Ireland vs Israel - To play or not to play, that is the question Read OP for Mod Warning

You implied everyone would choose money over every other consideration. It proves it's simply not true.

The bigger picture here is this is this an organization that has mismanaged funding and he sport in general. They are what's brought it into debt. They've managed to take one of the most popular sports in the country and drive it into the ground. The whole organization should be on bread and water till it gets its own house in order.

But here again they are again begging with the hand out except now dragging the whole country into dubious ethics. Ireland is seen being corrupt and cowboy finances. No backbone.

@crossman47

There is a seam of anti semetism running through this country.

Which I find odd, if true, because there has never been a large population of Jewish people in Ireland to even really be noticeable. In the modern day, of the couple of thousand living here, I think the great majority's families have been in Ireland for a long enough time and are peaceable, productive members of their local communities and society in general. Unless this anti-semitism has arisen alongside a sympathetic feeling towards the Palestinians, I'm at a loss to think what it could possibly be about.

Anyway, the game should absolutely go ahead. This is just another case of a small number of activists making a disproportionate noise. If we want to stick it to Israel over their hideous treatment of Palestinians, I think it's a far better way to do it to take six points off them, which will hurt their chances of qualifying for future competitions because of going down in rankings and having a poorer Nations League result, which will also be less money for their economy.

Saying you have to play a game for money is having the hand out.

No one will die because a game of football doesn't happen... Whereas....

If the FAI boycotts, the singling out of Israel will be stuffed down our throats and they'll throw the book at us for being anti-semetic and racist. You cant invite a country like Qatar over and have no difficulties with the likes of DPRK, Afghanistan (we regularly play them in cricket!), Iran, Saudi (Horse Racing Ireland fawns over them).etc etc etc You either apply your "moral stance" equally or else you're a hypocrite or a racist.

So why no protests against the Qatar game this week?

Why no calls to stop HRI facilitating Saudi and many other dodgy dictatorships with taxpayers money?

Why no protests against Cricket Ireland?

I dunno what you think I said. But I meant Israel might have been provoked, and have some justification for defending itself originally. But it's gone way past that now.

after 66 pages on this topic … this is the most accurate assessment of the situation !

I think history has a lot to do with it.

Traditionally Catholics would have been anti-Semitic because of biblical history, and Ireland was a very Catholic country for centuries, so suspicious of Jews would always have been prevalent.

But in more recent history I think it has to do with an anti imperialist attitude.

This is why support for the Palestinian cause is so high amongst northern nationalists.

They see Israel as occupying Palestine the way Britain occupies the north.

This same is true but to a lesser extent in the south, but there is also a romantic support for the underdog in it, plus you have a mainly left leaning mainstream media who would favour the Palestinian cause.

The low level anti-American attitude in this country also adds to it, people love to criticize the US, especially when the POTUS is Republican, even though people are happy to take US multi national jobs, use US tech and go there on holidays.

The problem I have with it is that it lacks critical thinking.

People don't take much heed of what the Palestinian cause stands for, it stands for a society very different from the one we enjoy, and on the other side Israeli society is much more like ours.

I'm not sure that being a very Catholic country equals a suspiciousness of Jewish people being prevalent. Besides, the way we think of Ireland being a very Catholic country once upon a time with weekly mass attendance at least and the church being supreme in Irish life was really more of a modern development after the famine, and it's hard to imagine the syncretic folk-Catholicism practiced before that being big on suspicion of Jews. I mean, there was hardly one to be found throughout most of Ireland, anyway, to even be mad at.

The anti-imperialist thing makes more sense, though it would be nice if activists could remember once in a while that it's not just the Israeli government being evil in this way.

The FAI are past masters of looking after themselves of that there is no doubt.

Not playing one match will have little effect on Irish football. Not after the state the FAI. Have got it into.

If boycotts have no effect (there's a irony of claiming that in Ireland considering the history of the word). Then public boycotting the matches should have no effect either.

I feel sorry for the players are being left to fend for themselves here. That they are abandoned by the FAI, it should never have a player decision. Not least after years of terrible performances theres a glimmer of some appetite from the team.