The FAI have apologised after James McClean took to social media with a furious message about the match programme for Ireland v Wales on Tuesday.
There was disappointment on the field for the Ireland women’s team on Tuesday night, as their Euro 2025 dreams came to an end with playoff defeat to the Welsh in Dublin.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Ireland looked to be in the ascendancy at half-time, but a Welsh penalty just after the break spooked the home side and, ultimately, a late revival was not enough to salvage a 2-1 defeat for Ireland.
It was a heartbreaking end to the Euros campaign for Eileen Gleeson’s side, with the Ireland head coach’s future up in the air.
The match programme in the Aviva Stadium rightly paid tribute to the huge strides taken by the women’s team in recent years and the huge uptick in girls playing football up and down the country.
However, one detail in a section detailing the diverse origins of this Ireland team has not gone down well with former men’s international James McClean.
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James McClean speaks out on contentious Derry graphic in Ireland programme
In one section of Tuesday’s match programme, a map of Ireland was labelled with the players in the squad who could call each county “home.” For some players, such as English-born Lily Agg, the county labelled was where their Irish roots stemmed from.
However, fans noticed that Derry was listed on the map as ‘Londonderry’ (as well as ‘Doire’), causing much reaction online.
Unsurprisingly, once James McClean became aware of the graphic, he made his feelings clear on social media.
McClean shared a photo of the map to his Instagram story, calling the programme “disgusting.”
The match programme at last nights Ireland vs Wales game at the Aviva Dublin…disgusting, pathetic, insulting, hang your heads in shame you shower of arseholes!
One did not have to overthink what particular detail of the programme McClean had raised issue with.
In a statement to The42.ie, the FAI apologised for the misprint.
“The wrong graphic was inadvertently used in an Ireland Women’s National Team match programme,” said an FAI spokesperson, “this was a genuine mistake and the Football Association of Ireland apologises for any offence caused”
The ex-Ireland men’s captain has just endured his traditional annual media storm for refusing to wear a poppy.
In a well-articulated social media post, McClean explained why he does not agree with wearing a poppy – mainly due to the actions of the British military in his home city Derry during the Troubles. Despite having a reasonable and politely delivered explanation for being opposed to a commemoration of fallen British military personnel, the abuse towards McClean in the UK has been so severe that the EFL have seen fit to introduce special measures to protect him on the pitch.
No surprise, then, that he would take issue with the Ireland v Wales programme listing his home county as ‘Londonderry.’
It is not the first issue with an Ireland football programme this year. At an U21 game between Ireland and Latvia in September, a translation error saw the names of several Latvian players listed incorrectly.
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