Friday, November 20, 2009
March tomorrow as Henry calls for a replay!
There is a FAIR PLAY = REPLAY march tomorrow, from Landsdowne Road to the French Embassy, kick off 2 PM.
We are protesting against FIFA’s decision not to allow a replay of the France vs Ireland Qualifier. We are calling on the French Football Federation to join our calls for Fair Play to prevail.
We hope at the very least we will highlight to the issue of the need for Video Referreeing in games of this magnitude.
Please Join Us!!!
- BRING FLAGS, BANNERS AND WEAR GREEN
- CONTACT YOUR LOCAL NEWS STATIONS TO MAKE THEM AWARE
- ENJOY THE DAY!!!
Meanwhile the pressure for a replay continues to build. The man at the centre of the storm, Theirry Henry has called for a reply (hat tip Pierre) as have a senior French government minister and David Ginola.
Adds: FIFA invalidates Uzbekistan-Bahrain result; match to be replayed. Slightly different circumstances, but perhaps letter of the law vs the spirit of the law?
Mack @ 12:42 PM
roy kean sums it up:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/8370327.stmPosted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 01:55 PMTotal nonsense we wuz beaten, very very disappointing - but there should be no replay - move on.
Futurey,
loved the bit with the mobile phone.
Ireland to win on Saturday week? Think we should edge it.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:12 PMIt was Sammy -
Regardless of whether there will actually be a replay - I think it’s fair enough for people to highlight the injustice with respect to the cheating (esp. given FIFA’s rule changing mid-competition). Football is a hugely important part of our culture, I think it’s wrong for people just to give up and tolerate the deliberate cheating and fouling that goes on at the highest level - where it is beamed into household’s worldwide and it’s proponents are placed on pedestals as rolemodels.
We don’t want cheats as role models for our children. Soccer has a problem it needs to solve.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:17 PMThat’s a bit rich from Roy, who walked out on the team because facilities weren’t up to his standards?
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:18 PMIt was Sammy -
Should there be a replay in all probability France will win it. They’ll go to the finals with the whole country behind them and Henry as a hero. I think they are quite crest fallen at the minute.
There are other ways this could be dealt with. A draconian punishment to make an example and discourage others, or introduce video replays for referees in televised games. But some form of justice must be done.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:24 PMOMG. We really are trying to live up to that MOPE tag.
Get over it already.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:33 PMMack
You’ve hit the nail on the head. It appears that most French people would want a replay precisely because they don’t want their team tainted with the tag of reaching the Finals and contesting games under such a cloud. A perfectly fair minded position, and fair play to them.
I can’t imagine FIFA will change their stance but they should be made to feel very uncomfortable about it, not least given the shenanigans surrounding the announcement to seed qualifier teams, made when it appeared a possibility that Italy and either Russia or Germany would have to go that route- as well as Portugal.
In the end, the best outcome might be FIFA finally acting to introduce video replay option in international matches- something which has drastically reduced the number of glaring mistakes from sports like tennis, rugby and American football (the latter at college and professional levels.)
Oh, and as compensation, maybe they could move us up a pot in the European Qualifying draw…..
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:39 PMMark -
I’m not sure that particular tag is directed at southerners, or relevant to this. It’s a football match, it’s not the end of the world either way. But that doesn’t mean we should do nothing, as a morality tail I don’t think it was a particularly acceptable one. Just doing something raises peoples spirits too given the current cirsumstances we find ourselves in.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:39 PMMark
If we are still on about it in 20 years then maybe MOPE tag might stick. This will blow over in a week. Mack is right that while we have it pressure should be used in order to try and effect change for the future. Unless you think cheating is ok?
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:40 PMken,
You’ve clearly not met me. I’ve no problem with cheating. Dishonourable victories are still victories.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:43 PMWho said:
“Ireland benefited from a controversial penalty in their favour in a 2-1 qualifying win over Georgia.”
“It was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen which changed the whole course of the game.”
“I don’t remember the FAI after the game saying we should give them a replay.”
Clue: Surname starts with K
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:43 PM6countyProd -
It’s not just a dodgy decisions - it’s blatant deliberate cheating made very clear by television. While FIFA still prevent officials from taking advantage of that technology to help stamp it out.
That Irish players also cheat doesn’t really matter - the problem is the cheating itself and that needs to be addressed. No-one is calling for Ireland to automatically qualify (I’m very sceptical we’d repeat that performance against France).
Compare the way in which the Bloodgate scandal in Rugby was dealt with - where the officials went to town on the cheats with FIFA’s reaction here - there website was practically gushing about Henry’s pass and Gallas goal yesterday.
It isn’t sport, it’s gamesmanship. It’s a big issue for us now because it affects us this time - next time it may well be your team that suffers because of cheating. But all the while our kids are learning lessons from football - unfortunately they’re the wrong lessons.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:56 PMTo Quote the great Cincinnatti coach Marvin Lewis; You gotta be sh***n’ me.
Is the flooding and everything else thats wrong with the country not that important, that people would down tools over a football match!
You’d swear Monsieur Henry murdered someone. Its sport, people break the rules and sometimes get away with it. Referees make mistakes from time to time. Thats just the way it is. A
ll this bloody hand-wringing, the disgusting “frog” references its all getting embarrasing and even shameful. I’m not sure if we’re in a recession at all if this is all people care about.
I’m as sport mad as the next man but For Gods sakes.
What does the World Cup really mean to us anyway! Its an excuse to throw a party and get p*****d. Do we really need one, like?
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:57 PMKeane = Legend. Although, could one of the reporters not mention he signed Paul McShane for Sunderland!
And as for staring down the reporter whose phone went off… Brilliant!
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:58 PMMark
You’ve clearly not met me. I’ve no problem with cheating. Dishonourable victories are still victories.
Ah. I admire the purity of spirit, if nothing else. Less forgiveable when the governing body has a lot to say on the topic, though.
6county
What, the K that walked out on his country at a World Cup and demonstrated he’s not right in the head?
That still burns. That was not a high quality tournament, and Keane had basically dragged us through qualifying. We seriously could have went to the semis or final the way that draw opened up.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 02:59 PM‘OMG. We really are trying to live up to that MOPE tag.’
Bad and all as that is, a lot of supporters from other countries would have redesigned Paris for free after what happened last Wed night.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:02 PMThat Keane clip is classic. I’m glad we lost now just because it resulted in that moment.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:06 PMDo I have sympathy for the ROI about a replay? No. It happens every week at every level so what’s special about them? Nothing.
To protest demonstartes immaturity.
Should IT be used to stop the cheats? Of course.
On Sunday Robbie Savage stated he would have no hesitation in putting the ball into the net if it meant his team won. Dean Kiely was sitting beside him and didn’t disagree.
Meanwhile Eygpt and Algeria are knocking six bells out of each other.Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:10 PM‘Compare the way in which the Bloodgate scandal in Rugby was dealt with - where the officials went to town on the cheats with FIFA’s reaction here - there website was practically gushing about Henry’s pass and Gallas goal yesterday.’
Excellent points. The game of soccer is being shown up as a joke. Business first Game Second.
Yes, Mark - It was almost worth it! :)
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:13 PMMack, I have some sympathy with your sentiments but I think you’re a couple of decades too late in the debate what function role models perform in society. A glimpse of shocking ain’t too shocking when the biggest pop icon was infamous for touching up little boys and buying their silence with multi-million pay-offs or when supermodels have had more powder up their noses than your average plasterer - not to mention politicians who can be talked about seriously as presidential candidates despite winning large amounts of cash on the horses or having friends who are fond of throwing wads of Sterling at them for no reason other than they’re nice guys. You’d have to be a fool to tell your kids to look at any public figure with anything gaze other than two jaundiced eyes. Role models? Oh boy!
You could mount a big campaign and stuff but even if you got a result by that means you wouldn’t get it on a point of principle but rather on a point of publicity which would be passed off as principle. You’d end up helping to promote the wrong message, i.e. that fair play has any relevance.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:17 PMStephen,
I don’t see any replay happening unless the French were so ashamed of cheating their way into the World Cup THEY demanded a replay.
But what happens every week in football is irrelevant. This game and that piece of cheating is worth a precious World Cup spot AND more money to France, or would have been to Ireland, than Liverpool or Man Utd winning a Champions League trophy.
£100 million it could cost the economy of Ireland; with the North also losing money because over half the people in the north support the 4 province team. How many games ‘every week’ are worth that much money?
So most people are objective enough to see it wasn’t an ordinary game with so much resting on it.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:35 PMMack,
this thread is highlighting the ridiculous idea of marches and petitions and embassies crazy-dog stuff. There should be no replay - if I am offered the final say on this (which I expect to happen imminently) I shall say no feck off and get a grip.
Regarding ‘cheating’, it is an extremely complicated issue, and I am not convinced of what the best thing to do is - but we are in danger of the protest nonnsense becoming worse that the original act by Thierry. When Neil Back ‘cheated’ against Munster in the Heineken Cup final Munster put it in their locker and have gone on to win the fecking thing twice. Ireland should look to the next one and stop whinging.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:49 PMrepublic of c
what happens every week in football is NOT irrelevant.
The Republic’s draw with France only highlights the case further for video assistance - there’ll probably be another similar situation in the city v l’pool match - infact the greater the hype on the fixture the greater the pressure on the ref who only has two eyes compared to the 120,044 eyes in the rest of the stadium.
Your team is just another victim of what the ref didn’t see.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 03:51 PMThat’s a fair point, a wile melee, and it should be introduced ASAP because games of this importance can’t be decided in extra time by cheating.
Thierry Henry, much as I admire the guy as a player, needs to get a 3 match ban. He can’t be allowed to cheat in front of a world audience and not be punished afterwards.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 04:11 PMMack
“It’s not just a dodgy decisions - it’s blatant deliberate cheating made very clear by television. While FIFA still prevent officials from taking advantage of that technology to help stamp it out.”
Henry said he is not a cheat, Trapatoni , Brady, Duff, Roy Keane insist he is not a cheat. Why do you insist in contunally insulting the man in this way.
Stop yer crying and grow up.
Posted by on Nov 20, 2009 @ 04:15 PM
