Ireland is due to play Israel in Latvia tomorrow, Thursday, February 8 for the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Women's EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers after the original match-up was postponed from November.
The Irish team has been facing calls to boycott the game due to the war in Gaza, prompting Basketball Ireland to issue a statement on January 25 explaining why it was going ahead with the game.
Speaking on the decision to contest the game with Israel, Basketball Ireland CEO John Feehan said on Tuesday: “We are aware of the intense feeling around this fixture and as we have said continuously ahead of this game, the situation that people in Gaza are dealing with is dreadful and we are all extremely concerned about the events unfolding.
"Failing to fulfill this fixture would effectively condemn Irish women’s basketball to the wilderness for five years, as well as incurring fines of up to €180,000 from FIBA."
After reiterating Basketball Ireland's sympathies for Gaza, Feehan further told RTÉ on Tuesday: "The reality is, is it going to make a blind bit of difference if we make a grand gesture? And the simple answer to that is, in our view, no.
He added: "I'm not prepared to destroy my sport for a gesture that will have no impact."
Basketball Ireland CEO John Feehan has said that a boycott by the Ireland women's team of their EuroBasket qualifier against Israel would mean a 10-year long spell in the wilderness for the sport in this country. pic.twitter.com/5uetXRd9i5
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 6, 2024
Despite this, five Irish players have reportedly chosen not to participate in Thursday’s game against Israel.
The calls for a boycott intensified this week after the Israel Basketball Association (IBBA) shared photos from a practice session that was attended by members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday, February 4.
After the practice session, Israeli team coach Sharon Drucker said during a press conference: "Both the team and our players are not disconnected, we know what is happening with the Irish and what happened to them.
"There is no point in getting the players hot and fired up because they will come with motivation and a desire to win anyway.
"I have a lot to say about it but I prefer not to speak and keep the national team focused on basketball, but sport should be an integral part of what it symbolizes and Ireland did not accept that."
On Tuesday, the IBBA said that the Israeli team had arrived in Latvia, adding that "The team decided to officially completely ignore all the statements of the Irish before the game and deal with them as little as possible."
Israeli player Dor Sa'ar further said: "It's known that they [the Irish] are quite anti-Semitic and it's no secret, and maybe that's why a strong game is expected.
"We have to show that we're better than them and win. We talk about it among ourselves. We know they don't like us and we will leave everything on the field always and in this game especially."
The Israel v Ireland FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers game is due to be live-streamed at 4 pm Irish time on Thursday on YouTube:
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