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Republic of Ireland: Manager Heimir Hallgrimsson yesterday admitted he regretted his choice of words in comments made earlier this week about Ireland “playing against genocide” in reference to their fixtures against Israel. After the Israel football federation accused Hallgrimsson of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy”, the Irish prime minister, Micheál Martin, responded from the UN general assembly in New York: “Israel can’t keep denying what the world knows, and what the world understands.”

Yesterday Hallgrimsson said he had used a “strong” word and now regretted it. “It was a wrong word for me to use,” he said, arguing that he had meant to say that “by playing we are not accepting what is happening”. If a player chooses to play in the fixture “he is not supporting or agreeing with anything in Gaza” Hallgrimsson said. “We are not playing with that word, we are playing against it.”

Representing my country means everything to me. I have the utmost respect for every single one of my teammates, the manager, his staff, and the Irish people.

However, I have reached a decision that I have not taken lightly. I am a man of strong faith, and try my best to be a person of character and principle, therefore I feel it would be wrong to participate in the upcoming fixtures against Israel.

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