Basketball Ireland said the accusations of anti-Semitism made by Israeli players against the Irish women’s team were “inflammatory and completely inaccurate” and said they had reported the comments to governing body FIBA Europe.
Tomorrow’s EuroBasket qualifiers for both teams have been overshadowed by Ireland’s campaign to boycott matches to be played in Latvia due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Basketball Ireland insists it cannot afford the financial and competitive impact of not playing games, with chief executive John Feehan yesterday telling RTÉ Sport that it would not be able to afford the potential sanctions. He said the Irish women’s team could go back to where they were 10 years ago.
Several players declined to travel for the game after Ireland refused to host the return match, scheduled to take place in November, opting for it to be played in a neutral country first.
Israeli head coach Sharon Drucker says the Irish have “no respect” for what the sport stands for after she and her players posed for photos with armed Israeli soldiers over the weekend. However, in an interview published yesterday on the Israeli Basketball Federation website, Dor Sa said: ‘ar said of the Irish: “They are known to be quite anti-Semitic, it’s no secret and that’s probably why a strong match is expected.”
“We have to show that we are better than them and win. We talk about it among ourselves, but we know they hate us and we always… And especially in this game, we’re going to leave everything on the field.”
In a statement to the Irish Independent, Basketball Ireland expressed regret over Mr Searle’s comments.
“Basketball Ireland is aware of comments made by members of the Israeli team and published on the Israeli Federation’s official channels ahead of this week’s FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers,” the statement said.
“The Irish basketball community is deeply disappointed by these inflammatory and completely inaccurate accusations.
“The Basketball Association of Ireland intends to refute these allegations against our players in the strongest possible terms and we have raised this matter with FIBA Europe.”