Kathriona Devereux: Our soccer heroes must take a stand and boycott Israel games

‘Come on you boys in our green army

This one’s for humanity

Stand up strong and toe the line

Side by side with Palestine

And boycott the Israeli football team’

Sung to the tune of Put ’Em under Pressure (We’re All Part Of Jackie’s Army), these lyrics rang out across the Grand Parade at the weekend.

Local singer and activist Martin Leahy reworked the song and iconic ‘Olé, Olé’ chorus to ‘Don’t play, don’t play, don’t play, encouraging Irish soccer players to boycott the forthcoming international matches between Ireland and Israel.

#StopTheGame is a campaign of Irish football supporters, players, coaches and administrators opposed to genocide, calling for Ireland to refuse to play Israel on September 27 and October 4.

In May, fans disrupted the Ireland v Qatar friendly in the Aviva Stadium, by throwing tennis balls wrapped in ‘Stop the Game’ stickers onto the pitch to send a strong message to the Football Association of Ireland that the fixtures between Ireland and Israel must be cancelled.

Last year, 93% of FAI members voted to call on UEFA to suspend Israel from international fixtures. Despite calls to show Israel the red card, the country has not been suspended, and so Ireland is faced with the unpalatable prospect of sharing the pitch with Israel in 12 days.

A survey by the Irish Football Supporters Partnership found 76% of fans opposed the games, while a survey of the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland found 63% of players said Ireland should not play the fixture. The signs suggested boycotting would be the obvious choice. Apparently not.

In the face of widespread condemnation, and the threat of inevitable disruption if held in Ireland, the decision was taken to hold the matches behind closed doors in ‘neutral’ venues in Hungary and Serbia. No fans, no crowds in the stadium. RTÉ won’t be sending a commentary team.

Back in February, in a letter to general assembly members, FAI president Paul Cooke said the board could not take a decision which would leave the FAI exposed to “severe sporting, financial, and reputational sanctions.”

“From a footballing perspective, a decision not to play would have serious consequences. It would result in the forfeiture of six points, could lead to relegation to League C of the Nations League, and would damage our seeding for Euro 2028 qualification as well as our overall FIFA ranking. Such outcomes would materially harm the long-term sporting interests of Irish football,” Cooke wrote.

So, there you have it, six points, relegation, seeding for Euro 2028, and the long-term sporting interests of Irish football are more important than refusing to play a country carrying out a genocide in full view of the world.

What about the material harm to the long-term interests of Gazans?

At another Grand Parade protest, players’ names were called out and the crowd beseeched them to not play. “Caoimhín Kelleher - Don’t Play!” “Troy Parrott - Don’t Play” “Chiedozie Ogbene - Don’t Play” were the call and response chants. The crowd heard how the FAI has placed Irish players in a very difficult position by proceeding with the fixture despite opposition.

Even though Israel is almost three years into a genocidal campaign, the FAI expects Irish players to stand and listen to the national anthem of Israel and push from their minds the fact that nearly 75,000 people have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Ignore that more than 20,000 of those dead are children. While listening to Amhrán na bhFiann, they must forget that more than 43,000 Palestinians have sustained life-changing injuries, 6,000 amputations. Just shake hands and get on with the match.

As one of the homemade posters at the weekend’s protest said, ‘I Can’t Believe I Have to Protest a Genocide’, but in 2026 ordinary citizens and football supporters must take to the streets to say, unequivocally, that an Irish team should not play a match against an Israeli team because to do so would be to partake in ‘sportswashing’ and be perceived to condone a country’s genocidal behaviour.

#StopTheGame campaigners are urging Irish players to do their research. To listen to their moral conscience.

In the past, we were a bit more black and white about right and wrong. In 1999, the then government prevented a Euro 2000 qualifying match between Ireland and Yugoslavia from taking place, because of Serbian atrocities in Kosovo.

In the 1980s, Irish rugby players took principled positions against South Africa’s apartheid system and boycotted tours there.

More recently, in 2022, FIFA and UEFA banned Russia from all club and international games, after Poland and Sweden refused to play World Cup qualifiers with the team.

It feels harsh to focus such sharp attention on the young shoulders of our national soccer team; they just want to play football.

But they represent our country, and as a nation we are now relying on them to communicate Ireland’s condemnation of Israel’s actions and strong support and solidarity with the Palestinian people on an international stage.

SIPTU has draped a giant banner on Liberty Hall in Dublin that says ‘Go with your conscience. Don’t play ball with Genocide’.

The majority of Irish football supporters are imploring the Irish soccer team to be real heroes - not just the type that score last-minute goals - and show young Irish fans, and all of us, that standing up against bullies is always the right thing to do.