IRELAND STAR JAMIE Azeri police arrived and were not happy
BETWEEN journalists, photographers, TV camera people and FAI officials, there were over 30 people in a relatively small, airless room in Abbotstown on Tuesday.
All bar one had to show proof of vaccination against Covid to be there. The exception was Callum Robinson.
He has already had Covid twice, missing several games for club and country because of it, but he made it clear at the press conference that he has no intention of getting the vaccine.
Robinson is far from alone. There is a massive resistance to vaccination within professional football.
A huge percentage of Premier League footballers have declined to get the jab — despite all the clubs having their own medical staff who would be well able to explain just what is involved.
Robinson is one of up to 10 players in the Ireland squad not to get the vaccine.
Virility
Stephen Kenny was, understandably, asked about this and he mentioned fears over virility.
This is something that has been out there for a while — it has been pushed hard by antivaxxers.
It’s a myth, though. There is no hard evidence to indicate that Covid vaccines will affect virility.
But mentioning it as a possibility is something that resonates with young men, in particular.
Last month, the pop star Nicki Minaj tweeted that a cousin’s friend was dumped at the altar on his wedding day because the Covid vaccine made his testicles swell.
This claim was quickly debunked by medical experts. They made it clear it was nonsense.
But Minaj has a staggering 22 million followers on Twitter. How many of them took what she said as gospel?
So many people now take their news or digest information from all sorts of unreliable sources.
That has fed into those who want to push the anti-vax agenda.
Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, was bang on when he spoke about this issue last weekend.
According to Klopp, 99 per cent of his players are vaccinated. He has no time for those pushing against the jab.
“I got the vaccination because I was concerned about myself but even more so for everyone around me,” he said.
“If I get it and suffer — my fault. If I get it and spread it around to everyone else — my fault and not their fault.
“Where did I get the knowledge from that I think it makes sense to get the vaccination? I called doctors who I’ve known for years.
“Most specialists tell us the vaccination is the solution for the situation in this moment.”
Klopp highlighted an essential truth. If you decide you’re not getting vaccinated, it’s a situation that can affect others — because there’s more chance of you spreading the virus.
You have a responsibility to family and co-workers to get the jab — I think Covid vaccination should be virtually compulsory.
This is a complicated situation for Kenny — and all international managers — because the players effectively belong to their clubs.
International managers only borrow them for short spells. But, since he came into the job, Kenny has been dogged by Covid. So many positive cases, so many players ruled out as close contacts.
It must be hugely frustrating for him that someone like Robinson — who has had Covid twice, remember — still doesn’t want to get vaccinated.
Force
But what can Kenny do? He can’t force anyone to get the jab if they don’t want to. The players have the right to make their own choices.
Yesterday, the Bild newspaper in Germany reported Hertha Berlin are now getting unvaccinated players to pay for their own Covid tests.
That works out at about €1600 per month per player. It’s an interesting stance — hitting them in the pocket if they don’t get jabbed.
Hertha say that 90 per cent of their players and staff are fully vaccinated. In the Premier League, only seven of the 20 clubs are over 50 per cent.
Robinson referred to the protocols put in place — and it’s clear that some players feel this gives them enough protection.
But those protocols were there for a lot of other international breaks, and look at how that worked out.
Ultimately, this isn’t about the individual, it’s about the wider community. Robinson and others who’ve taken this stance have let the rest of us down.
JAMIE McGRATH has recalled how he had a brush with the law during his last visit to Azerbaijan.
The Ireland midfielder was in Baku two years ago with Dundalk for a Champions League clash with Qarabag when local cops threatened both McGrath and teammate Sean Gannon with arrest.
Their ‘crime’?
They were doing an interview on- camera with RTE!
However, it took several nervy minutes and some angry exchanges before they got to the bottom of their al leged indiscretion.
Dundalk lost the game 3-0, having drawn 1-1 in the home leg, but when asked for his memories of the trip, McGrath had only one response.
“I nearly got arrested,” he said. “Hopefully it’s not like that this time.
“I think it was me and Sean Gannon at the time, we were out there for Dundalk playing against Qarabag.
“We were doing media for RTE at the time and we were beside the sea, on this boardwalk.
“We were doing an interview to camera and out of nowhere about five policemen came up on this little cart.
“We thought strange’.
“We were looking around and it turns out we were the culprits.
“We didn’t realise we were doing anything wrong. ‘ this is a bit
Understand
“They started speaking and we couldn’t understand a word they were saying.
“They were kind of getting a bit aggressive and we were looking around, we didn’t know what we did wrong.
“It turns out it was private