Call ‘em the Badwill Games. Ireland scored three early goals and cruised to a 3-0 win over Israel in the first of two matches between the teams that have already made everybody go ewwwwww.
The game, played in Debrecen, Hungary, was the first of two very controversial matches between the national teams as part of the UEFA Nations League competition. Ireland had requested that UEFA ban Israel from the tournament, but that was denied, as was a subsequent appeal to be moved out of the same bracket.
A national campaign then formed in Ireland to prevent the matches from happening. A group of 160 Irish athletes signed a petition released late last week calling for the matches to be cancelled. RTE, the Irish national broadcasting network, announced that it would only have limited coverage of the matches. Heimir Hallgrímsson, the Iceland-born manager of the Irish team, defended fielding a squad by saying, "We're not playing with genocide. We're playing against genocide."
Micheál Martin, Ireland’s Taoiseach (or prime minister), took a break from the UN general assembly in New York to defend his country’s national team manager.
"We're very clear and I think [UN secretary general] Antonio Guterres said it again this morning, he has never in his lifetime seen the level and scale of death and destruction as he witnessed in terms of the Israeli government's war on Gaza in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attack preceding the war," Martin said, according to a Yahoo report. "Our manager is saying the exact same thing. Israel can't keep denying what the world knows and what the world understands."
Hallgrímsson backtracked a bit when asked in a prematch press conference if he regretted “saying Israel is committing genocide” while defending playing, admitting the public pressure to boycott the matches had gotten to him. The manager, while not uttering the actual word “genocide,” indicated he regretted using “a strong word, and a wrong word for me to use.”
"We just want to make clear that we are not supporting anything that is happening in Gaza. We are playing this fixture because it’s the rules of our game,” he said.
Late last week, word broke that Irish goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu had told the team he would not be playing against Israel.
“My decision is based purely upon 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 stance is not in opposition to the Israeli people or the Jewish community but against the atrocities in the region. There are few times where you get a chance in life to stand up for something bigger and I strongly believe that this is one of them.”
After a team vote on whether to boycott, the rest of the Ireland squad showed up. Ireland announced there would be no pregame handshakes or pennant exchanges. Israel countered that they would not swap jerseys after the match. Come game day, Irish players wore black armbands, and bowed their heads when Israel’s national anthem was played before kickoff.
As for the actual soccer: Ireland’s Troy Parrott scored 13 minutes into the game. Teammate Adam Idah scored three minutes later on an assist from Jack Moylan. Then in the 25th minute Moylan made it 3-0, and directed attention to his black armband as a celebration.
There were accusations from the Irish that the Israel contingent, estimated at around 150 fans, directed “monkey chants” at Ireland’s Idah in the first half. RTE reported that Idah’s teammate, Jayson Molumby, alerted referee Harms Osmers and other game officials to what was taking place. But because neither Molumby nor anybody else with the Irish squad specifically cited “racism” in the moment, UEFA will not investigate the claim. RTE did say that the Irish federation will look into the allegations on its own.
There were also reports that the Israeli fans chanted “IDF” at the Irish team, and a video posted by an Israeli fan backs that up.
Israel goalie Daniel Peretz told the Israeli media that the actions of the Irish players “all stems from ignorance.” And Israeli captain Manor Solomon, who was said to have gotten in a scrap on the pitch with Ireland’s Jake O'Brien after the full-time whistle, told reporters he couldn’t talk about the Irish squad. “If I say what I think of them, I’d likely be suspended for a few matches,” he said. “Obviously they hate us. We don’t like them.”
Now the calls in Ireland are for having the team not show up for Sunday’s scheduled return match against Israel. The game was originally set for Dublin with the Ireland as the official host, but the Irish soccer authorities did not want to host Israel, so it’s now set for Backa Topola, Serbia. There will be no fans from either side allowed inside the stadium.
“I’m waiting for the next game against them,” O’Brien said. “It’ll be a completely different game entirely.”
