World Cup Play-Offs

[Sun Tzu]

[
The hatred of a country bit wasn't aimed at you it was an error in replying to finerain. Henry cheated and if you want to justify that then go ahead but I do feel sorry for you if you think it is acceptable. Why don't you try cheating on your next tax return see if the the fraud office think it's acceptable.

I've stated many times that Henry committed an offence, that Ireland were hard done by etc etc. I don;t think I have seen anyone, anywhere 'justifying' it. What I have seen is a lot of silly people who seem to lack any sense of perspective and think this is the forst time a goal has been scored after an infringement has been missed in the buildup. Believe me, it's happened a few times !

As for the tax return - that's a real tangent. Filling that in incorrectly is a criminal offence. Despite the attitude shown by some I don;t think handball is quite that serious !

[FiNeRaIn]

his is the forst time a goal has been scored after an infringement has been missed in the buildup!

Nice attempt at the Irish accept, definitely on the wind up

[floyd__streete]

Some absolutely narrow-minded beyond belief ignorance on this thread; it happens, get over it, you all laughed at England, hur hur hur. The problem with cheating - because that is what it is - would be eradicated in a flash if you used video footage retrospectively to ban the cheats for as long as it takes for them to learn the error of their ways. Eradicate the cheating and then you wouldn't ever need video replays during games.

It happens, get over it just isn't good enough in a multi-billion pound business.

[sandman]

You are a bit thick mate.

Even if it was an error in replying to me, I have clearly stated and defended Ireland on the thread on AE.

Calls for replays, bans and sponsorship cancellations are laughable, cringe worthy in fact. Incidents like this happen day in day out in football.

Renault lost their sponsorship in the wake of crash gate and a simillar thing has happened on other occasions. He cheated to get to the World Cup so he shouldn't go.So they happen day in and day out in football does that make it acceptable? A replay should not happen as I've already stated but the actual cheat should still be punished.

I'm not thick I just have morals sorry if you find that hard to understand.

[FiNeRaIn]

You haven't got a choice whether to accept or not. France are making accommodation plans for South Africa and Ireland will be watching them at home on TV. England have been done out of loads of international tournaments by cheating. Beckham against argentina, ronaldo against england, maradonna again England with a handball. Two of those games saw two perfectly good goals from sol campbell chalked off. Some would argue the referee cheated England. This is part and parcel of football and has been for years. Ireland have had this one notable dose of it and there is uproar. Man city were subject to a whopping 6 minutes injury time against man united and it cost them, look what happened. It happens ALLLL over football, get that through your head man, football is just a controversial game.

Most English were supporting Ireland, I was and I thought they were a credit to the nation last night, however you have to accept that it happens and move on and if it was robbie keane ( who made several attempts) then you would still be celebrating. By the way, that was a very dubious penalty against anelka also, you got the rub of the green with that one.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

THe age of the radio phone.

Get the fcuk over yourselves people.....

[sandman]

Well sorry but I won't accept it. Which is why apart from my hometown club and my country (England by the way, and they might go soon) I'm done with this pathetic excuse for a sport.

England were not cheated by the referee as stated the two times goals were disallowed were fouls on the keeper.

This sport is full of idiots. The players who kiss club badges and sod off six months later when more money comes along, fans who think it's acceptable to scream vile abuse in front of their own children only to justify it with the claim that they've spent their money so they can do what they like not to mention the bigotry shown by a certain two clubs based in Glasgow, and the owners as well who are even worse than their players.

By the way I'm not thick or any other childish insults you can come up with. And I certainly am not your "mate" so don't address me as such.

[PEARCEY]

Having supported Wales all my life I know how fed-up Ireland's supporters will be feeling today. The Joe Jordan handball in the vital qualifier in 1977 when the ref gave Scotland the penalty and the highly dubious pen. against Peter Nicholas in 1985 on the night Jock Stein dies still linger in my memory.
I feel sorry for Ireland today and their fans anger is understandable.
Unfortunately for them the refs decision is final and that is how it should be and has to be.

[Gus the teenage cow]

some of the rationalisers of this are absolutely pathetic, their key points I think are

a) bad decisions have happened in other games, what? never? ...the reason for the outcry is this chance comes around every 4 years and a non-decision of a blatant piece of illegal play led to a goal that decided the match with just a few minutes left and not enough time to undo the shocking decision, so all the examples that the likes of behindu are giving like beckham and rooney getting sent-off are laughable and pathetic comparisons to draw

b) people bang on about robbie keane handling the ball, yes he did and he was penalised for it, Henry wasn't and it lead directly to a goal, hence the anger, it's that simple, hypothesising about what robbie keane would/would not do in henry's situation is stupid. France scored an illegal goal, Ireland didn't

c) People point to the Anelka thing, almost all sensible and credible sources from Graham Poll to Alan Hansen to Andy Gray agree that it was a dive and he was lucky not to be booked

As much as those sympathetic to Ireland can be accused of whinging and complaining and over-reacting, I find it a million times worse observing the rationalisers and their ill-founded comparisons, their eager propoganda, their overzealous sudden defensiveness of the decision-making process, their amateur acceptance analysis, their casual bigotry

You see, we have a reason to be miserable pcunts for a while, we feel wronged, what's your fcuking excuse other than smug begrudgery?

Begrudging us when we're already out is kind of sad

letting off some steam isn't sin, allow us that at least

[FiNeRaIn]

Well sorry but I won't accept it. Which is why apart from my hometown club and my country (England by the way, and they might go soon) I'm done with this pathetic excuse for a sport.

England were not cheated by the referee as stated the two times goals were disallowed were fouls on the keeper.

This sport is full of idiots. The players who kiss club badges and sod off six months later when more money comes along, fans who think it's acceptable to scream vile abuse in front of their own children only to justify it with the claim that they've spent their money so they can do what they like not to mention the bigotry shown by a certain two clubs based in Glasgow, and the owners as well who are even worse than their players.

By the way I'm not thick or any other childish insults you can come up with. And I certainly am not your "mate" so don't address me as such.

You are making yourself look foolish now. Go and cry somewhere else. Good bit of skill by henry if you ask me.

[sandman]

Well sorry but I won't accept it. Which is why apart from my hometown club and my country (England by the way, and they might go soon) I'm done with this pathetic excuse for a sport.

England were not cheated by the referee as stated the two times goals were disallowed were fouls on the keeper.

This sport is full of idiots. The players who kiss club badges and sod off six months later when more money comes along, fans who think it's acceptable to scream vile abuse in front of their own children only to justify it with the claim that they've spent their money so they can do what they like not to mention the bigotry shown by a certain two clubs based in Glasgow, and the owners as well who are even worse than their players.

By the way I'm not thick or any other childish insults you can come up with. And I certainly am not your "mate" so don't address me as such.

You are making yourself look foolish now. Go and cry somewhere else. Good bit of skill by henry if you ask me.

As previously stated I have no alliegance to the Irish so why would I be upset. Is it so out of order to expect that a once great sport can drag itself out of the gutter? most football fans would agree with me.

[FiNeRaIn]

You are just a bitter fool. You are the one throwing your toys out of the pram, some of your claims on this thread have been outrageous.

I'll give gus his dues, he's taken it like a man and can at least post reasoned debate about it.

Henry committed an offence, as most footballers do. Everyone accepts that. If you banned every player whose ever committed a foul or hand ball in the build up to a goal you'd have thousands of pro's sat out.

Stop being so childish and accept you were robbed, nothing you or others like you can say will change your outcome.

[sandman]

You are just a bitter fool. You are the one throwing your toys out of the pram, some of your claims on this thread have been outrageous.

I'll give gus his dues, he's taken it like a man and can at least post reasoned debate about it.

Henry committed an offence, as most footballers do. Everyone accepts that. If you banned every player whose ever committed a foul or hand ball in the build up to a goal you'd have thousands of pro's sat out.

Stop being so childish and accept YOU were robbed, nothing you or others like you can say will change YOUR outcome.

I DON'T support Ireland. I'm English

[Ian Royal]

You are just a bitter fool. You are the one throwing your toys out of the pram, some of your claims on this thread have been outrageous.

I'll give gus his dues, he's taken it like a man and can at least post reasoned debate about it.

Henry committed an offence, as most footballers do. Everyone accepts that. If you banned every player whose ever committed a foul or hand ball in the build up to a goal you'd have thousands of pro's sat out.

Stop being so childish and accept you were robbed, nothing you or others like you can say will change your outcome.

No they don't. I expect fouls, I expect a bit of handbags at set pieces. I don't expect blatant cheating like that or diving, or feigning injury.

It's quite easy to clean up, no one in power has the balls to do it though.

[AthleticoSpizz]

You are just a bitter fool. You are the one throwing your toys out of the pram, some of your claims on this thread have been outrageous.

I'll give gus his dues, he's taken it like a man and can at least post reasoned debate about it.

Henry committed an offence, as most footballers do. Everyone accepts that. If you banned every player whose ever committed a foul or hand ball in the build up to a goal you'd have thousands of pro's sat out.

Stop being so childish and accept you were robbed, nothing you or others like you can say will change your outcome.

and UEFA got their dream line-up for the WC

It's tough on Ireland.......and we reciprocate the sympathy that they have shown us over the years.

[FiNeRaIn]

It's quite easy to clean up, no one in power has the balls to do it though.

Which is why you have to accept it as it won't change...

[sandman]

It's quite easy to clean up, no one in power has the balls to do it though.

Which is why you have to accept it as it won't change...

It can change they need to stamp down on it. No one ever got anything done by just accepting things. And calling for a cheat to be banned is hardly outrageous.

[FiNeRaIn]

None of the governing bodies give a rats about fan opinion, they have proven it time and time again.

They'll be sipping champagne counting the pounds that France will add to viewing figures in the World Cup. They are there for personal wealth and not the good of the game. To get the situation changed governing bodies like the FA, Fifa and UEFA need to be ran by people who CARE about the image and fair processes of the modern game. People who know how much the passion runs deep and want to cater to that.

[sandman]

None of the governing bodies give a rats about fan opinion, they have proven it time and time again.

They'll be sipping champagne counting the pounds that France will add to viewing figures in the World Cup. They are there for personal wealth and not the good of the game. To get the situation changed governing bodies like the FA, Fifa and UEFA need to be ran by people who CARE about the image and fair processes of the modern game. People who know how much the passion runs deep and want to cater to that.

Well at least that is something we can agree on. Respect for showing a care for the game that I didn't think you had.

[Thaumagurist*]

I think the solution should be:

Since we had 30 minutes of extra time in Paris, I think it's only fair that we stage another 30 minutes of extra time in Dublin. With Theirry Henry "sent off" and France reduced to 10 men.

Only fair.