of the week.
Ireland’s title game had already been moved out of Dublin at the FAI’s request, with UEFA approving a neutral venue and a behind-closed-doors game due to what the association described as “operational challenges” surrounding hosting it at the Aviva Stadium.
Hallgrimsson now wants UEFA to go further. He said: “Given that we now have the ability to look back and see all the things that happened, I think that Uefa has to take into account that it cannot happen again just for the welfare of the players.
“And yes, but it raises awareness of the things that are happening. And if it changes something, I think it’s worth it. But I don’t think it’s up to me to answer that. It’s a good question for Uefa.”
The FAI had previously asked UEFA to prevent the countries from appearing in future competitions, only for the request to be rejected. UEFA said such restrictions are considered on a case-by-case basis, particularly where there are structural safety risks, while FAI chief executive David Courell said he had been told Ireland and Israel could not separate because the countries had never been in “direct conflict”.
Hallgrimsson said simply getting his team through the week had become an achievement in itself.
“Surviving this, coming out of it together would be a huge victory for me. That comes from my heart,” he said.
“All the challenges this team has been through, all the criticism. Just to survive as a group after this game, that would be a big win for me and for this group, for the association. There’s been a lot of emotion from the people of Ireland about it, and obviously that affects the players as well.”
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)
