Heimir Hallgrimsson, the manager of the Irish national team, stated that he felt Israel was 'trying to intimidate' his side, following allegations of spitting during Sunday's Nations League match. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, played in front of empty stands in Serbia.
The two sides clashed at half-time. The Irish newspaper The Irish Times reported that the Irish team's fitness coach, Damien Doyle, claimed he was spat on. Television footage shows a voice saying 'he spat on me' as players walked towards the tunnel at the TSC Arena.
Hallgrimsson told Off The Ball that the same thing had happened in the previous match, noting that there is tension and many emotions. He stated that the accusation was of someone being spat on, but that he had not seen it himself. He added that it would be reviewed, as would everything else that happened between the two teams. 'We felt that they were trying to intimidate us from the start, but I give credit to the players for remaining calm,' said Hallgrimsson. He highlighted that the match could have seen yellow and red cards, but that they remained composed.
The Israeli manager, Ran Ben-Shimon, responded to questions about the incident at half-time by saying he 'did not see anything'. He stated that during half-time he was in the dressing room, in his room, with his coaching staff, and that he would check on what had happened when he had the chance to review the incident.
Tensions between the sides were further heightened on Saturday when Hallgrimsson's press conference was interrupted after he responded to what he later described as 'verbal attacks' from Israeli journalists. The Israeli journalist had asked about alleged racism by Irish players during the previous week's match, which Ireland won 3-0. The press conference was interrupted at that point by Kieran Crowley, the Irish Football Association's (FAI) communications director, who stated that the claims were 'completely untrue', as the mood became increasingly tense.
The FAI is investigating whether the Israeli attacker was racially abused by Israeli fans during the first match in Debrecen. The midfielder Jayson Mullah spoke to the referees during the game, asking them to listen to what he considered offensive chanting by a small group of Israeli fans present at the match. Asked if his players were targeting Mullah after the Irish player's complaint the previous week, Ben-Shimon said that 'there was nothing personal' against the player from West Brom. 'Come on, come on. We don't do that. We simply don't do that, we are not that kind of people,' said Ben-Shimon. He added that he would never tell a player to play aggressively against an opponent, and that his players sometimes play the cleanest possible football, but are aggressive. He states that he never tells them to hurt anyone.
Both matches were played on neutral ground, with the controversy surrounding them since February when the two sides were drawn in group B3. Irish players have faced persistent calls to boycott the matches due to the war between Israel and Gaza, as part of the 'Stop The Game' campaign. This campaign is organised by the pressure group Irish Sport for Palestine, with protests held before and during the match against Austria in Dublin on Thursday. Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu stated that it would be 'wrong' for him to participate in those matches, and he placed himself at the disposal of the FA. The FA decided to play both matches. The teams in both matches did not perform the usual pre-match formalities, with Irish players bowing their heads during the Israeli national anthem.
