The Football Association of Ireland has overwhelmingly approved a motion to call on Uefa to ban Israel from European club and international competitions.
The proposal – tabled by Dublin-based League of Ireland club Bohemians – called for Israel’s suspension for “violating two independent provisions of the Uefa statutes”.
The proposal was backed by 74 delegates at an emergency general meeting on Saturday, with seven votes against and two abstentions.
What is the background?
The motion tabled by Bohemians was co-signed by Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Cork City, the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland and a number of supporters’ groups and student leagues.
In a statement, Bohemians said they were “proud” to have advanced the motion and expressed gratitude to those delegates who had voted in favour.
The “violations” cited were the “organisation of clubs in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association” and a “failure to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy”.
In September, there were reports Uefa may hold a vote on whether to suspend Israel.
However such a move never materialised and any prospect of that happening receded after the announcement of the Israel-Hamas peace plan for Gaza in October.
Israel’s national team are playing in European qualifiers for next summer’s men’s Fifa World Cup, while Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv are competing in the Europa League.
In September, the Turkish Football Federation demanded Israel be banned from football, and a group of 48 athletes signed a joined letter calling for the country’s suspension.
James Bond star Pierce Brosnan had previously spoken about his estrangement with his son Christopher during an interview with Playboy in 2005
View 4 Images
Pierce, 72, was pictured with his estranged son Christopher, 52, and another of his sons Dylan in Notting Hill on Wednesday night(Image: / SplashNews.com)
Pierce Brosnan has reconciled with his estranged son Christopher – 20 years after revealing he had “cut him off” for refusing to kick his drug addiction.
Our exclusive pictures show the James Bond star, 72, and the 52-year-old filmmaker leaving a trendy bistro in London’s Notting Hill together on Wednesday night following a family meal.
An onlooker said: “They both looked happy and relaxed while sitting down with one of Brosnan’s other sons Dylan. Pierce and Christopher’s problems have been well documented. But it seems they’ve managed to put them behind them. It was really nice to see them together.”
Christopher, who worked as an assistant director on two of Pierce’s bond films, including The World Is Not Enough, is the biological son of Pierce’s late first wife, Australian actress Cassandra Harris and her ex-husband Dermot.
Dad-of-five Pierce, who later went on to marry current wife Keely Shaye Smith, adopted both Chris and his late sister Charlotte when their birth father died in 1986 while he was married to Cassandra. Charlotte tragically died from ovarian cancer – the same illness that took the life of her mother – in 2013 at the age of just 41.
Christopher, who starred in the original series of Love Island in 2005, has suffered from cocaine and heroin addictions. He was jailed for three months for drink-driving in 1997 after being fined £1,000 for the same offence the previous year.
He almost died after a drugs overdose in 2002 and later spent time in a £500-a-day rehab clinic. And he was later arrested in Brixton, South West London, for possession of heroin in 2005.
He hit the headlines after becoming involved in a massive brawl at Browns nightclub in London and was later banned from the venue and he was also arrested on suspicion of theft at West End nightclub Chinawhite, before charges were later dropped.
Pierce, who starred as 007 in four Bond films, including GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day, previously spoke about their estrangement during an interview with Playboy in 2005.
He said: “Christopher is still very lost. Shockingly so. I know where he is, but he’s having a hard life. I can only have strong faith and believe he will recover. He has tested everybody in this family, but none more so than himself. He knows how to get out. He doesn’t want to. It’s painful because you shut down.
“You never completely cut them off, but I have cut Christopher off. I had to say: ‘Go. Get busy living, or get busy dying. He has my prayers.”
Pierce previously appeared to reach out to Chris in a Father’s Day post in June 2022, writing: “My love forever to you dear sons, Paris, Dylan, Sean and Christopher, thank you deeply for your love on this Father’s Day.” However, while Pierce beamed alongside his other three sons Paris, Dylan and Sean, Chris was not present in the snap.
Tries Cowan-Dickie, Feyi-Waboso, Genge, George, Arundell, Itoje Cons: F Smith 4
Fiji (13) 18
England scored four second-half tries to see off a tough Fiji side in their second autumn internationalat Allianz Stadium.
The victory extends Steve Borthwick’s side’s winning run to nine games and backs up their win over Australia last Saturday.
England opened the scoring through Luke Cowan-Dickie before Fiji responded with tries by Tevita Ikanivere and Caleb Muntz.
Fly-half Muntz missed both conversions but nailed a penalty to take the visitors further clear before Immanuel Feyi-Waboso crossed.
Ellis Genge and Ikanivere then traded scores to spark an entertaining second half.
Once again England’s bench delivered in the second half after five forwards were rolled on with the score at 21-18.
Replacements Jamie George and Henry Arundell, who showed his scintillating pace, finished off tries to take the hosts clear.
Those scores came either side of Fiji scrum-half Simi Kuruvoli spilling the ball when attempting to score.
England captain Maro Itoje, who also came off the bench, grabbed the final try.
Fiji start fast to pressure England
Prior to this meeting, England had won eight of their nine games with Fiji – most recently winning 30-24 in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup.
That one defeat came at Twickenham two months prior to the tournament in France and was a major turning point under Borthwick.
With Fiji on a five-match winning run – their equal best streak since 1999 – the fixture was always likely to be competitive.
Following slick phase play, number eight Chandler Cunningham-South made good ground before Cowan-Dickie forced his way over for the opening score from close range, with Ikanivere’s try off the back of a maul adding a quick response.
Nicknamed the flying Fijians, that was evident in defence through monstrous first-half midfield hits, with full-back Marcus Smith, deployed as a second playmaker, in particular picked out.
But it was the vintage attacking Fijian flare that was the standout moment in the opening half as offloads cut England’s defence open for Muntz to score.
England’s star bench delivers again
Getty Images
England pulled away from Australia last Saturday in the final quarter through the power of their bench that contained six British and Irish Lions.
A much-changed starting XV from the win over the Wallabies did grab the next score as Genge crossed following a powerful run by Ollie Lawrence, who was making his international comeback after tearing his Achilles tendon against Italy in March.
However, after a smart line-out move was finished by Ikanivere, Borthwick unloaded five of his bench on the 54th minute – including Lions tourists Henry Pollock and Tom Curry.
With the game still in the balance, Fiji scrum-half Kuruvoli lost control of the ball when stretching for the tryline to cancel out replacement George’s try.
Flanker Ben Earl, a try-scorer against Australia, produced a stunning try-saving tackle to maintain breathing room between the sides.
It capped another all-round impressive performance by Earl, who picked up back-to-back player-of-the-match awards.
Arundell’s pace to race on to a Marcus Smith kick down the left flank showcased exactly why England’s bench is so impactful. The Bath speedster celebrated in style after racing past Bristol centre Kalaveti Ravouvou to touch down.
It is full of stars and quality, which has helped secure victories in the final quarter that were lost against Australia and the All Blacks last autumn.
Given Scotland ran New Zealand close, Borthwick’s side will fancy their chances of making a big statement next week.
Getty Images
‘Players deserve enormous credit’
England head coach Steve Borthwick told BBC Radio 5 Live: “The players deserve enormous credit for the resilience they show in these games. Having the composure, fitness and the strength off the bench in the final quarter is really important.
“I think the team has developed and grown today. They understand each other a bit more and that is part of the evolution of the team. What we need to do is keep learning.
“Fiji are a talented team that play some incredible rugby. The players were excited about today and you can see the impact Fiji had on us with the talent and physical challenge they bring.
Fiji rue disallowed Kuruvoli try
Fiji head coach Mick Byrne, speaking to BBC Sport about the try his side had disallowed when they trailed 26-18 during the second half:
“I think we did good work in the lead-up and it didn’t look like he lost control. It would have been a nice try to score.
“I am not sure if we would have won the game, but it would have kept the momentum going our way. But that is just the way it has gone.
“Full credit to England and Steve [Borthwick] for what they have done in the last 20 minutes.
“We are making the progress that we need to be making, moving forward to the 2027 World Cup.
Line-ups
England: M Smith; Freeman, Lawrence, Dingwall, Feyi-Waboso; F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Heyes, Coles, Chessum, Pepper, Earl, Cunningham-South
Replacements: George, Baxter, Opoku-Fordjour, Itoje, T Curry, Pollock, Spencer, Arundell
Novak Djokovic secured the 101st title of his career with victory at the Hellenic Championships – but then had to withdraw from the ATP Finals because of injury.
The Serb came through a gruelling encounter against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in Saturday’s final in Athens, fighting back from a set down to win 4-6 6-3 7-5.
But the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s victory came at a price, with Djokovic exacerbating an “ongoing” shoulder injury that will keep him out of the ATP Finals in Turin, which begin on 9 November.
“I was really looking forward to competing in Turin and giving my best but after today’s final in Athens, I’m sad to share that I need to withdraw due to an ongoing injury,” Djokovic wrote on social media.
“I’m truly sorry to the fans who were hoping to see me play – your support means so much. I wish all the players an amazing tournament, and I can’t wait to be back on the court with you all soon.”
Djokovic, 38, will be replaced in the finals by Musetti – who thought his chance of featuring in Turin had gone following his defeat.
On a day of thrilling tennis on the ATP tour, Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie missed out on a sixth career title as American teenager Learner Tien roared back to claim his first via a deciding set tie-break at the Moselle Open in France.
Norrie, 30, who was aiming for his first title in more than two years, produced a gutsy display to battle from a set down, then a break down in the deciding set.
‘An incredible battle, super demanding’
Djokovic is one of just three men to have racked up a century of titles.
The Serb still needs two to equal Roger Federer’s 103, while Jimmy Connors heads the list with 109.
It looked unlikely he would add to his tally as 23-year-old Musetti’s tireless running and accurate serving helped him to the opening set.
But after recovering to force a decider, Djokovic toughed out the victory, trading service breaks in the 10th and 11th games of the final set before closing it out with a love hold.
“It was an incredible battle – I don’t know [how I won it],” said the top seed who, at 38 years and five months, became the oldest tournament winner since Australia’s Ken Rosewall won in Hong Kong in 1977 aged 43.
“Three hours. [It was] a gruelling match physically, super demanding. Lorenzo played really well.
“It could have been anybody’s match so congrats to him for an amazing performance and I just feel very proud of myself to get through this one.”
It was Djokovic’s second title of 2025, having won on the clay of Geneva in May, while Musetti continues his wait for a maiden title after losing in six finals over the past two seasons.
Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay claimed her second world Ironman 70.3 title after coming through an “incredibly tough period” with injury and a family bereavement.
The win in Marbella came just four weeks after she was unable to finish the Ironman World Championship race in Kona, Hawaii.
“It was definitely an incredibly tough period, we had a lot going on, we had some family things happening and unfortunately we lost someone really special to us so I think that kind of changed my perspective quite a lot,” the 32-year-old said following her win.
“OK, Kona’s behind me, I’m healthy, I’m here, I guess life is short and you have to try and enjoy it.
“Thankfully it came together and put a lot of positivity into the family in what’s been a really, really tough time, so I’m so glad I could do that and honour the person we lost.”
Runner-up, American Taylor Knibb – who won the past three editions following Charles-Barclay’s 2021 success – similarly failed to finish in Kona and was only cleared to race on Friday, but the pair led from the front in the finale in Spain.
Charles-Barclay was first out of the water with a 47-second lead over Knibb and compatriot Jess Learmonth before Knibb took some time off the leader during the punishing bike stage, which included 5.8km of climbing.
Knibb then moved to the front of the run before Charles-Barclay reeled her back in, then pulled away to finish in four hours, 14mins 54 secs, three minutes ahead of Knibb.
McLaren’s Lando Norris took pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix hours after extending his championship lead with victory in the sprint.
The Briton shrugged off an error on his first lap that left him down in 10th place going into the final runs to secure pole position by 0.174 seconds from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
Norris’ team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri, fastest on the first laps in the top 10 shootout, could manage only fourth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Norris had it all to do after locking his front brakes going into the first corner on his first run in the shootout.
Piastri crashed out of third place in the sprint earlier in the day to fall nine points behind Norris in the championship but he nailed his first lap to go fastest from Leclerc.
But Norris has looked the man to beat all weekend and he delivered an impressive lap on his final run, under intense pressure, to beat his team-mate by 0.375secs.
“I felt good. I was under a bit of pressure because I locked up on my first lap so a little bit more stressful than I would have liked but stayed cool and very happy,” said Norris.
“Locking up into Turn One puts unnecessary pressure on myself but when I’m in a good rhythm, when I can out it all together, I’ll be on top.”
Antonelli, who pushed Norris all the way in the sprint, has been the lead Mercedes driver all weekend.
3 hours ago
23 hours ago
Verstappen’s first Q1 elimination since 2021
Verstappen was already struggling for pace in the sprint and Red Bull made changes to his car for the grand prix qualifying in the hope of finding more grip.
But they backfired and he was already fearing the worst after his first lap, when he said to his engineer: “The car and ride is a tiny bit better but now sliding even more.”
But he failed to improve on his final run and he suffered his first Q1 elimination since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.
“It’s not what you want see,” Verstappen said. “The whole weekend has been already quite tough.
