On match days, Peadar Browns pub in Dublin’s historic Liberties area is usually jam-packed with football fans piling in to watch the game on various screens.
asserted
fans → pile → screens
As kickoff approached in the Republic of Ireland’s Nations League game against Israel on Sunday, there was a similarly busy crowd.
asserted
kickoff → approach → Sunday
The pub has made a deliberate decision not to show the game tonight in protest against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
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pub → make → Gaza
“We committed about a month ago not to show any of the upcoming Nations League fixtures until Ireland made a stand against Israel,” says owner Aidan Brown.
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Brown → commit → Israel
“We didn’t show the Kosovo game, and we’ve absolutely no intention of showing the Israel games.”
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we → show → games
Brown has been compiling a list of venues refusing to screen the match.
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Brown → compile → match
At his last count, it included 140 pubs and bars in Ireland and abroad.
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it → include → Ireland
He expected the number had risen before kickoff as tumultuous events within the Ireland team reverberated around the country.
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events → expect → country
Ireland, a staunch and long-standing ally of the Palestinian cause, has been thrust into the global spotlight over whether the team will play the two scheduled games against Israel.
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team → stand → Israel
Brown compares the atmosphere in Dublin to one of the most enduring sporting dramas in modern Irish history.
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Brown → compare → history
“I think this is just as big as Saipan and the Roy Keane saga in 2002,” he says.
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he → think → 2002
Saipan became a national drama when Ireland captain Roy Keane left the 2002 World Cup squad in Japan after a confrontation with manager Mick McCarthy over training facilities.
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Keane → become → facilities
In Derry, in the north of Ireland, Liam Doherty, another pub owner refusing to show the game, describes a similar sense of mobilisation.
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Doherty → refuse → mobilisation
“It has to come from the bottom up, and it has to come from a small nation,” says the owner of the Delacroix bar.
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owner → have → bar
“I think that we have to be the one that shows that this is just wrong.”
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this → think → ?
Rebecca O’Keeffe, chair of Irish Sport for Palestine, which has led the Stop the Game campaign, says the past week has shown just how far that mobilisation has spread.
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mobilisation → lead → campaign
“It’s a mass movement,” she says.
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she → ’ → ?
“It’s reached corners of Ireland that maybe wouldn’t have been engaged with this issue before.
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that → reach → issue
It’s all people can talk about.
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people → ’ → ?
It’s not unanimous, but Irish public opinion is clearly against tonight’s fixture taking place.
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fixture → ’ → place
A poll of Irish football supporters found 76 percent opposed to the match going ahead.
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match → find → supporters
Among athletes, 63 percent of members of the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland voted against playing the game.
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percent → vote → game
But that groundswell of public sentiment has been ignored by those in charge of the sport in the country, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
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groundswell → ignore → Ireland
In November, 93 percent of FAI members voted for the association to seek Israel’s suspension from UEFA competitions.
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association → vote → competitions
Yet when the FAI voted in July on whether the Republic of Ireland should play Israel, it chose to proceed with the fixtures.
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it → vote → fixtures
The motion passed 75 votes to 32, with three abstentions.
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motion → pass → abstentions
The FAI cited the consequences non-fulfillment could have for Irish football, such as potential points deductions.
uncertain
fulfillment → cite → deductions
Daniel Lambert, the Bohemian FC chief commercial officer who helped propose the original November motion, says the sequence explains much of the anger towards the FAI.
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sequence → propose → FAI
“It’s been mishandled from the very first day by the FAI,” he says.
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he → mishandle → FAI
“The November vote was a very clear instruction from the membership, but they never really entertained not playing the games.”
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they → entertain → games
Lambert argues that the FAI also failed to recognise what it could have gained by taking a stand.
uncertain
it → argue → stand
“There are huge benefits to not playing,” he says.
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he → be → ?
“Not only would it have the support of the Irish people … this would have enhanced the FAI’s reputation, not damaged it.”
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this → have → it
Susan Shalabi, vice president of the Palestinian Football Association, believes the buck stops even higher up.
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buck → believe → Association
“The deeper issue is that the FAI and many others should never have been placed in this position,” she told Al Jazeera.
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she → place → Jazeera
“Had football’s international governing bodies [FIFA and UEFA] consistently applied their own rules, this dilemma would not exist.”
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dilemma → apply → rules
Instead, the decision has been left not with the governing bodies, but with the Irish players themselves.
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decision → leave → players
Earlier this week, more than 160 Irish sportspeople signed an open letter calling on the squad to boycott the fixtures.
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sportspeople → sign → fixtures
Team coach Heimir Hallgrimsson said some players were “really uncomfortable” playing, while midfielder Jason Knight said the games should not be happening.
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games → say → ?
Then, on Saturday, the fault line inside the squad became public.
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line → become → squad
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
