Celtic defender Liam Scales has found himself in the middle of a modern football controversy. The issue stems from Ireland’s deeply contentious Nations League meetings with Israel. On Saturday, events took another dramatic turn after goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu told his international team-mates he does not want to participate in the fixtures and a vote was believed to be held on whether to fulfil the fixture.
The Irish Times reports that Bazunu made his position clear during squad discussions in Debrecen, with other players understood to have considered following his lead. Saturday’s scheduled press conference and training session were subsequently delayed while discussions continued within the Irish camp.
It was later confirmed that the game would go ahead after a vote was held amongst the players with the majority voting to play the game. This means that Scales will likely be involved against Israel despite the strong feeling from Ireland about the game.
The FAI has already pushed UEFA to take action against Israel and has acknowledged the considerable strength of feeling within Irish football. However, UEFA’s refusal to suspend Israel has left the association facing potentially serious sporting and financial consequences should Ireland unilaterally refuse to fulfil the fixtures.
Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson has also spoken forcefully about the situation in Gaza, prompting an angry response from the Israel FA. Meanwhile, more than 160 Irish sportspeople have supported calls for the national team not to play.
The players have voted to play and could receive some backlash for noting supporting their teammate, who voiced his concerns. Given the delays, it is clear that a number of players also felt the same about the fixture but there has only been one withdrawal.
Bazunu subsequently decided that he would be withdrawing from the camp, such was his desire not to face Israel and take a stand against what is happening in Palestine and the West Bank.
Ireland are scheduled to face Israel in Debrecen on Sunday before meeting them again in Serbia on October 4, with the latter fixture moved from Dublin and being staged behind closed doors.
For a country where opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza has become particularly pronounced, Irish football finds itself caught between UEFA obligations and an increasingly powerful demand at home that sporting business should not simply continue as normal.
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7 Comments
I hope Liam Scales has a real good think about the consequences of his actions if he participates in this game.
Considering the amount of support the Palestinian cause has in the seats at Celtic Park he may just come to regret his decision !
Exactly
Well done the Irish team football is about sport it’s not political. Where does it stop if some team disagrees with some government. Play the game.
If thats the case joe,please explain to me why Russia were banned by UEFA so quickly after their invasion of Ukraine and Israel are still allowed to compete during a genocide.
I’m pleased to hear they are playing this game. Geopolitics has no place sport.
Johnbhoy,
The reason Russia was banned by EUFA is because the EU and Nato provoked the war between Russia and Ukraine, beginning as far back as 2014 when their agents, including from the US, orchestrated a civil uprising in Ukraine to overthrow the democratically-elected President who favoured relations with Russia over the West. The replacement President naturally chose to lean towards joining the EU and NATO, a move which would have threatened Russia’s borders and split a centuries-old alliance with Ukraine. The alliance was so old and strong that Kiev was once the capital of Russia, and Ukraine has a vast Russian population. Anyway, Ukraine has since been used as a proxy for an EU/NATO war against Russia, with Zelenskyy, a former drag artist, playing the part of the “useful idiot”, to quote Stalin of all people.
It’s also worth pointing out that Russia and Ukraine had actually reached a peace agreement before this war kicked off, but Boris Johnston went to Ukraine personally and told Zelenskyy not to sign it, promising vast military supplies from the West, which our tax money pays for, to fight Russia. I wonder what his motives for that were?
You really should do some research and not allow yourself to become a victim of MSM propaganda. Why do you think they won’t let us hear the Russian side of the argument on our news channels? Anyway, a conservative estimate of around 2 million Russians and Ukranians have thus far died in this EU/NATO orchestrated war, far greater numbers than those said to have perished in Palestine at the hands of Israel. We need to put this in perspective. But while the world blames Russia and Israel, who, by the way, are not wholly blameless, Red China is taking over the entire globe and everyone wants to be its friend.
China was responsible for the COVID outbreak, let’s not forget, a virus which the American Senate has since declared to have been almost certainly created in a Chinese lab as part of its bio-weapons programme. We need to stop straining on the gnat while swallowing the camel! At any rate, none of this geopolitical garbage belongs in sport.
Tin foil hats all round
Ive traveled a lot.
The very worst of people I encountered were Israeli and Russia. Puten is a dog and Netanyahu is the very worst of humanity. Sport and politics dont mix well but they do mix.
I suppose you want MAGA.
Donald got involved in the world cup. Was that ok.
I love that my club makes a stand
It’s not “tin foil hats” for your comment, it’s dunces hats. By the way, it’s Putin, not “Puten”. Coincidentally, Hitler thought exactly the same about Jewish and Russian people. And yes, I would love a British form of MAGA, and lots of other British patriots feel exactly the same. I’m sick of Communists and liberals running our country into the dirt.