Jason Knight has become the first Republic of Ireland player to publicly state his opposition to playing Israel on Sunday. The Bristol City midfielder, who made his Republic debut in 2020 and has 44 caps, spoke after the Republic’s 1-0 defeat by Kosovo in Pristina on Thursday.
The sides are due to meet in Debrecen, Hungary at 19:45 BST on Sunday, with the return fixture scheduled for Backa Topola, Serbia on 4 October. Since they were drawn together in Group B3, calls in Ireland for the team to withdraw from the games have increased because of the ongoing war in Gaza, and a ‘Stop The Game’ campaign has gathered pace. Sunday’s ‘home’ game against Israel will have no Irish fans in attendance, while the following week’s match is due to be behind closed doors.
Before the Kosovo defeat, Republic stand-in skipper Dara O’Shea confirmed the players would meet on Friday to discuss their approach to Sunday’s game. Knight said after the match: “Look, it’s difficult, the manager, and Dara, and Nathan [Collins] spoke well about it, I don’t think the game should be going ahead but it is going ahead.” He added that the squad would have a deeper talk about what it means, get their thoughts as a group and go from there.
Knight described the situation as a difficult one and said it was big talk in Ireland. He said he had been focusing on his football in England in the Championship, but knew this was coming and had thought about it. He added: “We had chats about it with the players, and more senior players on what the step will be.” He continued: “Now we’re here, we can have a really in depth talk of what that means and what the consequences are. We’ll do that [on Friday] and go from there.”
On his personal approach, Knight said: “I am quite experienced. None of us have gone through this scenario before but I’d like to think I’m experienced, thick skin and can get through most things and that is what I will try and do.” He said he would try to focus on the football as much as possible, and would give his view and thoughts when he sees fit.
The backdrop to the fixture includes the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken. In response, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza, during which more than 73,000 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.