With the Union of European Football Associations – UEFA refusing to grant permission for the football match between Israel and Poland to start with a minute’s silence for the victims of the attacks by the terrorist group Hamas in Israel on the 7th of October this year, footballers aged 21 and under had no choice but to pay their respects at the match on their own terms, thus practically giving UEFA and its leadership a moral slap on the wrist.
The Polish national youth team hosted Israel in Lodz, and both teams decided to observe a minute’s silence as soon as they heard the whistle blowing to signal the start of the match.
The minute of silence was linked to the attack by the terrorist group Hamas in Israel, when they broke through the militarised Gaza border and, according to Israeli officials, killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 240 people hostage, including children.
Football players pay their respects anyway
Both groups of players stood in silence as the referee announced the start of the game, so no action could be seen in the first minute of the match. The players remained in their formation positions instead of gathering together as is customary for pre-match tributes, and there was also silence around the football pitch. The referees also waited patiently in silence.
According to the British Daily Mail, UEFA reportedly refused to grant permission for a minute silence to be held before the match – which ended 2-1 in favour of Poland – and this decision sparked a strange spectacle. Before the European Championship qualifiers in October, UEFA allowed a minute’s silence, but it was not seen in the last round of matches.
The senior Israeli football team will play again on Saturday against Romania, after having drawn Switzerland 1-1 in a “home game” that took place in Hungary in the wake of the war with Palestine. During the match with Switzerland, Israeli fans held up banners with the faces of those who were kidnapped in the terrorist attack last month. Israeli captain Eli Dasa held up the shoe of a young boy he said had been kidnapped by Hamas militants during an emotional tribute that took place during a press conference before the match with Switzerland.
The move was met with waves of support
Many believe that the players’ recent gesture is a real moral slap on the wrist for UEFA and its president Aleksander Čeferin, who has repeatedly said in the past that politics should not be mixed up in sport, but we have already seen that he himself has little qualms about commenting on politics in this country (this was particularly evident during the term of the previous government). In fact, the recent move by young footballers has been met with a wave of approval from users of the social network X. “Well done gentlemen”; “Respect”; “Shame on FIFA”; “It is sad that this behaviour from UEFA is not surprising”; “UEFA – part of the established globalist elite… The same ones who tried to silence the mockery and dissent when the British team knelt for those terrorists in BLM”; “Well done! I am proud of my Polish team and Israeli players! For people who say “what about the Palestinians…” this is not a contest in suffering. One does not exclude the other. If we were playing a Palestinian team, the attitude should be the same! Peace”; “Hats off to these guys, and nothing but contempt for UEFA and its pockets filled with oil dollars from the Gulf”; “An excellent, important gesture.”
A. H.
