Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson’s pre-match news conference ahead of Sunday’s Nations League Group B3 ‘home’ game against Israel in Serbia ended abruptly on Saturday after accusations were levelled at his players. The Football Association of Ireland’s head of communications, Kieran Crowley, brought the media event to a close after calling the allegations ‘completely untrue’.
For more than 11 minutes, Hallgrimsson had answered questions about the fixture. He revealed that Dara O’Shea, captain in place of the injured Nathan Collins, was not with the squad because his wife was due to give birth. O’Shea may arrive back in Backa Topola before Sunday’s 19:45 BST kick-off. Hallgrimsson also spoke about the strain of a four-game international window and reflected on Thursday’s 2-2 draw against Austria.
The mood soured as the first section of the conference, which is allowed to be broadcast live, was ending. One reporter tried to question Hallgrimsson about the incident on Wednesday in which a co-pilot attacked a pilot on a flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, before passengers managed to overpower the attacker and successfully take control of the plane. Another journalist asked about alleged racism by Irish players during last Sunday’s 3-0 win over Israel in Hungary. The news conference was then promptly brought to a close.
Minutes earlier, Hallgrimsson had insisted he would not be drawn on either matter and would not ‘get involved in that as others will process that’. ‘It is a game with a lot of emotions attached,’ he said. ‘I haven’t read anything and it’s not something I want to get involved with. It goes to a process, both in our department and with Uefa. Something was reported by both teams so I just hope we can focus on football and football will be the winner after this. I have not gone into details looking at this as I have enough to think about.’
The allegations of racism by an Irish player follow confirmation that the FAI is investigating reports of racist abuse directed towards Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah by Israel fans in Debrecen.
The Israel double-header has dominated discourse in Irish football during a challenging international window. Since the teams were drawn together in February, the pressure group Irish Sport for Palestine launched a ‘Stop The Game’ campaign to boycott the fixtures in protest of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war. Before last week’s ‘home’ game for Israel in Hungary, goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu withdrew from the fixtures, saying ‘it would be wrong to participate’, while a vote by players to play the games passed by a ‘significant majority’, according to FAI chief executive David Courell.
Protests took place during the game against Austria in Dublin on Thursday, with tennis balls thrown on to the pitch and a protester briefly interrupting the game when he ran on to the turf, waving a Palestine flag.
Hallgrimsson also revealed that the team have taken to a group prayer before leaving the dressing room before recent games ‘just to cool our heads before we go on to the pitch’. That has been led by midfielder Conor Coventry, whom he joked is now known within the squad as ‘Brother Coventry’. The manager said that under the circumstances, it will be ‘a big win for this group and the association if we go through undamaged’. ‘The most pleasing thing for me is to see the togetherness and how they stand up for each other,’ he said. ‘Whatever they have done, they have done it with respect to the situation, to each other and after this, this bond of brothers will be stronger than ever. All the obstacles this group will face in the future will be lesser than it is. When we look back, this camp will be a moment we grew the most and stepped up as leaders, supported each other and stuck together. The power of togetherness is stronger than individuals.’