Israel (H) friendly - Sept 11

[hughes18]

Northern Ireland will host Israel in a friendly international at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park on Tuesday 11 September (kick-off 7.45pm).

https://www.irishfa.com/news/2018/february/northern-ireland-to-play-israel-in-september-friendly

[marksyGAWA]

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/sinn-fein-calls-for-ifa-to-cancel-israel-match-1-8523996 

Sinners wanting the game called off 

[Tarabonga]

So, as I read elsewhere, the Shinners want a team that they don't recognise from a country they don't recognise to not play a football match against another team they don't recognise representing another country they don't recognise! They don't give a stuff about us, so we should just ignore them ?

[UNCLEANdy]

Their just looking for a reaction. Let's face it if they are condemning the Israelis for shooting Palestinians, then they must also be condemning their own armed wing.

[Clint]

36 minutes ago, marksyGAWA said:

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/sinn-fein-calls-for-ifa-to-cancel-israel-match-1-8523996 

Sinners wanting the game called off 

They should boycott it if they feel that strongly. 

[RaveDave]

Will Sinn Fein pay the massive fine the IFA will get from UEFA for not playing a mandated friendly??

[marksyGAWA]

Waiting for a news report of them saying the north vs Israel shud be called off how can they comment on 2 countries they believe don't exist. 

[Jack Russell]

You would think that they would be more up in arms about the FAI recognising partition by playing the original and authentic Ireland team.

[EalingGreen]

Argentina have caved into pressure demanding that they cancel their forthcoming friendly in Israel:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44378669

Pretty shameful, really (though the Israeli FA didn't help them - or themselves - by switching it from Haifa to Jerusalem, allegedly after being paid to do so by the Israeli Government)

[cromwell]

Discussed on the Nolan Show on Radio Ulster right now.

Sinner Pat Sheehan wants it called off due to violence against Palestinians.

The BBC should have called off its interview with Pat Sheehan due to the fact he attempted to unify Ireland by bombing a cash & carry.

[Jack Russell]

2 hours ago, cromwell said:

Discussed on the Nolan Show on Radio Ulster right now.

Sinner Pat Sheehan wants it called off due to violence against Palestinians.

The BBC should have called off its interview with Pat Sheehan due to the fact he attempted to unify Ireland by bombing a cash & carry.

Nolan got a nice wee dig in at him about violence for political ends.

[cromwell]

8 minutes ago, Jack Russell said:

Nolan got a nice wee dig in at him about violence for political ends.

Heard that, he didn't take it too well, he only got caught with bombs on 2 separate occasions & sentenced to a total of 40 years in jail, so I can sort of see where he's coming from...

[EalingGreen]

So Argentina have decided not to play Israel because they don't like the (elected) government in power over there?

Hmmmm. They're lucky other countries didn't take that stand in 1978, when the World Cup was held in their country, what with the place being ruled by a military dictatorship which had seized power from the elected government two years earlier, and proceeded to prosecute the "Dirty War" against its own people, during which an estimated 30,000 people disappeared.

[Floreat Ultonia]

Mazel Tov everyone 

Predictable Shinner stunt of course, and probably it keeps Bwyson busy as Fatso's go-to NI fan.

Realistically the Argentina FA or Messi's PR advisers aren't that bothered about how democratically elected the Knesset is. They're just taking the path of least resistance and probably have insurance against a no-show. Similarly Bibi and co can't lose with their domestic audience- they get either a glamor if one -paced friendly or the chance for plenty of exaggerated outrage. Whether the game was to be played in Jerusalem or elsewhere*

As EG says the Argies were lucky in 1978 in a way that we weren't from 1971 to 1975, when there were no home games. It shows relative influence within FIFA and to be fair I doubt our opponents back then were protesting about Brian Faulkner or Jimmy Chi-chi.

The picture below shows the British Consulate to Palestine. The building next door on the left was were Ulster Jim and I (then aged 5 and 3) were sent immediately after the 6 Day War to soothe the natives. Only took one molotov while we were there, although the bang when our boiler packed in was even louder. But if May and Johnson follow Trump's lead and make it the Embassy to Israel instead I imagine there'll be a repeat.

* Maybe the Israelis will offer us a return friendly. Possibly in one of the smaller towns near Tel Aviv?

Rishon Te'Zion?

Steady on, they haven't even suggested a date yet

 

 

 

 

 

[EalingGreen]

37 minutes ago, Floreat Ultonia said:

As EG says the Argies were lucky in 1978 in a way that we weren't from 1971 to 1975, when there were no home games. It shows relative influence within FIFA and to be fair I doubt our opponents back then were protesting about Brian Faulkner or Jimmy Chi-chi.

What is often overlooked is that the catalyst for the suspension of home games in NI after 1971 was not The Troubles generally, but specifically an IRA threat to Scotland/Scottish FA if they came to Belfast for our sole home game of the British Championship of 1971/72.

Meanwhile, 1971 was also the year that the IRA issued a death threat to George Best:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/02/10/day-ira-threatened-shoot-george-best/

And it wasn't just football which suffered from the IRA's threat of violence.

The following year (1972) Mary Peters received a death threat purporting to come from the IRA, stating that as a "Protestant who competed for Britain" at the Olympics, she would be shot if she came back to Belfast:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2891795/Hail-Dame-Mary-Peters-Queen-Belfast-defied-bombers-picks-prestigious-New-Year-s-honour.html 

Meanwhile, Rugby got the same treatment from the Provos as well that year, with both Scotland and Wales intimidated from playing in Dublin:

http://en.espn.co.uk/england/rugby/story/159995.html

And, of course, a decade later the threats against Barry "The Brit" McGuigan were so bad that the police issued him with a gun and also allocated him an armed bodyguard for his personal protection for a period:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/barry-mcguigan-the-police-gave-me-a-gun-131630

None of which is ever mentioned when we get our periodic abuse for some toerag having threatened Neil Lennon etc, often from the self-same SF/IRA thugs who were threatening those sports stars previously.