HENRY AND GALLAS ROB THE IRISH!!!?

[augie]

Have to say now that after putting up with 2 days of unbelieveable bullshit from people over here I now support the idea of using video technology cos anything has to be better than listening to the pathetic whining that is everywhere around me in this wee country

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

I really dont uderstand the fuss - just been on the BBc Sports page and they have "Live Reaction" - nobody has died!!

I would feel agreieved if i was an Irish fan, same as I would be if it happenned against us (and his celebration really didnt help)- but they way I see it the ball hit his hand, he waited for the whistle, it didnt come, so he played on, yes it is extreme because a goal was scored, but players look to gain an advantage all the time - if they didnt there would be no need for a Ref!!!

I feel for the Irish fans, but statements like "Henry is a Cheat" "He has tarnished his reputation" are fickle and ridiculous - does anyone find its strange the media are reporting "ex Arsenal player" rather than "current Barca player"...!

Henry is an Arsenal Legend and always will be, its a shame that the media uproar from all this is going to tarnish his reputation, if he had done it against another less known country I doubt the English Press would even care.

Rooney's Dives, Owens Dive v Argentina in the WC - do they get reported as such? No, but as soon as a Foreigner does it, now matter how good he was for the English game, he is treated like a criminal - its mad!! Anelka's blatant dive just before has hardly got a mention either.

Ireland deserved to go through, but as often can be the case in football, they didnt.

Hopefully England wont even get out their group and the English Press can stop getting all ridoculous again, Alex Song and Cameroon for the WC!!!

[littlefire]

Have to say now that after putting up with 2 days of unbelieveable bullshit from people over here I now support the idea of using video technology cos anything has to be better than listening to the pathetic whining that is everywhere around me in this wee country

Hang in there mate. You know full well that there wouldn't be half the outcry if the guilty party had been ex-Manure or Bin Dipper.

[g88ner]

Have to say now that after putting up with 2 days of unbelieveable bullshit from people over here I now support the idea of using video technology

I've supported the use of video evidence on game changing incidents for a while now.

It's about time we accepted that fair play is bullshit. Sport lost it's conscience, and any remaining integrity, years ago... lets just accept that even the white knights of our game (Owen, Henry, Eduardo) are cheats (and that's not a dig... just reality) and start helping the refs instead of blaming them for missing these incidents.

It's totally unfair and unrealistic to expect a poor referee to spot every incident when the players are cheating, lying and going all out to deceive the ref at every opportunity. It's equally ridiculous that millions sit at home and have each and every controversial incident beamed into their homes, frame by frame, within seconds of it happening... yet the poor referee has only a split second (and certainly no replays) to act as judge, jury and executioner, and if he gets it wrong (as any human being would!) then he's criticised and blamed for it, and worst of all, the ONLY person in danger of receiving a ban/suspension is not the cheating footballer (like Ngog), but the poor, honest, referee whose huge crime is being duped by a bunch of devious professionals

It's about time we realised that refs are not the devil, and we should be helping the to make the right decisions. Give them the power to use video evidence for these game changing moments and get the governing body to retrospectively punish cheats.

[I Hate Hleb]

Have to say now that after putting up with 2 days of unbelieveable bullshit from people over here I now support the idea of using video technology cos anything has to be better than listening to the pathetic whining that is everywhere around me in this wee country

So I take it that urine the majority who think they're now taking the piss with this continuing complaining? Let's face it, whether we like it or not, the Irish have been dumped out of the competition mainly due to their shit finishing!! (Toilet humour - don't you just love it?) ,

[mrgnu1958]

your just PAPERing over the CRACKS Hheb"y

[Radford149]

Have to say now that after putting up with 2 days of unbelieveable bullshit from people over here I now support the idea of using video technology cos anything has to be better than listening to the pathetic whining that is everywhere around me in this wee country

Radford feels your pain...

[elpelsarmy]

A french beret, 6 euros, A croissant while in "gay Paris, 4 euros, The fighting Irish scarf 10 euros, match ticket, 60 euros, match programme, 7 euros, watching Thierry Henry play gaelic football, FUCKING PRICELESS!!!!

[northbankbren]

Have to say now that after putting up with 2 days of unbelieveable bullshit from people over here I now support the idea of using video technology cos anything has to be better than listening to the pathetic whining that is everywhere around me in this wee country

Are you Roy Keane?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8370497.stm

[BT]

Good piece by Dara O'Briain


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... ce-ireland

I know a lot of French but what is the word for replay, Thierry?Thierry Henry's left hand was so fast four Swedish men could not see it help to stop Ireland from qualifying for the World Cup

A quiet week for Irish football, then, the highlight of which for me was probably when I was on BBC's Newsnight accepting David Ginola's apologies from an embarrassed French people. So, y'know, the usual.

And while 82% of French people polled on the news network BMF were saying "Oui!" to the question "Faut-il rejouer le match France-Irlande?", friends who attended the match were reporting back from Paris that by Thursday the Irish team's performance had introduced a new term to the local vernacular: "le fighting spirit".

This can only remind us just how many common French words and phrases have drifted into usage in English. Take "gauche", for example. Where "adroit" (from the French for "right") has come to mean skilled or clever, like a person using their right hand, "gauche" (from the French for "left") now means clumsy, or awkward. This is obviously from the times when left-handedness was seen as unnatural and was discouraged.

Nowadays we know that there is nothing sinister or weak about being left-handed; the left hand can often perform with tremendous dexterity and co-ordination, if the opportunity arises. Sometimes the left hand is so fast under the right circumstances, it's impossible for four Swedish men to spot it in action.

Which brings us neatly to "bete noire". Coming from the archetypal "black beast" of fairytales, this is used for any villain who is particularly hated. Often it isn't obvious who the bete noire is, especially to those who might have spent the last decade slavishly adoring one of the principal candidates. It'll be particularly conflicting, for example, to see the new 60ft-high mural outside a certain London football stadium, part of the "Arsenalisation" project, which among other club legends has, standing side by side, arms over each other's shoulders in filial embrace, Liam Brady and Thierry Henry. Awkward.

Another popular phrase is "cause célèbre". This is any issue causing enormous public debate or controversy, but, interestingly, it's not a phrase used in modern French. This may often mean that a random Frenchman, let's call him … Michel Platini, say, may not have noticed that such a controversy has arisen, and has therefore not felt the need to comment on it. This would surprise many people given that such a Frenchman was previously known to get on his high horse ("un cheval de haute") about all sorts of injustices in sport. This would happen by saying things like: "I want to deliver clean football to Europe. That is my vision. That is my ambition. It is my job, and the job of Sepp Blatter, to protect football, the most popular sport in the world." That is not a very recent quote, though.

"Chaise longue" – nothing to do with football, but what? A bed? A chair? We've got one in my house and we just put coats on it. Sort it out, Platini.

"Laissez-faire" is a good one. Originally the name of an 18th-century economic doctrine, it now indicates any philosophy of non-interference. Such as, and tell me if I'm labouring the point a bit, not stepping in and correcting a ludicrously clear-cut handball despite the place being filled with cameras, screens and witnesses.

At this stage not taking video evidence is tantamount to the referee running away from protesting players, with his fingers in his ears, shouting: "La la la, I'm not listening, I'm not listening." It's not impossible to do video evidence, and it doesn't fundamentally change the rules of the sport. Give the fourth official a telly and let him decide if seeing the footage would correct a mistake by his colleague. If it's ridiculously obvious, raise a flag. And by ridiculously obvious, I mean, if it's so blatant that the home nation will be so embarrassed at the victory that 82% of them would happily play the match again. That sort of obvious.

And then we come to the most important French phrase of all, and certainly the one most beloved of Fifa: "fait accompli". What is done is done. Today is the resumption of the national leagues, next week is the Champions League, and after that the draw for the World Cup finals. We've had our few days to complain, the Irish, but we know, and Fifa know, that if they just hold out until the attention moves back to the clubs, any impetus to sort this out will bleed away. I'd say the clamour for justice in this case will last until the first Sky Sports Whoosh! of the Liverpool-Man City game.

The football circus will move on. C'est la vie.

Posted by
Dara O Briain Friday 20 November 2009 14.55 GMT
guardian.co.uk

[FrenchGun]

Have to say now that after putting up with 2 days of unbelieveable bullshit from people over here I now support the idea of using video technology

I've supported the use of video evidence on game changing incidents for a while now.

It's about time we accepted that fair play is bullshit. Sport lost it's conscience, and any remaining integrity, years ago... lets just accept that even the white knights of our game (Owen, Henry, Eduardo) are cheats (and that's not a dig... just reality) and start helping the refs instead of blaming them for missing these incidents.

It's totally unfair and unrealistic to expect a poor referee to spot every incident when the players are cheating, lying and going all out to deceive the ref at every opportunity. It's equally ridiculous that millions sit at home and have each and every controversial incident beamed into their homes, frame by frame, within seconds of it happening... yet the poor referee has only a split second (and certainly no replays) to act as judge, jury and executioner, and if he gets it wrong (as any human being would!) then he's criticised and blamed for it, and worst of all, the ONLY person in danger of receiving a ban/suspension is not the cheating footballer (like Ngog), but the poor, honest, referee whose huge crime is being duped by a bunch of devious professionals

It's about time we realised that refs are not the devil, and we should be helping the to make the right decisions. Give them the power to use video evidence for these game changing moments and get the governing body to retrospectively punish cheats.

I must asmit I'm one of the first to slate the ref's for their poor perofrmance week in week out. But you summed up the real problem here...

Quality!!!

[proudtosaythatname]

So what do all of you who 'condoned' TH 14 'cheating' think of this? Proves he is a decent guy as I'd hoped all along and helps preserve his icon status. I truly hope the game is replayed - it's the only sensible ending to this saga.

"Thierry Henry has announced that he wants a replay of the World Cup playoff match which saw France qualify for the World Cup and Ireland booted out of the running. Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball and is openly admitting that this happened:

‘I have said at the time and I will say again that yes I handled the ball. I am not a cheat and never have been’. Despite his open admittance of this, Fifa refuses to allow the play-off to be replayed, even though the handling of the ball allowed France to score a late equaliser on Wednesday night, which resulted in France going through 2-1 on aggregate.

Henry argued: “Of course the fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control’. Henry’s remarks follow that of his coach Raymond Domenech who argued that referee Martin Hansson should be held accountable for missing the handling of the ball, rather than Henry for handling the ball in the first instance."

[/i]

[Hatfield Red]

Just saw roy keane interview - classic. For once i actually liked him.

[proudtosaythatname]

Liked Roy Keane?

[Radford149]

Just saw roy keane interview - classic. For once i actually liked him.

Radford thought it was a brilliant and once you got past his clear bitterness he made some very valid points.

but Radford adds please turn your phone off