So.. France v Ireland and Ireland v France

[Brendan]

???? Wrote:

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> instictively......mmmmmmmmm

A professional footballer who has been intensively trained his entire life to not handle the ball ?instinctively? sticks his hand out.

[Mick Mac]

This is funny - Henry the big game bottler

[Alan Dale]

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[????]

Exactly Brendan - his decision to cheat may have been instictive

to instead of the

[Sandperson]

Stolen from the beeb live feed:

Fifa Fair Play Code: "Play fair. Winning is without value if victory has been achieved unfairly or dishonestly. Cheating is easy, but brings no pleasure. Playing fair requires courage and character. It is also more satisfying. Fair play always has its reward, even when the game is lost. Playing fair earns respect, while cheating only brings shame. Remember: it is only a game. And games are pointless unless played fairly."

[Alan Dale]

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[Mick Mac]

That's a page turner Alan.

[Sandperson]

Aren't you a Leeds fan Alan? ;-)

[Brendan]

And there we have it. The exact sentiment that makes me avoid following football most of the time except the world cup and then I wonder why I bother.

[Alan Dale]

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[Brendan]

But it's fun. I get to have fights with people about stuff.

[Alan Dale]

Removed

[SimonM]

I was so sure Anelka would get that penalty some minutes before the Henry incident. France will probably now go on and win the whole thing....

['bout now]

Damien Duff said after the game, "you can't blame henry, if it was me or Robbie down the other end we'd have tried it"

It says it all really, as AD said they are told to appeal at every decision, to push Referees into errors, play to the whistle regardless. Show me a manager who hasn't b*llocked a player for not going down in the area to win a penalty, unfairly or not and I'll show you a decent Jeffrey Archer novel.

They are all at it, reap what you sow.

I just hope England get to meet them at some point in the world cup to hand out some justice, hopefully in the spirit in which the game should be played

[Atila Reincarnate]

'bout now Wrote:

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> Damien Duff said after the game, "you can't blame

> henry, if it was me or Robbie down the other end

> we'd have tried it"

>

> It says it all really, as AD said they are told to

> appeal at every decision, to push Referees into

> errors, play to the whistle regardless. Show me a

> manager who hasn't b*llocked a player for not

> going down in the area to win a penalty, unfairly

> or not and I'll show you a decent Jeffrey Archer

> novel.

>

> They are all at it, reap what you sow.

>

> I just hope England get to meet them at some point

> in the world cup to hand out some justice,

> hopefully in the spirit in which the game should

> be played

Couldn't have put that better myself. Well played that man.

[ratty]

GOID!

[SeanMacGabhann]

but that doesn't make quids, keef et al wrong to wish it was different tho, right?

I'm happy to use the incident last night (or the Eduardo dive a few months ago, or any other incident) as a line in the sand and say "look, no more. We (the author-ah-ties) are going to CONSISTENTLY penalise, retrospectively of we have to, cheating of this kind"

But what I'm less keen on is for Henry to be singled-out when the like goes on week in and week out and pplayers, managers, and fans are happy to play the percentages, even if they know it is wrong

[matthew123]

If UEFA had stood their ground back in August with their 2 game ban for Eduardo - instead of back tracking to effectively create a cheats charter maybe we'd not have had the Anelka dive or Henry handball last night. Football missed a great opportunity then for a line to be drawn in the sand.

[Mick Mac]

Yep.

[Atila Reincarnate]

matthew123 Wrote:

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> If UEFA had stood their ground back in August with

> their 2 game ban for Eduardo - instead of back

> tracking to effectively create a cheats charter

> maybe we'd not have had the Anelka dive or Henry

> handball last night. Football missed a great

> opportunity then for a line to be drawn in the

> sand.

Strangely I disagree with you. This has ben going on long before Eddy took a tumble. Do you really think Anelka or Henry would have thought twice about gaining an advantage if someone had been banned for two games, sorry I don't think so. The reward for getting away with it far outweigh the disadvantage of being caught. And why are we starting with Eduardo?? This crap has being going on at all clubs, at all levels for years, and it's not just "johnny foreigner" who's guilty, eh messrs Gerrard, Rooney, A Cole?

['bout now]

Sean

you're absolutly right, I too wish it hadn't happened, I'd much prefer Eire to be in SA next year. However when an opposing player says he would have done the same, it negates the argument.

You are also right in that UEFA, FIFA and the FA have failed at every opportunity to eradicate this kind of behaviour, in fact their approach just heaps more pressure on the referees and linesman who get abused by Managers, players and fans alike, who'd be a ref? Not me.

Maybe it is about time that the fourth official can operate with video analysis, to me its the only way, otherwise I'm sure we'll be discussing this kind of thing forever

[????]

Some French views

Francois Bayrou, a former candidate for the French presidency: "In an ideal world, the match should be played again. I saw the match and like a lot of people I wasn't very proud, and like everyone else I asked why don't we have a video match official. It works in rugby and it works very well."

Leading French politician, Philippe De Villiers: "Raymond Domenech should express his public regrets and show a gesture of dignity towards Ireland. The moral of this match is that you can cheat as long as you don't get caught. The France team is going to be labelled for years as a team of cheats."

[????]

and

Former France international David Ginola on BBC Radio 5 Live: "I'm very embarrassed by the situation. I don't feel very proud to be French this morning. The Irish played very well and they deserved to go through as much as France, maybe more. I'm very surprised Fifa haven't mentioned anything about it - the whole world saw the handball. This is a pure injustice. Everyone in France, the press and everyone, says there should be a replay."

[SeanMacGabhann]

they from the BBC website quids? Some good stuff going on over there

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8367913.stm

I like the suggestion that if the French are so embarrased, they offer to replay (as Wenger did a few years ago) and put FIFA on the spot

Lot's of people pointing out that Robbie Keane lieks to use his arms to help control the ball a lot as well...

[Sandperson]

Great Grauniad article...I don't think it's been posted already:

Richard Williams