Le Hand of God

Rep of Ireland football team suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the World Cup playoffs to France after a battling display in the Stade De France last night. French striker & Former Arsenal frontman Thierry Henry was blatantly seen handling the ball before Gallas scored the goal which booked France's ticket to South Africa. Thierry Henry himself admitted that it was handball, but the Ref played on and allowed the goal to stand.

Should the player be branded a cheat or should the Ref take the heat?

Many who saw the game say they were confused as to whether they were watching a football game or a basketball game with the way he handled the ball rather blatantly. Some even think they may be a conspiracy against the ROI team.....

A ref is only human & sometimes Humans make errors...... Do you think replays would be useful?

I actually have an opinion on this!!

Nobody likes cheating in sport but one thing that really winds me up is when players/managers/refs get disciplined after a match. To my mind the game lasts as long as it lasts and if a ref doesn't make the call that everyone else thinks he should make then tough shit! It is just a game after all, to turn it into a legal/moral battle in aid of a witch hunt for the perpetrator seems grossly unfair to me.

Wouldn't take long at all. An incident happens & on TV it's replayed less than a couple of seconds later, from any angle you wish. Another official sitting with the replay screen would speed things up. That person would be able to speak to the ref through the earpiece which Refs now wear. It would take about the same amount of time as it takes the players to have a go at the ref, scream & shout & grudgingly accept what has happened. Would also kill the argument dead its tracks.....

The upsides to replays would be, yes, people would still complain about decisions, but they couldn't blame the ref or blame conspiracy theories. They would have to blame themselves for not doing better........

Fair enough during a game but once the final whistle is blown what happened on the pitch should stay on the pitch.

Agreed. And the Ref's word should be final. like it or lump it.

Do you think Ireland should get a replay?

I don't know what you're talking about!

Must find footie fans!

I just re-read the first post so I know what you're talking about now

Haven't we answered that question though? Whistle was blown and the game has now finished, you just have to accept the mistakes and hope one day they work in your favour.

Doesn't happen at all unless the game is called off for some reason, and even then they usually only play the time which was remaining.

FIFA rules are quite clear on the ref's decision being final & I think that bending that rule in this case would just open a big can of worms......

I hope I never piss you off fluffy

fluffy wrote: First time Ive seen this thread.Henry is a dirty cheating liar who has cheated a lot of "lesser" players of ever appearing in a world cup finals.Of course hes been schooled by the biggest cheat of them all,Arsenic Wenger.His whole PR exercise in the fallout after the game was a disgraceful sham.A superb player who graced the premiership and delighted friend and foe with his incredible ability.His name will be forever tarnished.This is just another obvious reason for video technology to be brought in.Aside from the fact of the financial loss teams/countries/clubs all over the world face due to incompetant human error,along with F.I.F.A.s blatant corruption.A whole country,beset with economic ruin and already facing down the end of a tunnel with no light at the end.Had to have the prospect of a temporary respite from misery snatched(literally) from their grasp by a shower of cheating corrupt filth who were odds on to go through anyway.With their far bigger pool of players to choose from.After already having F.I.F.A. change the rules for the play-off draw weeks before they were due to begin.Enabling the higher ranked teams to play the four weakest teams.Originally was meant to be an open draw.But bigger countries have bigger T.V. audiences.I personally think its disgraceful.The whole thing was rigged for France to get through.How on earth could the linesman not see it?The fluffster has spoken

I for one think that maybe Ireland can rue a hatful of wasted chances........ France were looking the inferior side, Ireland were coasting. They scored one goal & were hoping for extra time & penalties. How DUMB is that? Had they put the ball in the net just one more time, after all the chances they had, Henry handballing would not have mattered one inch. I personally can't call Henry a "Cheat" purely because what he did has been happening in football the world over, from Pub football right the way up to international level. Do you call a player a cheat when they carry on playing while a player is on the ground? No, just bad sportsmanship.
How about when the ball goes out for a throw in but no one sees it & the player keeps going? Cheating?
Handball in the penalty area & the ref doesn't see? Cheating? No, just bad luck.
Ball in the net but ref rules it out. Do you call the players cheats? No. You say the ref needs glasses.

Bottom line for me is it's not Henry who cheated. It's up to the Ref & the linesmen to spot these things. They didn't, so for me it's tough luck Ireland.
And I don't buy this conspiracy thing either. Bigger countries getting bigger TV audiences? The Irish are all over the world. Look at Paddy's day celebrations! They take place in just about every major city in the world with massive Irish turnout. Paddy's day is bigger in England than St. George's day! To prove it, ask 10 people when Paddy's day is. Then ask the same ten when St. Georges Day is. See which people know best. If it's TV figures which FIFA wanted then they would certainly take the Irish over the French. How do you think those twatish twins managed to stay in X-Factor so Long? The Irish vote is powerful........ I think that they should stop blaming it on others & start to look at themselves....... One goal in 180 minutes of football simply isn't good enough at this level. 2 goals over the same period would've seen Ireland through & France out....... Maybe they should spend the summer working on their shooting.....

Well, maybe the Irish players should've walked off the pitch & waited to see if they got a replay too....... Bahrain & Uzbekistan (It’s still a “Stan” ) looks to be different. The Refs report included the incident, so it proves he saw it but didn't apply the proper rules. To not have that game replayed would've been cheating as the ref saw the incident. The ref from the France Ireland game didn't include the handball in the report, so it's judged that he didn't see it. Also, from where he was standing it can be said that he didn't see it. Open & shut case I'm afraid. How many games would have to be replayed every week if a replay was set every time the ref missed an incident? It would be madness I tell you! Utter Madness!

FIFA may well be corrupt, but is there really a governing body that isn't? Hell, is there a government that isn't?

Fluffy, you are right. Two wrongs don't make a right. I would've loved to see Ireland at the world cup! My dream is for Ireland & Jamaica to make it to the world cup final against each other. With those 2 sets of fans, whatever the result, there would be one HELL of a party after the game!