Israel’s national soccer team returned Sunday to the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, for its UEFA European Nations League “home” game against the Republic of Ireland.
The match came three days after Israel’s 3-1 defeat to Austria and amid controversy after Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Sayed Abu Farchi, after scoring a goal, made a celebratory gesture involving a corner flag that led to his sending-off.
On Saturday, however, the focus was almost entirely off the pitch.
Major internal drama within the Irish team raised questions over whether Ireland would refuse to play and boycott both Sunday’s match in Debrecen and its “home” match against Israel, scheduled for next Sunday behind closed doors in Serbia.
The Irish team did not participate in a scheduled training session and postponed a planned press conference before holding a closed-door crisis meeting involving the players, manager and Irish football officials. The meeting resulted in a significant majority of the squad voting to proceed with the game.
Subsequently, Irish goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu withdrew from the team and said that, as “a man of strong faith” trying his “best” to be a “man of character and principle,” he believed it was wrong “to participate” in the game.
Bazunu was one of Ireland’s reserve goalkeepers and was unlikely to have played. He cited as his reason a “personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong.”
Irish groups unsuccessfully push for Israel's removal from UEFA
The statement was subsequently embraced by Irish groups campaigning against Israel. For the previous seven months, these groups had unsuccessfully campaigned for Israel to be expelled from UEFA and for Ireland to boycott the matches.
Multiple protest marches, public meetings, demands from opposition politicians that the Irish government intervene to stop the games, and incessant social media pressure on Irish players had clearly contributed to internal divisions within the team.
The campaign also gained the support of a majority of Irish sports journalists and broadcasters, RTE, Ireland’s public-service broadcaster, Irish trade unions, human rights groups and all of Ireland’s opposition parties.
The same campaign continued in the background over the weekend, with efforts to prevent the Irish Wheelchair Association from participating in a European women’s wheelchair basketball tournament in which Israeli wheelchair athletes are competing.
Bazunu was subsequently praised by many of the groups campaigning against Israel. His decision was based, he said, on his opposition to the killing of innocent people. The campaigners’ response, however, came amid the continuing debate surrounding the October 7 massacre, the Nova Music Festival, where the dismembered body of 22-year-old Irish citizen Kim Damti was found, Hamas’s stated commitment to repeating October 7, and the thousands of missiles fired at Israel throughout the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Despite the controversy, the Irish team took to the field with determination after having lost 1-0 to Kosovo last Thursday.
As it became increasingly clear over the weekend that the game would take place, the groups campaigning against the match reacted angrily on social media and in public statements.
Prior to the game, the Irish team agreed to wear black armbands “for all lives lost in the conflict” and also agreed not to shake hands with Israel’s players.
At the team’s Saturday press conference, Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson, who had previously stated under pressure from campaigners that Ireland was “not playing with genocide, but was playing against genocide,” acknowledged that his reference to genocide was wrong. He also explicitly referred to the pressure being imposed on the team, describing it as having reached a near-breaking point.
Israel Football Association head of communications Sholomi Barzel welcomed the decision for the game to take place, saying that football had won. He also invited members of the Irish team to visit Israel as a learning experience.
Not everyone among the two teams was a stranger to the other side.
Most of Ireland’s players play for English Championship teams, and many have played against Manor Solomon, who previously played for Leeds United and this season plays for West Ham United.
Israel captain and goalkeeper Daniel Peretz is a teammate of Irish internationals Finn Azaz and Brian Manning at Southampton. Ireland assistant coach Paddy McCarthy works with Anan Khalaili, who recently transferred to Premier League club Crystal Palace.
Interestingly, Bazunu was Southampton’s Premier League goalkeeper last season before the team was relegated to the Championship, and he was subsequently transferred to Bolton Wanderers in League One.
The Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen was a dismal venue on Sunday night.
Debrecen's Nagyerdei Stadium nearly empty for Israel-Ireland match
A fine stadium with a capacity of 20,340, it was virtually empty, with approximately 200 Israeli supporters and about 20 Irish supporters in attendance. No tickets were acquired or sold by the Irish FA because of fears that anti-Israel protesters would disrupt the game. For the same reason, next week’s Ireland “home” game will be played without any spectators.
The small group of Irish supporters cheered on their team, while the much larger and considerably noisier group of Israeli supporters cheered on Israel.
As announced, the Irish players wore black armbands, and there were no handshakes either before or after the match. Israel’s players stood respectfully as Ireland’s national anthem was played. The Irish players bowed their heads and stared at their feet as Hatikvah was played.
Within 17 minutes of the game starting, Ireland led 2-0. After 25 minutes, it was 3-0.
Goals by Troy Parrott, Adam Idah and Jack Moylan reflected Ireland’s dominance, which continued throughout the first half.
The opening 20 minutes of the second half saw a significant improvement in Israel’s play, but it did not show on the scoreboard. The final score remained 3-0 as both teams made substitutions and the game gradually petered out.
In the dying minutes, Israel’s supporters repeatedly chanted “IDF, IDF.”
Meanwhile, back in Ireland, those campaigning against Israel took to social media to denigrate and vilify both the Irish team, despite its excellent first-half performance, and its Israeli opponents.
As this writer tweeted developments during the match, my X/Twitter feed was hit by a deluge of antisemitic hate originating from Ireland.
The campaigners will spend the coming week attempting to stir further hostility in the hope that Ireland’s team can be intimidated into boycotting next Sunday’s rematch.
They will not succeed.
Perhaps sanity and decency will ultimately prevail, with the Irish team shaking hands with their Israeli opponents both before and after the game and showing Israel’s national anthem the same respect that the Israeli team showed Ireland’s.