Sport - football

Ireland admits defeat over replay bid for "Le Cheat"

Article published on the 2009-11-21 Latest update 2009-11-21 15:49 TU

French football fans celebrating in Paris
(Photo: Reuters)

The Irish football authority admitted defeat on Saturday in their challenge to have the controversial World Cup qualifier playoff against France replayed.

John Delaney, chief exec of the Football Association of Ireland said, “we regret that despite our best efforts for a replay, which would have restored the integrity of the game in front of a world-wide audience, our calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears at the French Football Federation.”

The FAI called for a replay following a controversial goal by William Gallas which had clearly been assisted by Thierry Henry’s hand.

FIFA ruled out a replay on Friday, but Henry then admitted that he thought a replay would be, “the fairest solution”.

Henry claimed his reaction was “instinctive” and said he felt “embarrassed”, but added that it was “not in my control”.

This statement prompted a reaction from Irish captain Robbie Keane who thanked Henry for his statement, saying it took “courage and honour”.

“We can only hope that the French Football Federation might accept the wishes of both captains in the best interests of the game,” he added.

However, the French Football Federation was happy to abide by FIFA’s decision, in a statement they said that it was, “authoritative and binding”.

"Le Main de Dieu" - Henry's handball against Ireland
(Photo: public domain)

France’s qualification prompted an outcry after their 2-1 aggregate victory, with a number of players and managers contributing to a fierce debate.

Yesterday, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said the referee, “just didn’t see it”. He used the opportunity to call for serious consideration of the use of video technology.

Former Irish captain Roy Keane was more scathing, he told a press conference that Ireland were “mentally, not strong enough,” adding that, “France are going to the World Cup, get over it.”

Former French international Eric Cantona joined the dispute on Saturday, saying that Henry’s behaviour shocked him.

“This player [Henry] went and sat down next to an Irish player to console him, even though he'd screwed them three minutes earlier,” he said.

Irish reaction to the incident was strong, with one online petition on the social networking site Facebook boasting more than 340,000 members.

RFI English also received a number of comments from angry Irish fans.

Sean, from Dublin said, “we are imagining Sepp Blatter having a nice glass of champagne to celebrate that France qualified instead of a small team like us.” Patrick said it “makes a mockery of the FIFA fair play policy.” And Loraine, from County Kildare said, “it was downright cheating,” although she did add that, “we really enjoyed our stay in your beautiful city of Paris”.

An online poll from Le Monde has been gauging French reaction to the controversial qualification, and more than 64,000 votes have been cast since Friday with 62.5 per cent of people saying that Henry’s handball discredited France’s place in the World Cup finals.