I heard the Minister of State on the television last night and I have to say it was mealy-mouthed, disingenuous and lacking in any moral fibre. What he said was that the Palestinians think we are great, that we are doing so much. He went on to dispute the idea that this match meant anything. I spoke to ordinary Palestinians who live in my area, some of whom have been the victims of the genocide and were helped out of Gaza by the Minister of State's Department, for example. It would mean a lot to them if this match were not to go ahead. Obviously they would prefer the Government to sanction Israel and impose economic sanctions, but it would mean a lot to people in Gaza to hear that a team stood out and refused to play Israel. I wanted to pass that message on to the Minister of State. I do not know if the Minister of State has had any hand, act or part in the rumour that the FAI is talking about shifting the game. I think the magnitude has hit home with the FAI and the Government as regards playing fixtures here, given the history of this country and so on. Shifting solves nothing. The venue was never the issue. It is about playing a team that is steeped in genocide, apartheid and racism. I am not going to list the reasons, but many of these players have actively cheered the genocide. Many of them have been in the IDF. The women's team, for example, participated in a PR stunt where they swapped their jerseys for IDF jerseys. Two Palestinian women footballers were kidnapped last week. How long do we need to go on here? The FAI moving the fixture is an attempt to quell the opposition and I do not think it is going to work. There is a very important role for the Government here. The FAI would fear finance and it would fear sanctions against it. Six points in the face of genocide is nothing to me, but the FAI would fear maybe financial retribution from UEFA and FIFA if it pulled out of having fixtures played here. I believe UEFA would be on very dodgy legal ground if it were to carry that out because it is breaking its own statutes anyway. The FAI would have a very strong legal case to challenge that, since UEFA is not abiding by what it says. However, the Minister of State could step in here and reassure the FAI that the Government will not allow the sport to suffer in any way financially. It is very important that he do that. The pressure needs to be kept on the FAI and the Government. I also appeal to the players to get together and come to a collective decision, if needs be. Hopefully it will not come to that. The women's team went on strike in 2017 when players refused to play against the Czech Republic, a World Cup qualifier, because of their ill treatment and unequal treatment. That was a success. The Spanish women’s team refused to play a match as long as Rubiales was left in charge because of sexual harassment. Sometimes players take a stand for the right reasons and sometimes it is very effective.

Sentiment score: 0.02