RICHARD DUNNE WAS at Tallaght Stadium on Monday night for the Premier Division game between Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk.
Standing – towering – at the end of the back aisle of the press box he was almost mistaken for a final line of security.
No better one-man protection. Just ask the Russians from Moscow in 2011.
Dunne was waiting for one of his closest friends – former Dundalk boss Vinnie Perth – to finish some broadcasting obligations with Off The Ball.
Dunne engaged in some polite chat, speaking proudly but cautiously about his son Tayo who is forging a career for himself in Barnsley’s academy. The 17-year-old has started a conversion from central midfielder to central defender.
The Dunne lineage in the game continues with those tentative early steps in north Yorkshire, the town that also carved former Republic of Ireland captain and manager Mick McCarthy.
Dunne’s return home to Tallaght was a poignant one. On Saturday, his father Richard Snr (Dick) passed away surrounded by family.
A defender with St Patrick’s Athletic in the 1960s, Dick Dunne’s life was celebrated by family and friends at his funeral earlier this week.
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For a brief period on Monday evening maybe football offered a kind of solace for Richard Dunne. The game that inspired a greater sense of hope growing up and would go on to provide even greater professional challenges as well as immense joy.
Right now, though, this feels like a time in Irish football where it can also stand for something much bigger and more important than itself or its own priorities and interests.
Decency and morals are worth so much more than whatever principles seem to be the feeble backbone of the FAI’s decision to welcome Israel here on 4 October for a Nations League fixture.
Speaking to the association’s chief executive, David Courell, on Wednesday, we fell into a kind of trap in somehow finding ways to justify it.
We asked about donating money to causes in Gaza that could offer some relief to the devastation.
We wondered about the ramifications that a boycott would have on the weak state of Irish football’s finances and dependence on Fifa and Uefa cash.
We checked again about what would happen if the FAI General Assembly received another 93% vote in favour of putting forward a motion to Uefa to suspend Israel for two clear breaches of the governing body’s own statues.
“We are very happy to hear further from our General Assembly on their viewpoints. However, the decision has been taken. We are fulfilling the games,” Courell said.
We suggested that at least there could be protests, a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people or even possible refunds for those FAI season ticket holders who do not wish to attend.
And then, while still speaking to Courell around a table in the FAI Suite at Aviva Stadium, an email from the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFA Ireland) landed in the inbox of journalists. In it were the results of a survey carried out with 214 players from clubs across the League of Ireland Men’s Premier Division, Women’s Premier Division, and Men’s First Division.
It provided the kind of clarity that was so needed, and a renewed sense of what is so clearly right but can easily be lost amid a haze of deflection and self-regard wrapped up as diplomacy.
Some 63% said Ireland should not fulfil the fixtures against Israel. From there, 66% said they would not attend the match if it goes ahead.
And then the clincher: 79% stated moral reasons for boycotting.
Irish football players had spoken loud and clear and provided a timely reminder of the depth of feeling. Remember, these are supposed to be the ones who don’t stand for anything other than their own interests. Footballers are supposed to be the selfish ones. The greedy ones. The ones who can’t possibly comprehend the world outside their dressing room let alone a genocide being carried out by a State that wants to send its football team to Dublin.
No.
It cannot happen.
It’s hard to fully grasp why it can be allowed to happen but Courell’s response to those figures was illuminating.
“At 63 per cent, I actually think that demonstrates there is very much a divided viewpoint on this topic. It’s not entirely weighted on one side.
“Well, there’s a clear majority,” the reporter said.
“It depends on what perspective you are looking at it from,” Courell said.
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“A mathematical one,” the reporter said.
That was Wednesday and on Thursday Shamrock Rovers captain Roberto Lopes, who is now chairperson of PFA Ireland, responded ahead of today’s derby with Bohemians at Dalymount Park.
“From our point of view, there was no mixed [message] about it. I don’t think you can call it that. It’s a majority vote and we want to be clear on that,” Lopes said, speaking ahead of Rovers’ Dublin derby away to Bohemians.
“If it’s in the interest of Irish football and the majority of the voices in Irish football are saying one thing, then we need to look at what we’re doing here.”
League of Ireland footballers have used their voice to let the rest of Irish football and the FAI executive know this game will not be played in their name.
Fixtures (7.45pm kick-off unless stated)
Premier Division – Tonight: Bohemians v Shamrock Rovers (8pm, Live Virgin Media Two); St Patrick’s Athletic v Dundalk, Drogheda United v Shelbourne, Galway United v Sligo Rovers, Derry City v Waterford.
First Division – Tonight: Athlone Town v Wexford, Kerry v Longford Town, Kerry v Treaty United, Cobh Ramblers v Finn Harps, Cork City v Bray Wanderers.
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League of Ireland footballers put FAI to shame with moral clarity over Israel
RICHARD DUNNE WAS at Tallaght Stadium on Monday night for the Premier Division game between Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk.
Standing – towering – at the end of the back aisle of the press box he was almost mistaken for a final line of security.
No better one-man protection. Just ask the Russians from Moscow in 2011.
Dunne was waiting for one of his closest friends – former Dundalk boss Vinnie Perth – to finish some broadcasting obligations with Off The Ball.
Dunne engaged in some polite chat, speaking proudly but cautiously about his son Tayo who is forging a career for himself in Barnsley’s academy. The 17-year-old has started a conversion from central midfielder to central defender.
The Dunne lineage in the game continues with those tentative early steps in north Yorkshire, the town that also carved former Republic of Ireland captain and manager Mick McCarthy.
Dunne’s return home to Tallaght was a poignant one. On Saturday, his father Richard Snr (Dick) passed away surrounded by family.
A defender with St Patrick’s Athletic in the 1960s, Dick Dunne’s life was celebrated by family and friends at his funeral earlier this week.
For a brief period on Monday evening maybe football offered a kind of solace for Richard Dunne. The game that inspired a greater sense of hope growing up and would go on to provide even greater professional challenges as well as immense joy.
Right now, though, this feels like a time in Irish football where it can also stand for something much bigger and more important than itself or its own priorities and interests.
Decency and morals are worth so much more than whatever principles seem to be the feeble backbone of the FAI’s decision to welcome Israel here on 4 October for a Nations League fixture.
Speaking to the association’s chief executive, David Courell, on Wednesday, we fell into a kind of trap in somehow finding ways to justify it.
We asked about donating money to causes in Gaza that could offer some relief to the devastation.
We wondered about the ramifications that a boycott would have on the weak state of Irish football’s finances and dependence on Fifa and Uefa cash.
We checked again about what would happen if the FAI General Assembly received another 93% vote in favour of putting forward a motion to Uefa to suspend Israel for two clear breaches of the governing body’s own statues.
“We are very happy to hear further from our General Assembly on their viewpoints. However, the decision has been taken. We are fulfilling the games,” Courell said.
We suggested that at least there could be protests, a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people or even possible refunds for those FAI season ticket holders who do not wish to attend.
And then, while still speaking to Courell around a table in the FAI Suite at Aviva Stadium, an email from the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFA Ireland) landed in the inbox of journalists. In it were the results of a survey carried out with 214 players from clubs across the League of Ireland Men’s Premier Division, Women’s Premier Division, and Men’s First Division.
It provided the kind of clarity that was so needed, and a renewed sense of what is so clearly right but can easily be lost amid a haze of deflection and self-regard wrapped up as diplomacy.
Some 63% said Ireland should not fulfil the fixtures against Israel. From there, 66% said they would not attend the match if it goes ahead.
And then the clincher: 79% stated moral reasons for boycotting.
Irish football players had spoken loud and clear and provided a timely reminder of the depth of feeling. Remember, these are supposed to be the ones who don’t stand for anything other than their own interests. Footballers are supposed to be the selfish ones. The greedy ones. The ones who can’t possibly comprehend the world outside their dressing room let alone a genocide being carried out by a State that wants to send its football team to Dublin.
No.
It cannot happen.
It’s hard to fully grasp why it can be allowed to happen but Courell’s response to those figures was illuminating.
“At 63 per cent, I actually think that demonstrates there is very much a divided viewpoint on this topic. It’s not entirely weighted on one side.
“Well, there’s a clear majority,” the reporter said.
“It depends on what perspective you are looking at it from,” Courell said.
“A mathematical one,” the reporter said.
That was Wednesday and on Thursday Shamrock Rovers captain Roberto Lopes, who is now chairperson of PFA Ireland, responded ahead of today’s derby with Bohemians at Dalymount Park.
“From our point of view, there was no mixed [message] about it. I don’t think you can call it that. It’s a majority vote and we want to be clear on that,” Lopes said, speaking ahead of Rovers’ Dublin derby away to Bohemians.
“If it’s in the interest of Irish football and the majority of the voices in Irish football are saying one thing, then we need to look at what we’re doing here.”
League of Ireland footballers have used their voice to let the rest of Irish football and the FAI executive know this game will not be played in their name.
Fixtures (7.45pm kick-off unless stated)
Premier Division – Tonight: Bohemians v Shamrock Rovers (8pm, Live Virgin Media Two); St Patrick’s Athletic v Dundalk, Drogheda United v Shelbourne, Galway United v Sligo Rovers, Derry City v Waterford.
First Division – Tonight: Athlone Town v Wexford, Kerry v Longford Town, Kerry v Treaty United, Cobh Ramblers v Finn Harps, Cork City v Bray Wanderers.
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FAI League of Ireland Republic Of Ireland THE BEAT