Republic of Ireland's Nations League media call ends in chaos after question by Israeli journalist about flydubai

Republic of Ireland's Nations League press conference descended into chaos after Israeli journalists started asking questions about the flydubai attack and alleged racial abuse of players.

Ahead of Ireland's game with Israel on Sunday, Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson was responding to a question by an Israeli journalist about the alleged flydubai 'terrorist' attack.

But the Irish communications officer Kieran Crowley intervened, saying the question would not be answered.

The Israeli journalist asked: "What do you say about the people that you support? Their ideology is based on murder."

Mr Crowley responded: "We're not doing any questions like this today, no. We're doing football questions."

The journalist then asked whether Finn Azaz, an Irish player of Israeli heritage who did not play in the last game, would play on Sunday. Hallgrimsson said he would not answer questions about his line-up before they are announced.

A second Israeli journalist then took the microphone and alleged the Irish players used racially abusive language against their players last Sunday.

Mr Crowley said: "That is completely untrue... That's a lie. You've just broadcast a lie." He then ended the press conference.

According to Irish news outlet RTE, a briefing for Irish media only then took place in a separate room, but a member of the Israeli broadcast media tried to join in.

This led to the briefing being moved to another section of the stadium.

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The second Nations League game between the two countries is due to be held at a neutral venue in Serbia on Sunday evening.

Last Sunday's fixture was marred by controversy, as Republic of Ireland players did not shake hands with the Israeli team and bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem.

The match took place in the near-empty Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, and saw Ireland win 0-3.

A small number of tickets were made available to Israel fans through the country's football association, while none were assigned to Ireland supporters - yet a group of around 10 people were seen celebrating when Ireland scored.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is investigating accusations that Israeli fans racially abused goalscorer Adam Idah during the game. Israeli reports allege that their players were racially abused, but these were not raised during the game.

There was doubt over whether the game would take place at all on Saturday, when an Ireland press conference and training session were delayed after goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu told staff he wanted to leave due to "discomfort" at participating against Israel.

In an Instagram post, the reserve goalkeeper said his decision came because of his "personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong".

His exit from the team triggered four hours of talks between the Ireland players, who eventually held a vote on whether to boycott the game - which passed with a "significant majority" according to the Football Association of Ireland's CEO David Courell.

After the game, Israeli captain Manor Solomon said that Ireland "hates us, and we don't like them".

Ireland has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel's war in Gaza and there have been numerous protests in the country calling for the team not to fulfil the fixtures with Israel after the teams were drawn together in February.

An investigation into the flydubai incident on Wednesday is still ongoing.

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