IRISH FA IGNORE CALLS TO DITCH ISRAEL CLASH

NORTHERN IRELAND’S friendly against Israel at Windsor Park will be met with protests tonight. The Irish FA have rejected Sinn Fein’s calls for the match to be scrapped over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza, but the republican party will demonstrate in Derry to coincide with kick-off. The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement plan a separate protest in Belfast at the same time, calling for McDonald’s to end their 12-year partnership with the IFA. More than 5,000 signatures are on a petition calling for the match be cancelled, but the official Northern Ireland supporters’ club backs the IFA’s stance by insisting that politics have no place in football.