By Matt Waine
The FAI confirmed today that the Ireland-Israel match will go ahead in the Aviva stadium, in a complete insult to the Palestinian people and amid correct, widespread opposition and calls for a boycott. According to media sources, this move has the backing of the Government, which has rejected calls for a boycott.
The decision by the FAI to agree to play Israel in the upcoming Nations League is not unexpected or surprising. Most of so-called ‘official Ireland’ has shamed themselves when it comes to turning a blind eye to genocide, The Dublin County Board of the GAA decided to continue with its sponsorship arrangement with Allianz, and Basketball Ireland went ahead with its match against Israel last year.
Thankfully, the majority of sporting fans and working-class people in general support a boycott. On the terraces and stadiums, fans have consistently displayed Palestinian flags in solidarity with the people of Gaza. A plethora of League of Ireland managers have come out endorsing the call for a boycott. Even Ireland boss Heimir Halgrimmson has stated that the fixture should not go ahead.
1,000+ Palestinian athletes murdered
“Sports and politics should not mix”, is the tone-deaf calls from Government TDs and ministers. ‘Genocide and sport should not mix!’ is the retort from most people with a conscience. Of course, the double standards of that claim isn’t lost on people either. Within weeks of Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine, Russia was banned from the Olympics and other sporting events.
Over 1,000 Palestinian sports people and athletes have been murdered by the Israeli army in this latest genocidal campaign. Along with its health and educational infrastructure, Gaza’s sporting and cultural spaces have been levelled. This isn’t just a wiping out of a people, but erasing every trace of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Everything that can be done, should be done to end this genocide, including the banning of Israel from all sporting and cultural events. Ireland has a long proud history of boycotts, while Irish rugby discredited itself by playing the Springboks under apartheid, the Dunnes Strikers acted as an international symbol of solidarity against racist violence of the South African state.
No half measures
All parts of the Palestine solidarity movement, every local group, NGO and political party, should demand that the Ireland boycott these matches – sending a powerful message to the rest of the world. Unfortunately and incredibly, the Social Democrats have called for the game to proceed, but in a neutral venue! They correctly laid the blame at the door of UEFA – saying the European football governing authority should have expelled Israel from the tournament. But UEFA is merely an extension of FIFA, whose president, Gianni Infantino, created a special peace award and bestowed it on Trump.
Football, despite its origins as ‘the Peoples Game’ is big business. It is the game of billionaires, oligarchs and princes. Modern football is a stale reflection of what it once was – a game that spread joy and offered an outlet to the misery of capitalism. Now it is bloodsoaked through profiteering. The moral depravity of the officialdom is the polar opposite of those who love the beautiful game. The growth of the domestic game in recent years shows the turning away of significant sections of fans from the sterile offerings of the modern game. If we want to protect our games, alongside our morality, we must oppose the elites, in sport and in every other facet of life. They don’t care about us anymore than they do the Palestinians.
Last Friday saw a demonstration at FAI headquarters in Dublin, organised by local campaign group Dublin 15 With Palestine, alongside Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger. Such actions need to be repeated on a greater scale, with the support of the whole Palestine solidarity movement behind them. A grassroots campaign of activists and fans is needed to put pressure on the FAI to stop these ludicrous fixtures going ahead.
