On February 12, the draw for the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Nations League men’s soccer tournament saw the Republic of Ireland side placed in the same group as Israel. There was a one in four chance it would happen, and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) was ready with a statement, quickly confirming that Ireland would be playing the two matches against the Israeli team, home and away.

Such an announcement would seem strange at any other time. But the question of a sporting boycott of Israel has percolated throughout Europe, and Ireland has a particularly strong reputation for solidarity with the Palestinian people. The FAI knew that the call to boycott the games would be thunderous. And so it has been.

Sinn Féin, the main opposition party in Dublin, strongly criticized the FAI’s decision. Its spokesperson Joanna Byrne described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a “genocidal, ethnic cleansing mission that has seen tens of thousands of innocents murdered, including hundreds of sports men and women.” The Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), Ireland’s largest trade union, said that it was “unacceptable” that the FAI would “demand its employees and players engage with their Israeli counterparts” by fulfilling fixtures that “the vast majority of Irish people believe should not be taking place.”