Heimir Hallgrímsson wants no more fixtures against Israel. After Sunday’s 1-1 Nations League draw at TSC Arena in Backa Topola, Serbia, the Ireland manager said he would not wish the past week on any national team and urged UEFA to separate the countries in future draws.
The match itself was tight. Troy Parrott converted a first-half penalty for the Republic, Dor Peretz equalised for Israel in the second half, and the game was played behind closed doors on security grounds.
The flashpoint came in the tunnel at the interval. Damien Doyle, Ireland’s head of athletic performance, alleged an Israeli player spat at him as the sides left the pitch. The Israel Football Association offered no comment on the allegation.
Israel coach Ran Ben-Shimon said he had seen nothing.
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“At half-time I was in the dressing room, my room, with my staff. I didn’t see anything,” Ben-Shimon told reporters.
Hallgrímsson said his players had been under pressure from the first whistle.
“I felt like they were trying to intimidate us from kick-off, but I give a lot of credit to the players to stay calm.”
Saar’s 1939 Nazi salute comparison
The political temperature was raised well before kick-off. On 27 September, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar invoked the 1939 Ireland side that gave the Nazi salute before a friendly against Germany in Bremen.
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“Almost 90 years have passed. Ireland’s unique talent for finding itself on the wrong side of history remains intact,” Saar wrote on X.
The official Israeli government account went further, pairing a 1939 image with Ireland’s recent anthem protest.
“Different generations. The same moral blindness.”
Ireland’s players wore black armbands “for all lives lost in the conflict” and bowed their heads during the Israeli anthem for a second time in the two-game series. They declined the pre-match handshake.
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Press conference walkout over racism claims
Saturday’s pre-match press conference in Serbia broke up after Israeli reporters pressed Hallgrímsson over unproven allegations of racial abuse from Ireland’s 3-0 win in the first fixture. One Israeli journalist told him Ireland’s supporters’ “ideology is based on murder”; another said Irish players had called Israeli players “monkeys” during that game.
An Irish official at the table rejected the claim.
“That is completely untrue. That is completely untrue.”
Hallgrímsson walked out. UEFA subsequently barred two Israeli journalists from the post-match press conferences in Serbia.
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The Football Association of Ireland is investigating whether striker Adam Idah was racially abused by Israel supporters at the first fixture, and midfielder Jayson Molumby complained to officials about chanting he said was directed at him on Sunday as well.
Ireland level with Kosovo on five points
The draw leaves Austria top of the group on eight points, with the Republic of Ireland and Kosovo level on five. Hallgrímsson’s call for intervention was blunt.
“No, they shouldn’t. UEFA just needs to step in and do something.”
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