What does he put up on it? Pics of him giving out red cards with a caption saying take that you cunt?
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Heās one of these ref weirdos who thinks heās as relevant as the players. He goes on podcasts & promotes himself. Talking about his mindset, preparation etc.
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I donāt think the South Africa thing is a good comparison. They were banned from international sport as far as i know? People were choosing to go and play against them. Israel are actually in this competition. They obviously shouldnāt be but thatās a completely different issue. I do agree it would be an honourable decision for Ireland to make as a solitary country but there is definitely a very strong argument that literally the only thing damaged by it would be the Irish football team. And that the Israel team would actually benefit from it?
Would a complete boycott of the match by fans or a massive show of support for palestine at the match while also beating them on the pitch not achieve all the same goals of not playing them at all while also damaging them in a footballing sense.
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Do uefa have rules about political displays? If Ireland fans turned and waved Palestine flags and shouted free Palestine for 90 minutes would uefa fine us?
I also donāt think the south Africa or russia examples are different. In each case someone had to refuse to engage with them or play them first.
Are Israel any use? Itād be some disaster if they beat us.
Russia were in the World Cup and teams refused to play them.
Refusing to play Israel is the only thing that has a chance of making any impact.
If we work out what the point of the protest in not playing them is and what we hope to gain from it then we could see is there any other way of achieving the same thing or similar. Work together on it rather than people using it to lambaste the players or the fai who have been put in a very difficult position by something out of their control
I would have thought the point was obvious. Generally, you donāt stand to personally gain from protest, in most cases it requires some sacrifice.
I can see the merit of not playing the game but i think a completely empty stadium or a massive protest at the match would be more effective. With the added bonus that we might beat them in the match.
Whats the argument for forfeiting the match over the other two?
An empty stadium would mean fans banned from attending, whatās do you see as the use of that? Business as usual for Israel.
Are you asking whatās the argument for not playing Israel?
Iām asking the argument in favour and against three different options
A ā¦ pull out of the match completely
B ā¦ play the match but organise a complete boycott by Irish fans
C ā¦ play the match and have huge protests banners etc to send the message of what general public opinion is about Israel actions
It seems we are headed for C, id go for B
Iām pretty sure the arguments for and against playing the match are well rehearsed and clear, I donāt know why youāre asking for them again.
Ridiculously smug and cuntish
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How so?
I donāt claim to be all across thisā¦but I think itās correct we would forfeit both Nations League ties & be recorded as losing the games 3-0.
Itās a bit cynical really but the sporting implications are not as severe as usual as far as I can make outā¦the Nations League has been a fall back for teams that make a balls of their qualification groups (e.g., Sweden recently) but weāre one of 4 host nations for Euro 2028. As thatās more hosts than usual, UEFA has decided that only 2 spots are automatically reserved for hosts & the 4 nations will be part of the usual qualification group process (I think). But youād expect at least 2 of England, Scotland & Wales to qualify for a 24-team Euros so even if we make a balls of it ourselvesā¦we should have the host nation slot fallback. Long story shortā¦weāre not really relying on the Nations League fallback this time & it wouldnāt hurt as much to take a moral stand.
Iāve seen some chat about other potential implications for us with UEFA for backing out of the Israel games but it seems vague enough. Could they take Euro 2028 host status from us? Would we lose out on the central payments they distribute to their member nations for a period? Are there other fines/lost sponsorship/forgone media rights income that come into play? The FAIās financial position is precarious as usual, despite my best efforts to impose a fair but challenging set of financial & information covenants during my Bank of Ireland days. But I donāt know about all that for certain. Itās something Dan McDonnell, Gav Cooney & those lads need to devote some time to.
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Thereās an international court of arbitration for sport. Surely we could challenge any uefa decision in that.
He is closer to Messi than you are to him mate. He made that point on his podcast.
Imagine taking moral stand and actually qualifying as well. Could do like a half and half jersey.
From what I saw the lads throwing the tennis balls were getting dogs abuse in the stadium last night