Derry City and Strabane District Council members have clashed over the recent withdrawal of Israeli competitors from the Europe Triathlon Cup.

The Europe Triathlon Cup, which took place in Derry on Saturday, September 5, was the first international triathlon to be hosted the city for over three decades and attracted athletes from all over the world.

However, days before the event, organisers from the North West Triathlon Club (NWTC) confirmed that four Israeli athletes had been withdrawn amid safety concerns over their participation.

During September’s Business and Culture Committee meeting, Sinn Féin councillor Aisling Hutton praised NWTC’s “very brave and right decision”.

Differing views were expressed at the Council meeting.

placeholder image — Differing views were expressed at the Council meeting.

“It’s just to commend that organisation for listening to the people and understanding how detrimental that would have been,” she added.

DUP alderman Chelsea Cooke said her party was disappointed by the decision and argued that politics “should have no place in sport”.

“We pride ourselves on being a welcoming and inclusive city but that must mean that everyone’s welcome, not just when it suits,” she said.

“Sport should unite people and not divide them, and we feel that anyone coming to our city peacefully to compete in sport should be made to feel welcome.”

UUP alderman Derek Hussey added: “I congratulate the organisers on a tremendous event, but like Alderman Cooke I have to reflect on the exclusion of four athletes.

“I presume the triathlon is part of a series, so they’ll be going somewhere else and competing, but they’ve been denied the opportunity of building up [what] I presume is a points-based cumulative scenario. They’ve been denied that opportunity by their exclusion from the event and that is tremendously disappointing."

Independent councillor Gary Donnelly noted that Russian competitors have been banned from several events.

“The previous speakers were saying politics shouldn’t come into sport, and if that was the case then do they say that Russian athletes shouldn’t be banned?” he asked.

“I think that that it was right that those Israeli athletes didn’t take part, because that is a nation where military service is compulsory and, whether people want to admit it or not, there’s an actual genocide being played out live throughout the world.

“Many young Palestinians have been deliberately maimed and Palestinian athletes have been barred from leaving Palestine, so I think there’s a bit of hypocrisy going on here.

“Do we want to keep politics out of sport? Then it has to be right across the board.”