On Sunday, in a stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, a country neither team calls home – Israel and the Republic of Ireland will play a UEFA Nations League match that has become more of a political spectacle, than actual Football match. Israel, barred from hosting matches on security grounds since October 2023, will be the “home” side in a Hungarian venue, with the Israel Football Association confirming a small allocation of its own supporters will be let in. The FAI, for its part, has ruled out any in-stadium access for travelling Ireland fans at either leg of this tie. Ireland’s reciprocal “home” fixture on October 4 has been moved entirely behind closed doors to a neutral venue in Bačka Topola, Serbia, with no fans of either side present at all. Two national teams, already dropping points in damaging opening games, and barely a crowd in sight at either ground. If UEFA wanted a tidy metaphor for how thoroughly politics has swallowed this fixture and Football as a whole, it could not have designed one better.

The immediate trigger was Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson’s remark, on naming his squad, that none of his players felt comfortable facing Israel and that Ireland would be “playing against genocide,” not “playing with” it. The Israel Football Association’s reply was blunt, accusing him of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy,” and adding on social media that it had contributed Nobel laureates to humanity but had found no cure for the affliction its coach represented. It is the word “hypocrisy” worth sitting with – because the accusation, thrown at the IFA by critics, is exactly the one that collapses under scrutiny once you look at who Ireland, and international football generally, is actually willing to share a pitch with.

Furthermore, the strain inside the Ireland camp itself has been real, not rhetorical. A scheduled training session and press conference in Debrecen were abruptly postponed on Saturday after goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu told Hallgrímsson he did not want to play either fixture against Israel. What followed was a four-hour players’ meeting at the team hotel before a majority voted to fulfil the games as scheduled. Bazunu was the only squad member to withdraw. In a statement, the Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper said his decision rested “purely” on a belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong, and stressed that his stance was “not in opposition to the Israeli people or the Jewish community, but against the atrocities in the region.” The FAI has confirmed the Ireland squad will wear black armbands for lives lost in the conflict, decline the customary pre-match handshake and pennant exchange with their Israeli counterparts, and skip media duties around both fixtures. With match-fee proceeds from the Austria game in........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)