Tommy Martin: The cost of taking a stand on Israel proved too high for FAI

The FAI will remain good little Europeans for the foreseeable future, turning up when they are supposed to and pocketing the resulting cheques.

Mascots hold a banner which reads "Stop killing children, Stop killing civilians" on the pitch ahead of the 2025 UEFA Super Cup final football match between Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) and Tottenham Hotspur FC (ENG) at the Friuli stadium, in Udine, on August 13, 2025.  Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images 

In general, any political stance taken is only worthwhile when it costs you something.

Just ask Vladyslav Heraskevych, the Ukrainian skeleton athlete who was disqualified from the Winter Olympics for wearing a helmet that commemorated athletes killed during the invasion of his country by Russia.