The FAI will remove sponsor branding across all three Republic of Ireland men’s internationals in the forthcoming window as part of a wider scaling back of commercial and media activity surrounding the fixtures against Israel.

The decision will apply not only to the two Nations League games against Israel but also to the fixtures against Kosovo and Austria.

It means the normal sponsor branding around Ireland internationals, including logos displayed on media backdrops and other FAI-controlled inventory, will disappear throughout the window.

The FAI’s commercial portfolio normally gives prominent positioning to partners including Sky, Carlsberg, Circle K, Aviva, Castore, Cadbury, Club Orange and DHL.

The Association has clarified that the FAI made the decision to remove the branding after consulting with its commercial partners.

The sponsors are understood not to be receiving a financial rebate for the reduced contracted exposure, according to reports in the Irish Times.

Media activity is also being scaled back.

A traditional media day scheduled for this week, involving players and coaching staff, was cancelled, while other engagements and social media activity around the fixtures have been reduced to the minimum level required by UEFA.

RTÉ will fulfil its contractual obligation to broadcast the Israel matches, but without its normal studio presentation, and will not sell advertising or sponsorship around the coverage.

Newstalk will not provide live commentary of the two Israel fixtures, although both broadcasters will continue to cover them editorially as news events.

 

Sport for Business Perspective

Everybody involved was placed in an impossible position as soon as the balls fell the wrong way and Israel were drawn to play in the same group as the Republic of Ireland.

Reducing this to a visceral argument that engaging with Israel in any form equates to support for genocide is much easier to say, write or chant than it is to argue against.

I would feel more comfortable if I could be so certain and so absolute.

But if the belief is genuine, and for the vast majority it is, then don’t you have to carry it through to every aspect of our lives.  

To avoid any business that does business with Israel, you have to withdraw from the internet, social media in all its forms and effectively most forms of modern communication and engagement.  

You have to withdraw from any support of countries that support Israel, and that reduces your world further still.

You have to apply the same anger and demands to any sporting team or athlete, including at the recent European Athletics and Swimming Championships and the World Sailing Championships in Dun Laoghaire.  That didn’t happen.

You probably have to withdraw from any competition or organisation in which Israel is allowed to compete or operate, not just against your own country, but in any form.

Everything that the state of Israel is doing every day in Gaza and against the Palestinian people is wrong on every level.

But it was taken to this level by anger at an inhuman attack on a music festival that took over 1,000 lives on October 7th 2023.

Anger is a part of the human condition that rarely, if ever, produces anything positive.  We should perhaps consider that.

These games will pass; Israel’s attacks on an innocent population will end through collective political will and engagement, both externally and internally.  Not quickly enough, but through reason, not just anger. 

 

 

 

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Image Credit: FAI

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