Ireland's press conference and training delayed amid player unrest before Israel clash

Republic of Ireland’s pre-match media session and training were both significantly delayed on Saturday ahead of their Nations League fixture against Israel in Debrecen, Hungary, with UEFA officials unable to account for the hold-up.

Manager Heimir Hallgrimsson and a player had been due to speak to journalists at 10.15am local time, but a UEFA official announced roughly 15 minutes beforehand that the session had been moved to 12.30pm — after training. The squad was subsequently confirmed to be running 20 minutes late for their 11am practice at the Nagyerdei Stadium, though they had still not arrived shortly before noon.

The disruption comes amid reports that the squad had arranged an internal meeting on Friday to discuss the fixture, with suggestions that a player statement could precede the press conference. UEFA rules state that nations failing to meet their media obligations face potential warnings or fines.

The match itself has drawn widespread attention given the ongoing conflict in Gaza. After Ireland’s opening 1-0 Nations League defeat to Kosovo in Pristina on Thursday, midfielder Jason Knight made clear the squad’s discomfort with the situation.

“I don’t think the game obviously should be going ahead but it is going ahead,” Knight said. “We’ll have a deeper talk about it and what that means, we’ll get our thoughts as a group and go from there.”

Knight added that while the circumstances were unprecedented for the squad, he intended to focus on the football as best he could. “I’ll give my view and my thoughts on it when I see fit,” he said.

The Football Association of Ireland and UEFA had both been contacted for comment at the time of publication.