‘We are not doing questions like this’: Sound and fury continues to swirl around Ireland and Israel

Heimir Hallgrimsson says the Irish have found the calm and quiet they need in the remote, rural surrounds of Backa Topola, the incongruously muted setting for the sound and fury that has swirled around Ireland versus Israel. The Irish squad are also practising a traditional sort of mindfulness, with Hallgrimsson asking Conor Coventry to lead the Irish squad in becalming prayer before last week’s game against Israel. He’s become known as Brother Coventry as a result. Alas, the serenity did not last for the entirety of Hallgrimsson’s pre-match press conference. Ten minutes in, an Israeli journalist who last week spoke emotively of “Hamas terrorists” and the horrors of the October 7th attacks while asking Hallgrimsson about his time working in Qatar, read from a pre-prepared question. She referenced the attempted hijack of the FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv earlier this week, asking Hallgrimsson about the “people you support, their ideology is based on murder.” The FAI press officer sitting beside Hallgrimsson stepped in, saying “we are not doing any questions like this, we are doing football questions, we are concentrating on the football today.” READ MOREThe journalist continued her question, with only some words audible between the press officer’s responses. “Innocent children, thousands of others ...” “We respected your question in the last press conference, Heimir respected the question the last time,” replied the FAI press officer. She eventually committed to a football question, asking Hallgrimsson if Finn Azaz would play tomorrow. Hallgrimsson said she would see tomorrow, and that he would not be revealing his team selection to the media. The microphone was passed to another Israeli journalist, who last week asked Hallgrimsson about Ireland’s game against Nazi Germany in 1936. This time he made an allegation of racism against the Irish players, a claim that emerged in the Israeli media in the aftermath of last week’s game in Hungary. The FAI press officer jumped in, telling the journalist the claim was “completely untrue.” Adam Idah and Troy Parrott during Ireland training at the TSC Arena in Bačka Topola. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho “We are going to finish the press conference there,” said the press officer, to which the journalist protested, “I am doing my job, I am doing my job!” Amid the din and scraping of chairs, the FAI press officer directed Hallgrimsson and the Irish journalists outside the door to conclude the interview. “You have just broadcast a lie,” said the FAI press officer while another FAI staff member took the microphone from the Israeli journalist. He protested that this was a press conference at which he has a right to ask questions, to which the FAI staff member responded that there is a difference between asking a question and making an accusation. The Uefa official on the ground, the venue broadcast operations manager, was not in the room for the press conference, much to the frustration of some FAI staff. Hallgrimsson and the Irish media then stood in an open area outside the press conference room, trying to resume the questions and some semblance of normality. The Irish manager was asked about player availability, having earlier said Dara O’Shea was doubtful as he attends the birth of his child. “Contractions were starting,” said Hallgrimsson when he was brought to a halt by a shout nearby. “Don’t touch me!” The Israeli journalist who made the racism allegation had followed us out to the hall, and appeared to be seeking access to the Irish huddle with Hallgrimsson, citing his employers’ status as rights holders. He was engaged in a stand off with several FAI staff, and threatened to call the police. The FAI staff spoke without raising their voices, one of whom called for the Uefa official. Hallgrimsson and the Irish media were then whisked down the corridor, and ushered into a dressing room that had been commandeered for FAI use. The press conference was concluded without interruption there. The journalists stood in a tight huddle around Hallgrimsson, as the FAI’s head of security stood over a laptop in the background, a stadium map and various official-looking documents spread out on the table before him. Hallgrimsson left to oversee the Irish training session. Meanwhile, the press conference flashpoint was spreading quickly online. An Israeli journalist recorded footage of the FAI official taking the microphone from the Israeli journalist, and the journalist’s employer posted it online, calling it a “disgraceful incident.” Chiedozie Ogbene and John Egan during Ireland training at the TSC Arena in Bačka Topola. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho While their video included the allegation made in the question, the caption on the video said their journalist asked Irish players about “allegedly swearing at the Israeli players.” Among the people to react to this video was Israel’s ambassador to the EU, who posted “they respect freedom of the press provided you only ask the questions they find comfortable to answer.” The FAI chose to publish the entire 13-minute press conference, unedited, to their YouTube channel. The media returned to the stadium at 5.30pm for the Israeli press conference, braced for further rancour. It began on a very pointed note, as the press officer first invited questions from the Israeli journalists “as they didn’t get many chances to ask questions in the Irish press conference.” One Israeli questioner laid bare the residual anger at losing to Ireland last week by telling the coach that the players “choked” despite the fact they were playing for “our honour.” “I know we disappointed the nation,” the Israel manager Ran Ben Shimon said, vowing that Sunday’s game would be different. The first Irish question quoted the communications director’s comments of last week which called for the separation of sport and politics, and in that context asked if he condemned fans’ chanting “IDF” during the Irish game. He replied that Israel is very proud of their armed forces and angrily rejected the premise that the IDF is a political entity. The press officer intervened, saying: “I won’t take your microphone away, but we will not answer your question.” The Israeli FA also confirmed they had not yet contacted Uefa about the racism allegation made in the Irish press conference earlier, while the coach cited a blinkered focus on football to dodge the many contentious topics asked of him. The questions eventually wended their way to whether it might be best in the future for this simply to never happen again; that it might be time for both associations to go to Uefa and request an “amicable divorce.”The Israel coach disagreed, citing personal experience to say that “divorce is not pleasant.” Nor has been this enforced, fortnight-long union.