'Everybody supports Gav': Hallgrímsson insists Ireland squad united after Israel vote

Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson hopes the ordeal of the Nations League games against Israel will make the bond between his players stronger

Heimir Hallgrímsson: 'It's obviously a brave decision from Gav to do it. It was tough for us, and a lot of players, and we needed to react to that one.' Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Heimir Hallgrímsson insists he has a unified Ireland squad, admitting Saturday’s unprecedented ballot of players could have sent the group “either way”.

Right now, he declares, the squad feel that it’s “us against the world”.

Gavin Bazunu’s withdrawal from the panel on the eve of Sunday’s Nations League win over Israel, led to a vote among players that resulted in a 15-8 majority in favour of proceeding.

Hallgrímsson admits ahead of two remaining games in the window that division of opinion remains but not to the detriment of the team.

Stop The Game protesters are determined to disrupt Thursday’s game against Austria at Lansdowne Road before Ireland travel to the neutral territory of Serbia for the Israeli rematch on Sunday.

The Icelander became emotional late on Sunday night in Debrecen, Hungary when discussing the toll this turbulence has taken on himself and the players.

Nevertheless, with Bazunu returning to the squad for this game as back-up goalkeeper to Caoimhín Kelleher after being isolated in his hotel room, a workable truce is in place around the camp.

“It's definitely been testing, psychologically,” said Hallgrímsson about events surrounding the first game against a country found by an Independent United Nations report to have committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

“This is something that you can't take from a coaching or leadership course. You can't manufacture a situation like this.

“Sometimes when you are team-building, coaches make it us against the world. That’s kind of that position the players are in.

“And then when they go through this, the bond between them will become stronger or the problems in the future will seem lesser when they go through this.

“From a team-building perspective, this was something that could have gone either way.

“We got through this and hopefully we can use this to grow as a team in the future.” 

Depth of enmity towards facing the Israelis hasn’t dimmed among a rump of Ireland players. For the greater good, he notes, players with diametrically opposing views on the actions of Israel will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Sometimes, he suggested, holding polar opposite views means there are simply unworkable relationships.

Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson with Jake O'Brien at half-time Sunday's victory over Israel. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

“I think we all are uncomfortable, number one,” explained the manager.

“Number two, we have different opinions. And we should allow people to have different opinions.

“There's not one opinion that is right and all the others are wrong. We have different players in the squad that come from different backgrounds, so we need to be careful that everybody has a say in our decisions.

“But it's tough when there's different positions. Just like politics, some parties just can't work together.

“It's been amazing and I hope you see the tough times that the players have gone through and come out as winners.

“Because they want to represent their country, that's their desire. I hope everybody sees that.” 

Bazunu has attained hero status in Ireland for becoming the first player across international football to act with his conscience when it came to squaring up against the Israelis.

It’s certain that his name being announced over the public address system will be greeted with adulation but the manager hopes that the majority are not subjected to the opposite treatment by hardliners.

“I think both (sets) can come out as winners,” said Hallgrímsson. “It's obviously a brave decision from Gav to do it. It was tough for us, and a lot of players, and we needed to react to that one.

“Everybody supports Gav. I don't want him to feel bad about what he did.

“I don't think that about his decision. It was probably the timing.

“It would have been better for me as a coach that the decision came earlier, but when he told me this, he explained that overnight he changed his mind and didn't want to play.

“That is understandable. Nobody forces a player to play for us.” 

Hallgrímsson confessed he felt the momentum on Saturday was swaying towards a boycott by the players, threatening to leave him without a team to field.

“All the players all wanted to stay together like they decided in Kosovo,” he said about Dara O’Shea’s declaration of acting as one.

“They made a consensus about certain protocols before the game but this happening the next day made it a different dynamic in the group.

“Once the statement was out (to play), it was difficult for players. They were not together in the decision.”