Sinn Féin and Social Democrats call for FAI board to step aside

After the Irish men’s team voted on Saturday to play Israel in the Nations League, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and the Green Party have publicly urged the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) board to consider stepping down. The call follows hours of confusion surrounding the fixture and months of pressure from the Stop the Game campaign.

Political criticism intensifies

Sinn Féin Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny programme that the FAI’s leadership was “completely absent” and that its handling of the Israel game “caused a huge amount of division in the football team”. She added that the board had “failed the players and failed to protect the players”.

TD Joanna Byrne described Saturday as a “dark day” for the FAI, singling out president Paul Cooke and chief executive David Courell as figures who must “reflect on whether they are the right people to pick up the pieces”. She warned that ignoring the will of the Irish people to fulfil the game against Israel would be remembered as “the worst decision ever made by any board of the FAI”.

Calls from across the spectrum

Social Democrats sport spokesperson Daniel Ennis called the weekend “really sad and a dark stain on Irish football and our country”, saying players and management were “hung out to dry by the FAI board”. He told The Journal that the board should resign and earlier told Ireland AM on Virgin Media that the episode was “an awful case of mis‑management of communications”, citing manager Heimir Hallgrímsson’s forced re‑traction on the word “genocide”.

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said the affair was “catastrophically mismanaged”, accusing the FAI of outsourcing the decision to play onto the individual conscience of the players. He warned that placing such a burden on young players at the start of their careers was “massively unfair”.

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