It is hardly surprising that most international soccer team managers get irked or discomfited when politics enters the press conference room. Acknowledging the gravity and controversies associated with war and the breaking of international law while declaring helplessness is unlikely to satisfy many. Heimir Hallgrímsson, manager of the Republic of Ireland soccer team, has offered a variety of responses to the dilemma of playing Israel in the Nations League: “We are obviously focusing on the football side of things . . . it’s unfair for the players to be in this position and us to be in this position . . . We will respect the decision taken by the higher footballing authorities . . . I think the best answer for us is just to win this game . . . My opinion basically has no value in this.”

Oh for the days of a decade ago, he must be thinking, when he co-managed Iceland at Euro 2016 and they reached the quarter-finals by beating England, against all odds. Hallgrímsson embraced the resultant, raucous joy; the sound, wrote renowned football writer Amy Lawrence, “of a small nation spreading its wings”.

But must a small nation in competition only spread its sporting wings? The notion that sport and politics do not mix is risible; boycotts, sportswashing, money, power, and both national and international politics have always run through all sports.

It is no easy task to........

© The Irish Times