First, I wish to say that I am personally very grateful to grassroots football and youth football in my area and to all the people - the managers, coaches and officials - who put in their time, as is the case in area after area in town, city and county across the country. These amazing people put their time and energy into me and my teammates on a voluntary basis. I played for nearly every club. Cabinteely Football Club was my first club. They were a tiny club then. Now, they are up in the League of Ireland. Then, St. Joseph's in Sallynoggin had a fantastic team in the schoolboy leagues. They were just wonderful people and it is still a really brilliant club. Both clubs have produced players for the English leagues and internationals. I played for Ballybrack Football Club, again, another great club. I have a great memories of them. I played for Dunedin football club and St. Joseph's, Glasthule, in the Leinster Senior League. I played for UCD. There were all of these amazing people and so many other clubs in the area. Joey's had a better clubhouse than most but in many cases, people were often getting changed in the rain under streetlights in pretty poor facilities or in containers in pretty awful situations. A shower was fairly unheard of when we were playing football. The thing about it is, that situation has not changed for lots of clubs, as has been said. I was playing 30 years ago. Sallynoggin Pearse, which was mentioned earlier, which was originally Pearse Rovers, was the first team that Paul McGrath - one of our greatest ever players - played for. It is a small club now with two senior teams. They have been fighting since 2007 for a new clubhouse because the old clubhouse is gone. It was a tin can. They have been fighting since 2007. They got planning permission but the council has basically not delivered for them. They are now in an arrangement with Granada, which was also mentioned earlier, which is primarily girls' football teams. It is an amazing success story for girls' football in our area. They have just two senior teams but they are twinned with Granada and they share the same pitches. I was just talking to Richie, one of the main officials in the club, on the phone, who said the people in Sallynoggin are really angry and annoyed as are, obviously, the club officials, that the young women have to change in the open in the fields because there is no clubhouse. As has been mentioned, the lack of all-weather pitches is totally unacceptable. Teams are not able to play for weeks because of the lack of all-weather pitches. Often, we will say things when the national teams do well and, absolutely, give plaudits to the women's national team and in respect of the renaissance we have seen with Troy Parrott and all that in Irish soccer. Let us hope it continues. However, these things do not spring out of nowhere. We have to put in the resources and support. All those volunteers and people are putting enormous work into our young people because it really matters to the young people. I was not an angel when I was when I was young - far from it, actually - but if it was not for football-----

Sentiment score: 0.21

If it was not for football, it could have been a lot worse, let us put it that way. It is true that the team ethic, the discipline and all that kind of stuff people are taught by football really stands to them for the rest of their lives. It creates friendships and networks and does things for the community. We cannot measure the value of these things. They are so important. However, we need to put the resources into ensuring that clubs I mentioned like St. Joseph's, Dalkey United, Granada, Pearse and all these teams that are fighting for all-weather pitches have decent facilities. As we are building residential development all over the place, we need to provide the facilities and amenities. In the last minute, I want to talk about the Israel-Ireland match. In 2016, a young man called Muhammad Khalifa visited Ireland. I was involved in it - Gaza Action Ireland organised the tour. He was then 12 years old. He was from Gaza. Ballybrack Football Club hosted his team from Gaza, Al Helal FC. The young Gazans beat our team, Ballybrack FC, 2-1, but it was a great day and a great event. He went on to play for the Palestinian youth team. Last year, he was murdered by an Israeli air strike with his brother and seven members of his family. His life was destroyed. I was talking to my friend Dr. Abdul Fattah Abu Srour. He works in Aida refugee camp and is involved in the football pitch that the Israelis are trying to destroy in that camp. It is just a small five-a-side or seven-a-side pitch. The UN experts have said that Israel should be boycotted at international level for its breaches of international law. Other teams are doing it. Russia was thrown out of international competition for what it was doing in Ukraine. How can our Government not demand that this game is boycotted, that Israel is thrown out of international competition and that this game does not go ahead?

Sentiment score: 0.02