BACKA TOPOLA, Serbia — Ireland players again wore black armbands and bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem before the teams’ second Nations League soccer match on Sunday.
Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher stepped in as captain for Dara O’Shea – who was excused to be with his wife for the birth of their child – and he pointedly avoided shaking hands with Israel captain Dor Peretz, despite completing the usual pre-match formality with the referee and one of his assistants. Ireland went on to win that game 3-0 through three first-half goals.
Kelleher repeated O’Shea’s actions before the first match in Debrecen, Hungary last week, when O’Shea declined to shake Israel captain Manor Solomon’s hand.
Solomon was dropped to the bench for Sunday’s match in Backa Topola, Serbia. It followed the FAI’s own motion the previous November calling on UEFA to ban Israel from club and international competitions. Ultimately only reserve goalkeeper Gavin Bazuno decided to skip both of the contentious games, saying in a statement that it was his “personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong.
Israel forward Sayed Abu Farchi was back in the squad after serving a suspension for getting sent off following his goal celebration during Israel’s 3-1 defeat to Austria on Sept. 25.
Sunday’s game was initially supposed to be played in Dublin, but the Football Association of Ireland moved the game to a neutral venue for “operational reasons” in June following widespread calls for a boycott in protest of Israel’s actions in Gaza . The FAI said the game would be played with no fans present. On Saturday, an Israeli journalist stated during the pre-match press conference that the Irish players had called the Israeli players “monkeys” during last week’s game, leading to an immediate rebuke from Irish communications officer Kieran Crowley, who said it was “a lie” and ended the press conference.
All the Irish players had been under pressure from home, where affinity with Palestinians is strong, to boycott the second match against Israel, though they faced the greatest pressure before the first game.
