FAI warned Ireland vs Israel security failure would 'reflect badly on the State', records show

A summary of FAI CEO David Courell's call states: 'FAI notes that.... there are multiple ways in which to disrupt/protest the game, and that a security failure around October 4 would reflect badly on it and on the State'. File picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive David Courell warned that a “security failure” at the Ireland vs Israel game would “reflect badly on the State”, as he insisted that a decision on how the game should proceed “should not be solely for the FAI to determine”.

Ahead of the decision to relocate the game from Dublin to Serbia, Mr Courell warned the Department of Sport that the Israeli Football Association was failing to secure “suitable” hotel accommodation in Dublin.