Irish rappers Kneecap are among the signatories of an open letter urging the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to call off the national team’s Nations League match against the abomination that is so-called ‘Israel’. The Ireland men’s team is due to play the genocidal land thieves in two fixtures later this year – September 27 for the away fixture, and October 4 in Dublin at the Aviva Stadium.
The West Belfast lads joined numerous other prominent figures who have put their name to the call from the Stop the Game campaign. Others making the morally straightforward case to abandon this endorsement of genocide and apartheid include Paul Weller, TD Frances Black, and left-wing Irish singer Christy Moore.
Former Ireland manager Brian Kerr is also backing the call to action.
We call upon you [the FAI] to refuse to participate in the two scheduled UEFA nations league games against Israel.
Firstly, on the basis of the clear and ongoing serious breaches of UEFA & FIFA statute regarding Israeli teams playing on occupied Palestinian lands. As a member of UEFA you have a duty to upload these rules if UEFA will not.
Sportswashing
Football infrastructure does not stand apart from the illegal web of land theft — sometimes referred to as ‘settlements’ — carried out by the Zionist terror regime.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement have pointed this out in the campaign against Reebok, who have decided to put an entire generation off buying their equipment by sponsoring the ‘Israel’ Football Association (IFA). The BDS campaign says:
The Israel Football Association includes six Israeli football clubs located in Israel’s illegal settlements built on Palestinian land occupied by the Israeli military. Israel’s settlements contribute to serious human rights abuses and are a direct cause for restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement, access to natural resources and ability to build homes and conduct business.
Together with Israel’s illegal wall, military checkpoints and Jewish-only roads, the settlements form part Israel’s occupation and apartheid infrastructure that systematically obstruct every aspect of Palestinian life, including the practice of sports.
The Stop the Game letter goes on to demand the FAI:
…respect the call to boycott the game by the majority of players, fans and communities across Ireland.
This is in reference to the 63% of Irish footballers who want the game to not go ahead, and the 75.6% of Irish football fans who feel the same way. The letter also points out that the FAI has already taken a stand against the illegitimate terror regime, referencing the:
…93% of FAI members [who] voted to instruct the Association to go to UEFA and call for Israel’s suspension under those statutes.
Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFAI) chair Roberto Lopes said:
We have to stop the game. As players and fans, our natural instinct is always to get out there and compete, but this is a moment where we need to look at the bigger picture.
We can’t ignore the humanitarian catastrophe in Palestine; the sheer loss of life there has to take precedence over any sporting consideration.
Ireland has an opportunity here to lead—to be a pioneer and do what others won’t. We need to be brave enough to say enough is enough. We can’t just stand by.
Please, stop the game.
No excuse for sharing a pitch with ex-IOF footballers
Former Palestine captain Imad Zatara called on Ireland’s players to use their power, saying:
The only thing I can say to them is not to play this game – and not just them. The TV viewers, the broadcasters, everything should be boycotted, because this has to stop.
No-one can do everything, but if everyone does something in their power – you have the power to not play the game, we have the power to not watch it, the TV channels have the power to not show it.
If, one after another, we all do our jobs, we can be stronger together. To just not play that game – that alone would be huge.
This is the basic template for any activism — no one can do it all alone, but mass collective action can compel authorities to change their stance. The responsibility to act falls even heavier on Ireland’s footballers, a relatively privileged cohort who have tremendous capacity to influence outcomes in this case.
They are certainly more privileged than the maimed and murdered footballers of Gaza. The butchers of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have murdered over 800 Palestinian athletes during their genocide in Gaza. While Ireland’s footballers are lucky to be at the peak of physical health, IOF brutality has ensured that over:
…6,000 adults and children have undergone amputations since October 2023, according to the WHO and Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Zionist entity has a policy of conscription for their criminal army. This applies to almost all citizens. It is unconscionable that anyone would take to the field against opponents that served in the IOF, and who may even have been involved in atrocities themselves. As the campaign’s name says – Stop the Game.
Featured image via the Canary
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