The FAI has issued a statement in response to disingenuous claims by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation ahead of the Ireland U17's clash with Israel in a Women's European Championship game on Friday.
Ireland faced Israel in the second game of their League B group, with the game hosted in Tirana in Albania.
Ahead of the game, the national broadcaster of Israel, the IPBC, shared a photo on X/Twitter which purported to show their opponents Ireland turning their back during the playing of the Israeli national anthem.
שחקניות הנבחרת האירית הפנו את גבן לנבחרת הישראלית במהלך נגינת ההמנון הישראלי, במשחק כדורגל של מוקדמות אליפות אירופה של נבחרת הנערות של ישראל נגד אירלנד שנערך באלבניה@YoavBorowitz pic.twitter.com/9hak42Jtww
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 23, 2024
An Israeli journalist, Elad Simchayoff, also tweeted the photo, saying:
Ireland national sports teams continue to show lack of moral clarity as well as lack of sportsmanship. This time, the U17 girls football team turning their backs while the Israeli national anthem was being played.
Asaf Ackerman, another Israeli sports broadcaster, shared the photo saying that "this isn't respect."
The FAI have denied that the Ireland U17s made any attempt to "turn their back" on the Israel team.
READ HERE: FAI Say Positive Progress Made On Potential Palestine Football Friendly
FAI clarify controversy from Ireland U17s clash v Israel
An FAI spokesperson said:
The Football Association of Ireland would like to correct a misinterpretation that our Ireland Women's Under 17 team turned their back during the opposition's national anthem ahead of their UEFA Women's Under-17 European Championship fixture with Israel in Tirana today.
Both teams were facing in the same direction during the Israeli national anthem before the Ireland team turned to face the tricolour, as is tradition amongst many Irish teams, for the playing of Amhrán na bhFiann before turning back to conclude the usual pre-match protocols.
The tradition of turning to face the tricolour during the playing of the Irish national anthem is a well-known and long-standing tradition among the national football teams of this country.
Simchayoff has retracted his pre-match comments in the aftermath of the FAI's statement.
Ireland went on to win the game 3-0.
This incident follows the controversial playing of a Women's EuroBasket qualifier between Ireland and Israel on neutral soil earlier this month.
Israel's ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza has seen the deaths of over 29,000 Palestinians, as per the latest reports from the Gaza Health Ministry. The horrifying scenes of relentless bombardment by the Israeli military led many to call for the Irish team to boycott the fixture. Ahead of the game, a member of the Israel squad labelled the Ireland team as being "antisemitic."
Earlier on Friday, Dublin club Bohemians confirmed that they had been in contact with the Palestinian FA in attempts to arrange a fundraising friendly between Bohs and the Palestinian national team at Dalymount Park in the coming months.
