Heimir Hallgrímsson: ‘Finn Azaz is one of the people I admire the most in all of this’

Much of the narrative about the build-up to last Sunday’s game against Israel had Gavin Bazunu and Finn Azaz pitted against each other, one the hero, the other the villain, depending on your point of view.

Bazunu, of course, chose not to make himself available for the game, saying his decision was “based purely upon my belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong”. Azaz, who has strong Israeli family connections, was reported to be reconsidering his future as an Irish international, such has been his unease with the nature of the conversation around the Israel games.