JAMES McCLEAN HAS added his voice to those calling for a boycott of Ireland’s Uefa Nations League fixtures against Israel later this year.

The Derry City player, who has been capped 103 by Ireland, said the fixture “should never be going ahead”. 

Yesterday, it emerged that several high profile figures in Irish football have written an open letter to the FAI calling for a boycott of the game.

The letter, which has been sent by the Stop The Game group, has been signed by several captains and high-profile players of League of Ireland clubs including Roberto Lopes (Shamrock Rovers), Dawson Devoy (Bohemians), Joe Redmond (St Patrick’s Athletic) and Pádraig Amond (Waterford), cites Israel’s “clear and ongoing breaches of Uefa and Fifa statutes regarding Israeli teams playing on occupied Palestinian lands”, and “brutal system of apartheid and acts of genocide” in calling for the FAI to boycott the fixture.

The FAI have so far resisted calls for a boycott, saying they are bound by Uefa’s rules to play the game, and say a failure to do so could result in Nations League relegation and negatively affect Ireland’s world ranking and prospects for qualification for future tournaments.

Turmoil

Today on Instagram McClean questioned the “backbone” within the FAI, while saying the matter of whether or not to play the game should not be in the hands of the players.

“It’s a tough one in fairness for the players and I get it, it’s an opportunity to play a football game for your country,” he said, adding the decision should be “taken out of the hands” of players.

“Simply the game should never be going ahead, if there is one country which should recognise oppression and the turmoil that brings then it’s Ireland . . . although with the decision makers in this country you’d be mistaken to think we never had any history of it.”

Meanwhile, Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, today launched a scarf for Irish football fans to show their opposition to the game against Israel.

The first scarf was presented to her party colleague, Joanna Byrne, who was removed from her position as chairperson on Drogheda United earlier this year, after she also urged Ireland not to play the nations league game against Israel.

“Uefa rightfully banned Russia after their illegal invasion of Ukraine, it’s long overdue that they do the same to Israel for their heinous actions in Gaza and the West Bank,” Boylan said.