FAI to call Egm on July 8 to debate Israel games

POLITICAL FOOTBALL: A protester at FAI Headquarters. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher

The FAI will call an emergency general meeting for Wednesday, July 8 but the motion to be balloted upon is unlikely to be a boycott of the Israel fixtures.

Since a coalition of General Assembly members lodged a motion almost a fortnight ago, correspondence has been exchanged from the FAI board about the thrust of the meeting.

Initially the motion was deemed out of order due to questions around FAI membership and it now appears that the board will put their own motion to the floor seeking affirmation of their position.

Their stance from staging the October 4 game in Dublin altered in the aftermath of a tennis ball protest during the May friendly against Qatar.

They subsequently confirmed on June 8 the switching of the fixture to a neutral venue, behind closed doors.

This was approved by Uefa and the FAI have sourced a venue abroad, assessed and passed by their own logistics team.

It remains to be seen if this measure will be sufficient to gain the necessary 51% majority from the 145 eligible GA members to close off the issue.

The Stop The Game movement are, however, adamant that both matches - the away likely in Debrecen a week earlier - shouldn’t be fulfilled by the Irish teams on the basis of Israel’s genocide in Palestine.

Regardless of the outcome, the decision is non-binding on the FAI board and executive.

That point was highlighted by chief executive David Courell in his townhall speech to staff earlier this week.