Suzanne Harrington: Footballers could learn from actions of Macklemore and Irish musicians
While Ed could have emerged from this heroically and created a cultural pivot, it’s been his support acts who have instead caused the pivot, says Suzanne.
I jumped the gun with this column, writing it an hour after reading Macklemore’s initial Instagram post about being kicked off the Ed Sheeran tour. Along the lines of, Oh Ed, with your red hair, and your Irish passport and your cultural identification as one of us. What a crushing disappointment.
About Ed’s terrible choice, and the terrible statement he made about being “apolitical” and how in an instant, he demolished his nice-guy vanilla vibe image. In 2026 nobody with a brain or a heart has the luxury of being “apolitical”.
Nice Guy Ed was suddenly resembling a mutant hybrid of the cowardly lion and the brainless scarecrow from , as his friend Macklemore began to look a lot like the lovechild of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Oh dear, Ed. Not a good look. Not very Irish at all.
Obviously, the real villain in this piece is the billionaire Zionist stadium owner and his scant regard for the First Amendment or the rights of children not to be bombed. Yet Robert Kraft’s attempt to cancel Macklemore has spectacularly backfired.
As the villainous Trump regime approves selling the super-villainous Netanyahu regime another $2.8bn worth of bombs, including, says , 40,000 of the highly destructive 2,000lb bombs they’ve been using to wipe out civilians — perhaps we should thank Robert Kraft for turning the Ed Sheeran debacle into an international talking point. All eyes on Palestine.
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The story raced ahead, further unfolding as the Irish people on Sheeran’s tour did a very traditional Irish thing — they collectively said no. They boycotted. We invented the boycott, and we have form. We boycotted South African oranges a long time ago, and now we’re boycotting genocide by not participating in cultural events that platform genocide, like the Eurovision.
Which means that billionaire Zionist stadium owners are discovering in real time that not all musicians can be bought or silenced. That they will choose principles over wages.
You’d almost feel sorry for gutless Nice Guy Ed at this juncture, and wary of the pile-on — he catastrophically mishandled it with his “I don’t take sides” drivel, but this does not make him Netanyahu-evil.
While Ed could have emerged from this heroically and created a cultural pivot, it’s been his support acts who have instead caused the pivot. Musicians without the bubble-wrap of Ed’s vast wealth, all walking away from well-paid work. Macklemore donating his tour fee to Palestinian frontline charities. That’s how you do it.
Which should surely encourage the Irish football team scheduled to play Israel in a few weeks to learn from the actions of their musician compatriots and walk away. Knowing that they will be respected forever by all of us if they do this — whereas if they play, even if they win, they will lose.
If they pull out, the whole of Ireland will rally behind them. No support for genocide, no matter what the score.
The players should never, ever have been put in this position, yet here we are. Just as it was down to the musicians on the Ed Sheeran tour, it’s now down to the footballers themselves.
So walk away with your heads held high, fellas, knowing that you will have forever done the right thing. You’ll go down in sporting history for all the right reasons.
And yes, we all know what Liverpool manager Bill Shankly said about football — that it’s more important than life or death — but it's unlikely he was including genocide in that. Walk away, guys.
Don’t play. Don’t play, don’t play, don’t play.
