Petition launched calling on Football Association of Ireland to boycott Israel
A petition has been launched calling on the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to boycott Israel.
Following yesterday’s draw placing Ireland and Israel together in Group B3 of the UEFA Nations League , alongside Austria and Kosovo, People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy is calling for a boycott. He is urging the FAI to demand Israel’s expulsion from all UEFA and FIFA competitions.
The call follows an overwhelming vote at the FAI’s Congress, where delegates mandated the Association to formally seek the suspension of the Israel Football Association from UEFA competitions. That motion passed 74-7, which Cllr Reddy said reflects “the clear and democratic will of FAI members and grassroots football organisations across the country.”
“Despite this, UEFA has refused to act, and the FAI has indicated it will proceed with scheduled fixtures unless UEFA changes its position,” he said.
“Israel is not a normal state and should not be treated as one in international sport,” said Councillor Reddy. “It is a state currently carrying out genocide in Gaza, a settler colony that is built on ethnic cleansing, apartheid and systemic racism. Sporting bodies cannot claim neutrality while normalising crimes of this scale.”
Cllr Reddy said that when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Poland refused to play, joined by other national associations, and within days FIFA and UEFA were forced to suspend Russia from international football , which he believes sets a “clear international precedent.”
“The question now is whether it applies those principles consistently,” he argued.
“Ireland’s own history of colonialism and national liberation makes the issue unavoidable. Huge numbers of people across Ireland have mobilised continuously since October 2023 in solidarity with the Palestinian people. It would be completely wrong for a national sporting body to act in defiance of that democratic and moral reality.”
The petition also calls on Austria and Kosovo, Ireland’s other group opponents, to refuse to play Israel and to apply collective pressure on UEFA to act, as national associations have done successfully in the past.
“Sport does not exist in a vacuum,” Councillor Reddy said. “It either upholds human dignity or helps launder atrocities. The FAI already knows what the right position is, its members voted for it. Now it needs to act on it.”
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