Irish demand France World Cup replay
Irish FA makes formal request with Fifa for last night's World Cup playoff with France to be replayed
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 19, Nov 2009 05:05
By Matthew Champion.
The Irish FA has officially requested last night's World Cup playoff with France be replayed over a double handball by Thierry Henry.
The French captain blatantly handled the ball before setting up William Gallas to score an extra-time equaliser that sent the Irish out an aggregate at the Stade de France.
After a day of outrage by Irish politicians, footballers and supporters, the Football Association of Ireland has now formally asked Fifa to sanction a replay.
"Conclusive video evidence of a deliberate hand ball by Thierry Henry, which led to France's additional time goal, has been seen by millions of football fans worldwide," a statement said.
"We now call on Fifa, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed."
But despite Henry's admission that he was guilty of handball, an offence completely missed by Swedish referee Martin Hansson and his assistants, the chances of a replay seem miniscule.
A Fifa spokesman ruled out the prospect of a replay to the Guardian, saying the "decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play are final".
Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni himself said securing a replay was an "impossible" task.
Earlier, Irish justice minister Dermot Ahern and Trapattoni's assistant Liam Brady led the campaign for a replay.
Mr Ahern said that the result, as it stands, "reinforces the view that if you cheat you will win".
"Millions of people worldwide saw it was a blatant double handball, not to mention a double offside," he said.
"We should put the powers that be in the cosy world of FIFA on the spot and demand a replay."
Brady meanwhile said the future of the game was put in doubt by such incidents.
"If we're going to have integrity and dignity in the world game, the game should be replayed. And we'll go to Paris to play it," he said.
Calls for a replay have understandably been supported by members of the Irish squad.
Left-back Kevin Kilbane said the view was widespread throughout the team.
"You see for yourself he's handballed it once and it's still going out of play so he's handled it again to make sure it doesn't go out of play," he said.
"And you know what? I asked him on the pitch, 'Did you handball it?' and he said, 'Yes, but I didn't mean it'. But when I've seen the replay it's there for all to see that we were let down. It's a massive disappointment for us all here.
"I saw it [the handball] clear as day. I went over to the referee after the game had finished and I asked him what happened and if he'd seen the handball. He said, 'I can 100 per cent say it wasn't handball'.
"When he said that to me I knew full well that he was just lying to me because he hadn't even seen it. That was the worst thing about it, we feel really hard done by.
"It will be worse in a couple of weeks' time when the draw is made. We'll have to lift ourselves up again. We can hold our heads up high because we played so well and we should have won the game and that's the ultimate disappointment. We played so well, but we can't come back [to the UK and Ireland] knowing we're going to a World Cup in the summer."
But Middlesbrough defender Sean St Ledger told Sky Sports News: "I don't think it's going to happen realistically."
While he appeared to distance himself from a potential replay, at a press conference in Dublin this afternoon Trapattoni did criticise Fifa for the seeding system that saw the four top-ranked European teams in the playoffs avoid each other in the draw.
He also said that Henry's handball should prove once and for all that video replays should be introduced into football.