Ireland legend accuses government of failing Heimir Hallgrímsson and players as Micheál Martin issues UN remarks

The Irish government has been accused of failing to support the FAI in the outrage over the upcoming games against Israel.

Ray Houghton had retired by the time some of his old teammates were due to face Yugoslavia in a Euro 2000 qualifier, while the Balkans were in turmoil.

But the hero of Euro ‘88 and the 1994 World Cup remembered how the government of the day stepped in and refused visas to the Yugoslav delegation, including players and coaching staff.

Ultimately that game, which had been pencilled in for June 1999, did not take place until later that year.

No such support has come from Leinster House this time around.

Instead, the two ministers responsible for sport - Patrick O’Donovan and Charlie McConalogue - have said that the games should be played.

Yet before the home fixture was moved from the Aviva Stadium to Backa Topola in Serbia, they both indicated that they would not attend it themselves.

And Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who was in the 1999 government, spoke yesterday at the UN where he criticised the Israeli FA’s attack on Heimir Hallgrímsson.

Too little too late, according to Houghton who, speaking to the Irish Irish Mirror, said: “I thought the government would have had more say in it, so that a decision could be taken at a higher level.

“I thought they would have had a little more input into the situation.

“Who it falls back on are the players. They are the ones that are out there. I hope they do get a bit of sympathy, because a lot of them, if not all of them, won’t really want to play it.

“It’s one of those ones, get it over with as quickly as you can and hopefully forget all about it.”

Houghton believes the players have been put in an “impossible” position.

“They are damned if they do and they are damned if they don’t,” he said, speaking on behalf of IrishBetting.ie. “It’s one of those things where the players have got to get on with their job.

“They are playing away from home, there’ll be no Irish fans and it’s a game that no one really wants, is it?

“If you ask the players honestly, they would probably say they don’t want to play either. But there is a commitment from the FAI to play it.

“I don’t know what would happen if they didn’t play it, how Uefa would sanction Ireland.

“I think it has been quite clear that the Irish public don’t want the game. Not everyone, but the majority.

“A lot of people say to the players, just don’t play. But it’s a really difficult one, a really difficult story to be a part of. I think the players have been put in a position that they don’t want to be in.”

Martin was speaking in New York, where he hit back at a social media post from the Israeli FA that said “unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed” by Hallgrimsson, when he remarked at the weekend that Ireland was playing “against genocide.”

The Taoiseach said: “I think those are unacceptable remarks. They should be withdrawn.

“I think [UN Chief] Antonio Guterres said that he had never in his lifetime seen the level and scale and death and destruction as he witnessed in terms of the Israeli government's war on Gaza in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attack in October preceding the war.

“Our manager is saying the exact same thing. And Israel can't keep denying what the world knows and what the world understands.”

Meanwhile, Amnesty International called the inclusion of Israel in the Nations League as “a betrayal of Palestinians, football's own rules and human rights.”

Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Europe said: “It’s unconscionable that the Israel men’s football team will participate in the UEFA Nations League this autumn despite clear evidence that Israel’s football association continues to support illegal settlements.

“Instead of sending a clear message that there is a cost for Israel’s unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and its atrocity crimes against Palestinians, UEFA is giving Israel an international stage as it maintains its brutal occupation of the OPT, its system of apartheid over all Palestinians, and its ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“UEFA and FIFA should have suspended the Israel Football Association (IFA) long ago, for its refusal to exclude clubs based in illegal settlements in the OPT.

“Their continued participation in the Israeli leagues is in brazen violation of FIFA’s statutes and is contrary to international law.

“As the money keeps flowing from FIFA and UEFA to the IFA, they risk contributing to the sustainability of illegal settlements and of Israel’s unlawful occupation of the OPT, and therefore Israel’s violations of Palestinians’ human rights.”