It seems to be an immutable rule that those in seemingly unassailable power will eventually overreach.
In the end, hubris gets all of them.
In 1955, the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, probably felt fairly confident that his call for the friendly match between the Republic of Ireland soccer team and Yugoslavia to be boycotted would be obeyed.
The prospect belt of the Crozier was enough for Radio Éireann, the national broadcaster, to pull out.
Despite all that, the game went ahead, and Dalymount Park had an impressive 21,000 in attendance to see the godless communists win 4-1.
Many historians look back at that controversy and see it as the early signs of fissures in the cultural power of theocratic Ireland.
Today all is changed, changed utterly.
What we in modern Ireland have NOT abandoned is the memory of being invaded, colonised and dispatched.
Consequently, our solidarity with the people of Palestine is authentic, heartfelt and non-negotiable.
Last night, Richie Sadlier on RTE spoke for many of us.
The tennis ball disruption was, in my view, proportionate and justified.
It cannot be business as usual with Israel.
All analogies fail, but the comparison with how many reacted to South Africa in the 1970s and 80s is appropriate in the circumstances.
Those of us who were around and active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement were on the right side of history.
If the scheduled match on October 4th in Dublin against Israel, an apartheid state that is currently carrying out a genocide, goes ahead, then it will be a stain on this place.
As the world looks at the crisis in the Persian Gulf, the Zionist state is pushing ahead with their plans in Gaza.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) ‘s arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024 is a bit of a clue.
It will be for historians to look back and gauge what could have been done to stop this genocidal state from projecting their racial theopries in full view of the world in the digital age.
Moreover, was the slaughter there the seminal moment when the world shouted ENOUGH!
I hope that there isn’t a footnote in future books on the Gaza genocide noting that the Republic of Ireland played a soccer match with Israel in October 2026.
Bill Shankly was wrong; some things are MORE important than football.
Like matters of life and death.
STOP THE GAME!
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Unfortunately, the game can’t be called off as it is a competitive fixture so the consequences for the Irish national team and association would be Draconian.
I would rather this game was not played, just like any other right minded person, but if the game does go ahead then it should either be boycotted by all Irish fans or every fan should take in a Palestinian flag to show the world what we think of Israel and their Gaza genocide.
Please do not misinterpret this pragmatism for support for Israel as I thoroughly condemn this genocidal regime, which should have been ostracised from the sporting community along the lines of apartheid South Africa long ago.
After the WWII ‘Holocaust’, Israel was accorded the semi-religious status of “untouchable” (And rightly so !) They have now turned that status into their own Genocidal Megalomania that Hitler himself would have been proud of ! The righteous disgust, horror, sympathy, and condemnation that the world showed after the ugly facts were known, should now be directed squarely back at Israel: If any Country should deplore these wrong doing, surely it should be Israel themselves !
Sport should never interfere with politics, unless the politics interfere with sport.
South Africa stopped blacks from playing in the national teams, that’s why they were banned .
Until Israel bans Palestinians from playing they should be treated as just another sporting team, nothing more and nothing less.
How the EU continues to allow and enable trade with a failing statelet such as Israel is beyond any human rights based democratic understanding.
I don’t know who that guy Richie is, but that was well said. Such a discussion would never be broadcast on BBC, STV, Sky or TNT. So we’ll done to RTE.
Yeah I agree, call the game off.