No team should be forced to play Israel

The UEFA Nations League starts in September, and Ireland have been drawn against a team that should not be participating in international sport.

UEFA’s failure to do their job and enforce their own rules means that the FAI have been placed in an impossible position. Boycotting the game may have repercussions for Euro 2028.

I see there is talk about the game being played behind closed doors in Hungary — better than Israeli hooligans running amok in Dublin — but the whole thing is so unfair. Ireland, like Norway and Italy last year, and like Aston Villa in the Europa League, have been put in an unenviable position.

When will the authorities do the right thing? Stop letting this state get off scot-free.

Not playing the game would have ramifications: loss of points and revenue, maybe relegation, but it would send a strong signal to the world, and other countries would hopefully follow.

Are you patriotic?

Great question. I am a proud Irishman and I like the GAA and traditional music, but I wouldn’t say I am that patriotic. I don’t know my native language, to my shame.

To be patriotic is to support your country, its sports teams, and try to represent it in the best way you can when abroad. It is not about jingoism, far-right politics or anything like that. That is the antithesis of patriotism.

What is your view on Enoch Burke?

Enoch Burke is an Irish teacher at the centre of a prolonged legal dispute with Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath — originally over his refusal to use a transgender student’s chosen name and pronouns.(they/them) He was suspended and later dismissed from his teaching role in 2022, but he has continued to turn up at the school claiming he still has a right to work there.

Despite being dismissed, Burke still receives a teaching salary because his appeal of that dismissal is ongoing. The school agreed to keep paying him while the disciplinary appeal panel considers the case. Burke technically remains employed at the school until his appeal is fully resolved and because he is still paid and considers himself a teacher there, the school is his workplace, he returns there every day but is not allowed to enter.

He has had periods of time in prison because he turns up at the school in defiance of court orders. He has recently been released from prision and has started to turn up at the school again.

My View

This is a very complex case. On the one hand I fully respect people’s right to be the gender they choose and to be addressed as such. On the other hand I believe that kids should should be taught that there are two main genders (male and female) and any other genders are an offshoot of those two. There are thousands of clours but there are three primary colours, red, green and blue.

In the case of Enoch Burke, it is a great pity that a settlement could not be made with the school to avoid him doing prision time. He is very stubborn however and should not continue to turn up at the school but instead find a solution with them.

What is your view?

World Cup Draw

As you know, today is the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It’s the first time in 24 years that Ireland will be in the draw and the first time in 40 years that Northern Ireland will be in it — but neither have qualified yet.

Too Many Teams

Forty-eight teams and 72 group-stage games just to eliminate 16. It’s going to be a dog’s dinner of a World Cup. With sky-high ticket prices and two sets of fans already banned, it’s shaping up to be a recipe for disaster. What neutral wants to pay upwards of $200 for a ticket to Iran v Haiti on a Wednesday afternoon?

Excess Travel

The distances teams will have to travel between games will make the tournament complex to run and will tire the players involved. The fact that six teams won’t know until March whether they’ve qualified complicates the issue further.

Trump

There is no doubt that Trump wants to make this World Cup his own. That FIFA have been pandering to him is disgraceful; awarding him a peace prize to stroke his ego is absurd. A man accused of supporting atrocities abroad and threatening to invade a sovereign nation in the Caribbean being given a peace prize is beyond ridiculous. Trump’s authoritarian behaviour at home, his aggressive foreign policy, and his desire to make this “his” World Cup will draw parallels with the Summer Olympic Games of 1936. Then too, a racist authoritarian ruler with expansionist ambitions turned a sporting event into a platform for himself.

This is a tournament that, a few months ago, I had little interest in. But Ireland’s performances and results in the last two games have given me hope and optimism for what might be. I don’t think this is going to be a good World Cup, but I’ll watch the draw and look forward to the games to come.

An Ode to the International Break

Last Thursday when I sat down to watch Ireland v Portugal, I did so neither in hope or expectation of Irish victory. 4 points from 4 games including a defeat to Armenia meant that Ireland’s World Cup hopes were hanging by a thread. The thought was, would Ireland still have a mathematical chance of qualifying by the end of the game.

Two Troy Parrot goals and a Ronaldo red card brought joy and optimism going forward. Still, Hungary on Sunday, away and a win is needed, a tough ask to say the least.

Midway through the second half on Sunday with Hungary 2-1 up and seemingly control I decided to take the dog for a walk. We were not going to score two, the World Cup dream is over. Then as I was about to go out, Troy Parrot scored, 2-2, I decided to stay and watch the end.

As the clock ticked down, 5 minutes of injury time had elapsed, it seemed all was lost and then, one last dramatic twist.

What happened was a magical moment that will live long in the memory. One moment of magic, one moment that turned everything on its head, from disappointment to elation.

A big win of your favourite football club or national team can change your week. I had given up on the 2026 World Cup long ago, now I was looking at when the play-off fixtures will be, when will the Final draw be made, which cites are hosting games, where might Ireland be.

Sport has the power to do that, change your mood, change your outlook. This international break has come to a close but March is already too far aaway for the next one. I enjoy club football but international football is different, international football is special. It draws emotions that club football can not..

History repeating itself

Daily writing prompt

What historical event fascinates you the most?

View all responses

That’s a tough question. There are many historical events that interest me, many that I could say affects me today.

The Famine

The Irish Famile, I say famine as that it is what it is generally called although it wasn’t really that. Food was taken out of Ireland under armed guard while the Irish people starved, only allowed to eat potatoes. During that period the population of Ireland dropped significantly and we lost our language. We went from a bilingual culture to an English only culture so this event had a profound effect on Irish people.

Sometimes history repeats itself. We watch with horror of what is happening in Gaza, another famine manufactured to erradicate a population. Food, aid trucks parked at the border unable to get through. We saw how the Global Sumud Floatilla was prevented from reaching Gaza, its participants kidnapped in international waters and thrown into Israeli jails where they faced torture.

So you see, that is why the Irish sympathise with the Palestinians. Our history of starvation, displacement and subjugation means that we know what the Palestinians are going through.

So to quote Michael Collins, I hope the Palestinians are given a future. Give them back their country, to live in, to grow in, to love..

Down Memory Lane

With Strabane playing in the last 16 of the Irish Cup last weekend I cast my mind back to cup ties I have attended. I have attended one FA Cup tie and four or five in the Copa del Rey and I must have attended 15 or 20 FAI Cup ties, although none this century. One I always remember was a replay between Bohemians and Derry City in 1988.

I was ten at the time and still in primary school but I remember my Dad picking me up from home around 5pm and driving to Dublin. He must have been going pretty quickly because we got to Dalymount Park with around 5 minutes gone and the score was 1-0 to Derry, so a journey done in under 3 hours.

The first game in Derry had been 0-0 I think, a drab afair but this was anything but. Derry, in their Argentina kit, turned on the style and won 4-1.

I remember I slept most of the way back, maybe stopping off in Carrickmacross for sone chips. We arrived in Strabane about 1am.

New TD appointed for South America

It has been announced today by the Department of Foreign Affairs that a new Dail constituency has been created for South America and a new TD has been appointed.

The TD in question has no political experience or mandate and his appointment has caused some controversy as he is a Nordie. His top priority for his time in office is reducing the price of butter in the D’Julia restaurant in Pueblo Libre

More to follow…