Ireland player breaks rank and says Isreal game should not be going ahead

Jason Knight has spoken out to become the first player to declare that the Republic of Ireland should not be playing against Israel.

A candid Knight voiced his opinion following the 1-0 defeat to Kosovo in Pristina, stating his view ahead of what captain Dara O’Shea insisted would be a discussion between squad members on Friday over Sunday’s controversial game in Debrecen.

The highly emotive fixture, which is seen as unprecedented given the two countries are not in conflict, will be played a second time for the Republic of Ireland’s ‘home’ game, again behind closed doors, in the small Serbian town of Backa Topola on 4 October.

And the fixture has seen the Stop The Game protest group’s voice grow louder for the match to be boycotted amid the devastating conflict in Gaza.

Uefa have allowed Israel to continue to playing, despite the country being found by the United Nations independent international commission of committing of genocide in Gaza.

And Knight has opened up on the difficult position Heimir Hallgrimsson’s players find themselves in and the consequences that could come.

“Look, it’s difficult, the manager, and Dara, and Nathan [Collins] spoke well about it, I don’t think the game should be going ahead but it is going ahead,” Knight said. “We’ll have a deeper talk about it and what that means, we’ll get our thoughts as a group and go from there.

Kosovo's Baton Zabergja, right, challenges for the ball with Ireland's Jason Knight (AP)

“I think it was a difficult one. It’s obviously big talk in Ireland. I have been focusing on my football in England in the Championship. But I knew this was coming so I had a think about it.

“We had chats about it with the players, and more senior players on what the step will be. Now we’re here, we can have a really in depth talk of what that means and what the consequences are. We’ll do that [on Friday] and go from there.

“I am quite experienced. None of us have gone through this scenario before but I’d like to think I’m experienced, thick skin and can get through most things and that is what I will try and do. I’ll try and focus on the football as much as I can. I’ll give my view and my thoughts on when I see fit, but I’ll be trying to focus on the football as much as possible.”