FAI confident clamour over Israel will subside with EGM vote

Protest at FAI Headquarters in late February. Pic: Tom Maher/Inpho

The FAI board remain confident the Stop The Game clamour over the Israel games will subside by winning a vote at Wednesday’s emergency general meeting.

A motion by five co-proposers calling for a boycott of the Nations League fixtures was ruled out of order, prompting the board themselves to formulate a wording seeking approval to fulfil the games.

That proposal will be put to a secret ballot of the 145 eligible voters at 7pm, both by those in person at Lansdowne Road and connecting remotely online.

A simple majority is required to pass but a rejection by the floor, while not binding on the board to act, would threaten to make their 12 positions untenable.

The Stop The Game campaign are adamant the FAI should forfeit the matches in solidarity with the stricken population of Gaza and Lebanon.

Not only have Israel been found guilty of genocide in these areas but are breaching Fifa and Uefa statutes by playing on occupied Palestinian land.

After initially proclaiming their intention to stage the ‘home’ game of the series on October 4 at Lansdowne Road, their stance changed arising from a tennis-ball protest early in the friendly win over Qatar in May. 

Eventually last month, the FAI conceded defeat by nominating Bačka Topola in Serbia as the neutral venue but this hasn’t deterred the agitators.

The FAI’s fears over financial and football sanctions have been dismissed as unsubstantiated and scaremongering by those intent on ensuring Ireland take the unprecedented step of pulling out of the games on moral grounds.

Moving it instead is a measure the FAI are relying on to gain a supporting vote from the grassroots pillars they’ve been lobbying in the run-up to this critical juncture.