Over 160 athletes sign letter calling on Irish soccer team to boycott Israel games

The games are scheduled to take place on September 27 and October 4, with both matches being played in neutral venues in Hungary and Serbia.

The letter tells the Irish football players that the movement is “bigger than sport” and that “not playing the game would be the most sporting thing you could do”.

“We also know what it takes to uphold the values of sport and act with fairness, equality, and respect, which is why we call upon you, as a team, to refuse to participate in the two games against Israel,” it adds.

Irish manager Heimir Hallgrimsson said that members of his 26-man squad were “really uncomfortable playing the game”.

But he said the attitude amongst the players seemed to be that they didn’t want to be the only ones to withdraw.

The open letter tells the Irish football team: “Putting on the Irish jersey and representing your country means something. But the Ireland we want represented is the one that remembers its roots in anti-colonial and anti-imperial resistance.”

The letter was issued on Monday and was organised by Irish Sport for Palestine, which launched the “Stop The Game campaign” when Ireland and Israel were placed in the same Nations League group.

In June, Sinn Féin had a motion in the Dáil calling on the Government to urge the FAI to refuse to participate in any game against Israel, and to agree to cover the cost of any financial penalty issued.

Two days later, the FAI requested that the games be played in a neutral venue, which was agreed by Uefa.

The League of Ireland club, Bohemians, released a video in June expressing their support for the “Stop the Game” campaign with the phrase “We are not willing to sportswash genocide” used throughout the course of the video.

Ireland’s first game of the Nations League campaign will begin against Kosovo on September 24, before the first tie against Israel on September 27 in Hungary.

The reverse fixture against Israel will be played in Serbia on October 4.