'Nothing has changed' - Ireland prepare to face Israel again in Women's EuroBasket qualifier

Ireland women’s head coach James Weldon also commented on how the FAI have handled a similar situation.

REASSURED: James Wheldon admits he was reassured by the FAI’s handling of their upcoming clash with Israel having gone through something similar

James Weldon admits he was reassured by the FAI’s handling of their upcoming clash with Israel having gone through something similar with his Ireland Women’s Basketball team recently.

The Republic of Ireland football team’s pairing with the Israelis in their Uefa Nations League group led to numerous calls to boycott the fixtures, although the FAI admitted that would lead to "serious consequences" which would "materially harm the long-term sporting interests of Irish football".

Instead, the FAI insisted they will fulfil the two fixtures with the away game set for September 27 at a venue yet to be confirmed before the Boys in Green host the return clash at the Aviva Stadium on October 4.

But before all that transpired, the Ireland Women’s Basketball team were placed in a similar situation last year when they were drawn to meet Israel in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2027 qualifiers.

The away game was initially scheduled to take place in Israel, but Basketball Ireland confirmed in a statement that they would only play it if it was held at a neutral venue following an “extensive deliberation with various stakeholders” over the possibility of their own boycott.

Ireland would lose that game narrowly 93-86 in Riga, Latvia with the return game now also taking place in the Latvian capital next Tuesday on St Patrick’s Day.

“It's a matter for the FAI,” said Weldon, whose team will first travel to Luxembourg and Bosnia in their bid to secure a top two finish in the group in order to go through to the second round of qualifiers, although the three best-ranked third-placed teams, where Ireland currently reside, will also progress.

“Looking at how the FAI have handled the situation so far, there's a lot of similarities to how we have dealt with it and that's a little bit reassuring for us as well.

“I'm not privy to what way the FAI are thinking or wouldn't claim to be, but I assume there's probably a lot of pressure on the FAI to fulfil the game.

“It's a difficult position. Where we are right now, we have to just totally focus on Luxembourg.

“Luxembourg did us over in Dublin and we were trying to settle that score. I think we really just have to focus on that.

“Of course, it's a similar situation but the FAI have their own people, and they'll handle it their own way.

“We just got together last night and look, we obviously would have done some preparation work in advance of it.

“We have played those games two or three times now at this stage and we haven't really talked about any kind of different approach to it.

“We understand nothing has changed with the penalties and the requirements. It's a game that must be played and it’s a game that we'll be targeting a win.

“We came very, very close the last time so hopefully we can go one better this time around.”