Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson was forced to end his press conference early after his players were accused of using a racist term to describe Israel players by an Israeli journalist, one day before the two nations are set to meet again in Nations League action.
The first Ireland-Israel tie earlier this week became football’s most politically charged match amid calls for the Republic to boycott the fixture due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
While the fixture went ahead, Ireland’s players voted to wear black armbands to honour civilian lives lost in the conflict, lower their heads during the Israeli national anthem, and fail to exchange pennants as is custom during international ties.
Second goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu personally boycotted the match on ethical grounds with QPR defender Jimmy Dunne named as the third-choice ‘keeper on the team-sheet due to UEFA regulations.
Hallgrimsson has borne the brunt of questions around the fixture beyond football matters, but Irish press officers were forced to intervene in Backa Topola after he was first seemingly asked to comment on the Flydubai incident, which saw a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted amid an alleged hijacking by a co-pilot with ‘extremist views’.
‘What do you say about the people you support, the ideology is based on murder, just this week one of them tried to kill 100 Israeli passengers, 27 children. Innocent children and thousands of others,’ the first journalist managed, before being pulled up by Ireland’s press officer Kieran Crowley.
Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson ended his press conference early after an Israeli journalist accused his players of racism
Amid widespread calls for the fixture to boycotted from Irish fans, Ireland played the match but performed a number of gestures before the match
‘We are only concentrating on football questions today,’ said Crowley, before a second journalist asked a far more incendiary question.
The second Israeli journalist alleged that Ireland players had called their Israeli counterparts ‘monkeys’, prompting an immediate response from another press officer who said: ‘That is completely untrue. That is completely untrue’.
The press officer then attempted to take the microphone from the journalist who insisted that he was doing ‘his job’ and told him ‘you cannot take it’ in an attempt to keep hold of it.
‘They are not lying about it,’ the journalist insisted, while a representative close to Hallgrimsson called an end to the press conference and for the Irish media to follow him out for a separate media huddle.
‘You’ve just broadcast a lie,’ he said to the second journalist, who continued to state that he was entitled to ask the question in the open press conference.
Earlier in the press conference, it was confirmed that the Irish federation (FAI) had begun an internal investigation into allegations that their own player Adam Idah had been subject to racist abuse during the first tie from Israel fans.
An Israeli television reporter is believed to have then followed the manager into the hall to demand further access beyond UEFA’s pre-match agreement, but was blocked by a member of Ireland’s security team.
No UEFA delegate was present for the press conference.
Hallgrimsson later described the interruption to Irish media as a ‘verbal attack’.
The Israeli players had previously spoken out against their opponents following the first tie, with captain and West Ham star Manor Solomon alleging that Ireland had ‘said nonsense (to them) during the game.’
‘If I say what I think about them, I’ll probably be banned for a few games so I don’t want to say. Of course they hate us and we don’t like them,’ he continued.
‘I believe in ourselves that we can do it. I know who I’m with here, I know the players and the team, we will get out of this and get revenge for this.
‘I’m already looking forward to the next game against them, it’s going to be completely different. What they did with the anthem? I’m not interested in them, we have a country that is ten times better than theirs, stronger, an amazing country with amazing people.
‘We are proud to wear the national team’s shirt and be Israelis. We are proud of our country and our soldiers. (The Irish) can play all their tricks. We are Israelis and love the country. And that will always be the case.’
Sunday’s match will be played in the small Serbian town behind closed doors, but the fixture had initially been scheduled to take place in Dublin.
It was later moved after the threat of a boycott grew and after a friendly with Qatar in May was stopped twice when tennis balls featuring the Palestine flag were thrown onto the pitch.
While the match will be shown by RTE in Ireland, the broadcaster will again cut back its screening of the game with no studio punditry, no advertising and only using commentary from an international feed.
