Fans’ reaction at Aviva Stadium could make Ireland players think again about Israel match

The Republic of Ireland players intend to travel to Bačka Topola in Serbia for Sunday’s behind-closed-doors Nations League match against Israel. However, the atmosphere inside the Aviva Stadium during tonight’s meeting with Austria could revive player concerns around fulfilling a second game against Israel following last Sunday’s 3-0 victory in Debrecen, Hungary. “No,” replied Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson when asked if his players are planning another vote to boycott the upcoming Israel fixture. “But we thought that as well before the first game.”The Football Association of Ireland moved the second Israel match from Dublin to northern Serbia after pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a friendly against Qatar at the Aviva Stadium in May. READ MOREThe Stop the Game campaign has arranged a protest at the Newbridge Avenue-Herbert Road roundabout, outside the gates of Marian College, at 2pm to “let the players know they betrayed the people of Ireland”.Uefa and the FAI are using the Austria game as a test run for Euro 2028, when the Aviva Stadium will host seven fixtures. An Garda Síochána will roll out a city-wide security operation, similar to when more than 20,000 German and Italian fans came to Dublin for the Europa League final between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen in 2024. Hallgrímsson, speaking at a Uefa-mandated press conference on Wednesday morning, appeared to support the stance taken by FAI president Paul Cooke last weekend, when the former managing director of the Irish Daily Star and The Sunday Business Post questioned some of the media’s behaviour around the Israel game in Hungary. “There have been reports that are absolutely not true,” Hallgrímsson claimed. “I don’t know where they are coming from. I would think that’s one of the things that we will look at afterwards. “We are giving the media more time than is in [Uefa] protocols. We are doing a press conference that everybody needs to do according to Uefa, but we are doing another one for print media, we are doing more live TV than we need to do. “So that’s probably one of the things that we will look back and say: ‘Is that trust broken? Should we go to just what the [mandated] protocols are?’.”When asked for specific examples of how trust might have been broken between the Ireland camp and the media, Hallgrímsson said he would discuss it after the current four-match window that concludes in Serbia on Sunday. “I don’t read what is said,” he continued, “I just heard some of the things so I’m not going to make a judgment on that. “Obviously, for me to have a good relationship with [the media] is important and if that [trust] is broken, then [interactions should be] as less as possible if what I’m saying is twisted and turned and put out in the wrong way.”The FAI has belatedly provided a psychologist, the former League of Ireland referee Gerard Perry, for the men’s squad after Hallgrímsson revealed in August 2025 that his request for a mental health expert was denied due to budgetary constraints. “I for one used him just to talk. If the players need one, it’s available now. I said a long time ago there should be a staff member on that area.”