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More than 140 pubs and bars across Ireland and beyond switched off their televisions on Sunday as the Republic of Ireland faced Israel in a Nations League fixture, turning a routine football match into a nationwide act of protest against the war in Gaza.
At Peadar Browns, a well-known pub in Dublin's historic Liberties district, the usual match-day bustle gave way to a deliberate silence. Owner Aidan Brown said the venue had committed roughly a month earlier to refusing to screen any Nations League fixtures until the Football Association of Ireland took a stand against Israel. The pub had already declined to show Ireland's earlier game against Kosovo, and Brown made clear there was never any question of screening the Israel fixtures.
Brown has been tracking venues that joined the boycott, and at his most recent count the list had reached 140 pubs and bars in Ireland and further afield. He anticipated that figure would climb before kickoff, given the dramatic developments unfolding within the national squad in the days leading up to the match.
He compared the intensity of the public debate to one of Irish sport's most memorable controversies — the 2002 Saipan affair, when captain Roy Keane walked out of the World Cup squad after a confrontation with manager Mick McCarthy over training conditions. In Brown's view, the current dispute carries the same weight in the national conversation, though this time the argument is about moral standards rather than footballing ones.
The mobilisation has stretched beyond the capital. In Derry, in the north of Ireland, pub owner Liam Doherty also refused to show the game at his venue, the Delacroix. He framed the campaign as something that had to be built from the ground up by a small nation willing to demonstrate that the situation is simply wrong.
Rebecca O'Keeffe, chair of Irish Sport for Palestine, which has spearheaded the Stop the Game campaign, said the past week had revealed how far the movement had travelled. She described it as a mass movement that had reached parts of Ireland previously unengaged with the issue, adding that the country had moved beyond symbolic gestures and empty words.
Public opinion in Ireland has been overwhelmingly opposed to the fixture going ahead, even if the opposition is not entirely unanimous. A poll of Irish football supporters found that 76 percent did not want the game to proceed, while a survey by the Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland found that 63 percent of its members voted against playing.
That groundswell of sentiment, however, was not reflected in the decisions of the sport's governing bodies in Ireland. The Football Association of Ireland chose to proceed with the fixtures despite widespread opposition, a move that has fuelled anger and a sense of betrayal among fans, players and campaigners alike.
The contradiction at the heart of the dispute is stark. In November, 93 percent of FAI members voted in favour of the association seeking Israel's suspension from UEFA competitions. Yet when the FAI voted in July on whether the Republic of Ireland should fulfil the fixtures, it opted to play on, with the motion passing by 75 votes to 32 and three abstentions. The association cited the potential consequences of non-fulfilment for Irish football, including possible points deductions.
Daniel Lambert, chief commercial officer at Bohemian FC, who helped propose the original November motion, argued that the sequence of events explains much of the frustration directed at the FAI. He said the November vote had been a clear instruction from the membership, but that the association never genuinely entertained the possibility of not playing.
Lambert also contended that the FAI failed to appreciate what it could have gained by taking a stand, insisting there were significant benefits to refusing to play. In his assessment, such a decision would have carried the support of the Irish public and enhanced the association's reputation rather than damaging it.
Susan Shalabi, vice president of the Palestinian Football Association, placed responsibility higher up the chain of governance. She told Al Jazeera that the deeper problem was that the FAI and others should never have been put in this position at all, arguing that if FIFA and UEFA had consistently applied their own rules, the dilemma would not exist.
With the governing bodies unwilling to act, the burden fell on the players themselves. Earlier in the week, more than 160 Irish sportspeople signed an open letter urging the squad to boycott the fixtures. Ireland coach Heimir Hallgrimsson acknowledged that some players were deeply uncomfortable with the situation, and midfielder Jason Knight said publicly that the games should not be taking place.
On Saturday, the internal division within the squad became visible. Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu informed his teammates that he did not wish to play, and the players subsequently voted to fulfil the fixture. Reports suggested that eight players had voted against playing, with Bazunu ultimately the only one who refused to take part.
The decision by the FAI to press ahead, set against the scale of public opposition and the visible unease within the squad, has left the association facing sustained criticism. For campaigners and pub owners alike, the darkened televisions across Ireland served as a quiet but pointed rebuke — a statement that, in their view, the country's football authorities had failed to make themselves.
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