Sir, – The decision by the FAI and the Irish Government to support not only playing Israel – a state indicted for plausible genocide at the International Court of Justice – but to double down on playing in Dublin in October, is regrettable (“Ireland v Israel game confirmed for Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in October,” February 26th).
Little has changed for the better since October, 2025, when a “ceasefire” came into force, Since then, it feels like the eyes of the world’s media have turned away while over 600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza alone. This is in addition to the over 75,000 known dead, 56 per cent of whom were women, children and elderly (The Lancet, February 2026).
It is therefore either extraordinarily naive or politically cynical of Minster for Sport Patrick O’Donovan to say this country is in danger of “politicising young men who are going to turn up and play for their country”. He added that the Israeli football team and the Israeli government are separate entities.
Is he not aware that, because of mandatory service, all members of the Israeli football team have served in the Israel Defence Forces? Is he not aware that the state of Israel uses football to “sportswash” the ongoing atrocities in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank?
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Meanwhile, Israel has killed hundreds of Palestinian athletes, including members of Palestinian football teams. In January, 2024, Yarmouk stadium in Gaza (now destroyed) was used as a temporary jail for Palestinians. The list goes on and on while the atrocities mount.
While we nonsensically debate about separating sports from politics, Fifa president Gianni Infantino “honours” US president Donald Trump with a fictional peace prize and endorses Trump’s so-called Board of Peace.
Most Irish people, including Irish athletes and footballers, oppose playing Israel. Let us stand up and be counted and position ourselves on the right side of history. Surely this is the least we can do. We should not grovel at the greasy till of Uefa and Fifa. – Yours, etc,
Dr ALLAN MEE,
Kilmallock,
Co Limerick.
Sir, – There is a problem with perception regarding the upcoming soccer international between the Republic of Ireland and Israel.
It appears the FAI believe two groups of men chasing a ball is an important thing. Their fans might imagine that a tournament of men who chase balls is important.
If every soccer ball disappeared from Ireland, it wouldn’t impact my life in the slightest. The country is full of people like me – who cannot tell the difference between a soccer ball and a GAA football.
There are thousands of dead children in Palestine who don’t give a curse about the navel-gazing these Irish men engage in. Dead Palestinian children won’t have the opportunity to chase a ball again.
It’s a strange notion that men whose only skill is to chase a ball have become the focus of a moral dilemma. The FAI isn’t known for its moral authority, any more than Uefa is.
Everybody must realise that the ability to chase a ball is just that. Some people have a skill for cooking and cleaning, while these men have a skill for chasing a ball. There is nothing magical in it.
From now on, look at all professional football players as you would somebody who performs any task for a living and treat their activity without any unearned reverence. - Yours, etc,
SIOBHAN LYDON,
Wilton,
Cork.
