thierry henri

[Ken Gargett]

surprised no post on this, unless i missed it.

cannot believe the fuss and the condemnation of this bloke. it was tragic for ireland and deeply unfair (and those that believe fifa want certain teams in the world cup at the expense of others have a lot of ammunition) but it is nothing different to what goes on in sport every day (which is not to condone it).

i didn't see the game but i gather that there were two earlier instances of handball by ireland. one of our local a-league games had a report in the paper, one line, of a handball the ref missed.

if ireland can tell me that they have never had a rugby player stick a hand in a ruck to steal the ball and then when the player got away with it, that player got up and confessed to the ref, then i'll believe in replays. the problem is is not the act - it is the result. it is tough and unfair but there are a million examples of exactly that sort of behaviour in sport (sadly) and there always will be.

if fifa had brought in video replays then this would never have happened. only themselves to blame though one suspects that they are actually loving the publicity and the fact that france is in the world cup (imagine the uproar if france win it).

[PADDYWHACK121272]

There has been talk of little else here in Ireland for the last week...Of course I was massively pissed off at the time considering we had the better of them for most of the game. I think for the country qualification for South Africa represented a golden ticket out of the recession...now we'll have to do some work instead...

Overall though I have to agree with Roy Keane, its over, its not fair, move on....love that guy....worth a look:

[dicko]

I say let the ref make the call, if they don't see it then bad luck. don't agree with video replays for soccer, its a lovely free flowing game and human error is part of the game. sad to see a fun sporting nation such as Ireland miss out though!

[Ken Gargett]

I say let the ref make the call, if they don't see it then bad luck. don't agree with video replays for soccer, its a lovely free flowing game and human error is part of the game. sad to see a fun sporting nation such as Ireland miss out though!

understand but that 'human error' has meant millions of dollars - to and from. sad but true. not sure how it could work in soccer. clearly the ref missed it so would probably not have allowed a call to the video ref. perhaps each side gets two referrals for decisions. if you are upheld, you don't lose it. if you are wrong, gone. much like tennis. just a thought.

[strayvector]

You could always penalize them a timeout if they lose their replay challenge...oh wait...wrong football...never mind.

Seriously though, I think it will be an inevitability that football will one day resort to instant replay for game changing decisions. All the major US sports have resisted and one by one they've adopted it. Baseball is last to go, but from what happened during the World Series, I'm sure baseball will also resort to instant replay sooner than later.

[SamuraiJack]

Why can't you use your hands? What a silly game.

[kjellfrick]

Why can't you use your hands? What a silly game.

Hehe, i figure the reason is hidden somewhere in the name of the sport...football!