The voices of opinion expressing disappointment that next week's football match against Yugoslavia is going ahead are gaining strength. It's rare for the Government to agree so strongly on any one matter, but calls to have the match called off have been consistent for several weeks. On Thursday there were even stronger calls within Cabinet with the news of the war crimes indictment of Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic.
The final call for the match to go ahead was given by the European governing body for soccer, UEFA, on Tuesday, following their executive committee meeting in Barcelona. Last month it appointed a special six-man task force in Tel Aviv to examine the issue and the findings of that group, which was headed by UEFA General Secretary Gerhard Ainger, was that it was safe to proceed with the match.
"We understand that there is opposition to the game in Dublin, but we cannot go on postponing games indefinitely," said a UEFA spokesman. "People must realise we are attempting to preserve normality in a war situation. "That is, of course, very difficult, but we would hope that national federations will be reasonable and see the problem for what it is."
The Football Association of Ireland has made repeated calls for the game to be postponed but its hands are tied by the UEFA decision. The Irish case was put by FAI representative Des Casey, a member of the UEFA body, but the requests were rejected. The Republic's manager, Mick McCarthy, has told of his difficulty in preparing the team in light of the current atmosphere.
On Thursday, youth manager Brian Kerr also came out strongly against the fixture saying that although the Government cannot tell people who to play football against, "they can go and make their case to the EU heads".
Yugoslavia was thrown out of the 1992 European championship by UEFA but that is a move it appears unwilling to make this time. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, a patron of the FAI, was one of the first to indicate that he would not attend the game as a mark of protest. Mr Andrews was among the EU foreign ministers who voted last month to discourage sporting contact with Yugoslavia so long as the Balkans crisis remains unresolved.
Some political parties have expressed their concerns this week about the game. Mr Proinsias De Rossa, the Labour spokesman on foreign affairs, said he was "surprised that given the situation in Yugoslavia and the concern about the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo that UEFA has not intervened and at least postponed the match".
Mr De Rossa also said that while he didn't support the NATO bombing, he was absolutely horrified by the ethnic cleansing being carried out by Serbian forces in Kosovo. "We have to look at other methods of demonstrating our opposition to the Serbian actions," he said. "One obvious way of doing this is by not attending the match and while that is a matter for each individual, I would suggest that others stay away also."
Dr McDaid, the Minister for Sport, this week reiterated that he was "surprised and disappointed" at the insistence of UEFA that the game should go ahead. "The decision ignores both the request of the FAI and the decision of the European foreign ministers that member states and sporting organisations should not encourage contacts with Yugoslavia given the illegal and appalling actions of the Yugoslavian regime against the people of Kosovo," he said. There has also been a unanimous voice of opinion within Irish sport that the game should be postponed. The executive chairman of the Irish Sports Council, Mr John Treacy, believes that sport and politics will always mix and it is necessary to take steps against the countries that carry out these kind of atrocities. "We are all appalled at what is going on in Yugoslavia and a game like this shouldn't proceed," said Mr Treacy. "If you look at the 1980 Olympics and the only sanction taken against Russia was sporting. But you can't just make it sporting matters. There must be other measures as well."
Several international aid agencies have expressed disappointment this week that such a sporting fixture would proceed given the current atmosphere around the Balkans. A spokesperson for Trocaire said: "We regret that the match is going to proceed given that the Yugoslavian team are playing under the same flag as the forces that are currently conducting ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. "Through our work in the refugee camps of Albania and Macedonia, Trocaire is observing daily the human cost of the this conflict and attempting to meet the needs of those who have suffered so horrifically as a result of this war."
There have also been objections from both GOAL and Concern as to the suitability of a soccer match with Yugoslavia being played given the conditions around the Balkan states.
