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Ireland Demands Replay With Honest-To-Goodness Precedent
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The furor over last night’s game will not settle down anytime soon. Not tomorrow, not next week, not even before the traveling circus takes to South Africa next summer. Not unless something is done to eradicate the impact of The Hand of Henry on the outcome of the game.
The Irish FA, of course you’d hear from them, have come up with a simple solution: replay the game. But perhaps more important than any march on the Swiss headquarters, they have that all important word known as a precedent.
The letter from the Irish FA reads like this:
“Conclusive video evidence of a deliberate hand ball by Henry, which led to France’s additional-time goal, has been seen by millions of football fans worldwide. The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport.
“We now call on Fifa, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed. The handball was recognised by the Fifa commissioner, the referee observer and the match officials, as well as by the player himself.”
“There is precedent for the invalidation of such results. In 2005, the Bureau of the Fifa World Cup organising committee reached a decision to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a ‘technical error by the referee of the match’.
“The Football Association of Ireland is hoping that Fifa and its disciplinary committee will, on behalf of football fans worldwide, act in a similar fashion so that the standards of fair play and integrity can be protected.”
And the official FIFA report reads like this:
According to Art. 12.4 (b) and 14.1 of the Regulations for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, all protests, including those against technical errors committed by referees, are to be decided by the Organising Committee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. A bureau of the Organising Committee may pass a decision in lieu of the plenary committee in urgent matters.
The Bureau, composed of Chairman Lennart Johansson, Deputy Chairman Julio Grondona, Dr Chung Mong Joon and FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi, took the decision based on the following facts:
1) At the score of 1-0 in favour of Uzbekistan, in the 39th minute of the match, the referee decided to award a penalty kick to Uzbekistan;
2) The penalty kick was taken and led to goal in favour of Uzbekistan;
3) Before the penalty kick was carried out, an Uzbek player entered the penalty area;
4) Consequently, the referee awarded an indirect free kick to the Bahrain team;
5) However, in such a situation, the Laws of the Game require the referee to order the penalty kick to be retaken;
6) The captain of Uzbekistan team protested to the referee immediately after the mistake had taken place and before the game had restarted. This protest was confirmed after the match;
7) This technical error was confirmed by the match commissioner and the referee inspector in their respective reports;
Uzbekistan protested the decision of the referee in a written request, asking for the match to be “cancelled” and be evaluated with a 3-0 forfeit result;
The bureau, taking into consideration that the referee in the match in question had indeed committed a technical error, established that, as a consequence, the match needed to be replayed. As a result, the protest put forward by the Uzbekistan team for the match to be considered a forfeit with a 30 result is rejected. In accordance with Art. 12.6 of the Regulations 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, this decision is final and binding.
* – Smiley face added for bonus apology.
Funnily enough, Uzbekistan protested their mere 1-0 win and earned the right to the replay…and then lost the playoff on the back of an away goal scored in that very same replay. Be careful what you wish for…
The problem is Uzbekistan and Bahrain are not France and Ireland. Either could’ve gone to Germany and the actual participant likely would’ve mattered little. The acronyms pander to the big countries, as they’re the ones which will generate the most money, and as such the integrity of FIFA is and always has been very much up for debate. If the debate is even necessary. Fact is, they want France in the World Cup for a multitude of reasons.
The other problem, of course, is that the incidents aren’t parallel. One is a missed call while the other is an error in applying the rules of the game. Not quite apples and oranges, but oranges and another member of the citrus family. Maybe a tangerine.
However, a precedent is a precedent, and I gather even most France fans would agree a replay, one where Titi’s arms are pinned to his side with epoxy, is only fair. Now the only question, having been officially petitioned, is whether FIFA will reach back into their own history and make the same call once again.
Don’t hold your breath, unfortunately.
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 67 comments.
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doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prevent them*
Posted from 
United States
And meanwhile in sandrahn’s little world, it’s everbody against France. Everybody loves the Italian team and hates the French. All British, Irish, Scottish, and “Anglo” people are moralizing santcimonious hypocrites and want nothing more than to bash France.
There is a bigger picture than that, and if your brain is to small to realize that then you don’t belong here. It’s not about French-hating. Yes, I believe that what Henry did was low class. Yes, I don’t believe France deserved to win. But this is really about whether we are going to continue to let other such incidents occur, regardless of nationality. Things like video review and replays. Things that will make the game fairer for everyone. Video does not discriminate. By standing in the way of such things, you just seem like you accept the fact that the only way
France can succeed is without such improvements to the sport.
Posted from United States
after this teams will ask for a replay due to an ungiven ‘blatant’ penalty, ungiven ‘defender tug my shirt, and i tumble’ penalty, an ungiven freekick (my team got a world class freekick taker, surely he can score from there?), etc..
laughable
Posted from 
Australia
It was a missed call by the ref. You can’t replay it. If they did, qualifications would last a decade with every countries FA calling for a replay on the countless mistakes refs have, and will continue to make. (and to be fair to the ref from the live action i think most people couldn’t see the handball. i couldn’t ….the slow-mo instant replay was needed)
I think the solution is two fold. FIFA should finally bring in video replay (at least for goals). And Henry should be suspended for 3 matches (the WC group phase) for admitting he did handle the ball. There does have to be some discipline for a player that shows no interest in fair play.
exactly dag, which is why moving forward it is imperative to institute some form of instant replay or review. Deal with it on the field, even if it means you cut the flow by 30 seconds. Give teams 1 or 2 opportunities to challenge a call throughout a game. It’s not like play isn’t stopped some times for 5 or 10 minutes when a player is injured, so the argument that it deteriorates the beautiful flowing nature of the sport is bogus. Instant review is a must.
Posted from United States
People like DeNigrisEPD seem to be arguing the merits of Instant Replay from complete ignorance. They have no idea about how the system would be implemented or what impact it would have. They’re just saying it would be good under what they believe it would be.
Posted from United States
Henry handled the ball not once, but twice, before crossing for William Gallas to convert a goal. Henry admits those 2 handballs.
FIFA should investigate. If from the video there are enough evidences to show any one of those 2 handballs was deliberate, a sanction (penalty) should be given, least for 2 matches banned for him to play in the finals, or the entire final tournament.
Henry handled the ball not once, but twice, before crossing for William Gallas to convert what proved to be the decisive goal. He should be banned from the finals in South Africa.
i say suck it up and move on…. sour grapes all around. all this talk about justice this, justice that is not going anywhere.
Posted from Australia
Henry handled the ball not once, but twice, before crossing for William Gallas to convert what proved to be the decisive goal. He should be banned from the finals in South Africa.
Australia
Rematch means chaos, that is for sure. But we had Maradona’s hand of God, and now Henry Handballs. We need something. We need new rules.
In Australia, we have after match tribunals in AFL, ARL and ARU (Australia football league, rugby league, rugby union). In Australian Open (tennis), we have instantaneous video reference now. FIFA should do something, like after match tribunals. Deliberate cheater should be banned from playing for a while.
Australia
This can only be replayed if France decides they don’t want to advance that way. Otherwise any contested call would lead to people asking for a replay.
Let’s not forget that the greatest disgrace of all time occurred in the actual World Cup and that event was not replayed. In 1982 West Germany and Austria played a match where the other group match had already been played (in these days the final matches of each group weren’t played at the same time) and the West Germans needed to win by either one goal or two goals and both Austria and themselves would advance while Algeria would be eliminated. West Germany were allowed to score by the Austrians and then the two sides just passed the ball around the pitch for the remainder of the game with no attempt what so ever to score anymore goals and the Algerians were eliminated. Algeria protested the result saying it should be invalidated but Fifa decided otherwise. They did change it so the final games of the groups took place at the same but little did that help the 1982 Algerian World Cup team.
That incident was much worse then the Henry handball as West Germany and Austria both colluded to fix a match. Fifa did not invalidate the result or have it replayed.
Posted from United States
There is a huge difference between a missed call and a technical error by a ref. If we are gonna start replaying matches for missed calles then every single match ever is going to need to be replayed. Heck in the France v Ireland match there were more mistakes than just a missed handball. Did Ireland get screwed, yes! Should there be a replay, absolutely not! What measures should be taken against Thierry Henry, nothing! If ref would have caught the incident at most he would have gotten a yellow card. Don’t punish Henry for the result of the infraction, punish him for the infraction itself and in this case he admitted it and the ref still let the goal stand. What can we do to prevent this in the future. Add video replay to all FIFA events.
A new word is coined: henball
Rui (on November 19, 1702) makes the best points here. A replay can’t be awarded here. I WANT a replay awarded, but it CAN NOT happen. The precedent it would set would be longer than the outcome of the US 2000 election. RoIreland got robbed twice by FIFA (in seeding and this) and that’s how it is for now. Until replay of “disputed goals” is instituted, soccer will be a nothing sport in the largest sport market in the world. And the fact that diving by pussy-ass Italians, Spainiards, and Ronaldos (why not add Terry and Lampard 
is still tolerated, to a large extent (magic foot-spray ftw!)
While soccer is the best sport, it’s still just a game. It’s a variant of the Roman circus. Occasionally Emperor Blatter has to turn away from the senators and pay heed to the mob…and we the mob want a replay.
The difference between a technical mistake and a missed call is minimized by the human element (referee and players). The technical mistake is the result of a control/alt/delete moment when the referee temporarily forgets the pertinent rule (or maybe never studied it). He is human. A missed call might happen because the referee does not have 10 gopher cams to simultaneously feed him or her information. Or it might happen because the referee just happened to have a random thought about his new girlfriend which temporarily disconnected his optic nerve. Just like in the law where a precedent exists for just about any position, Emperor Blatter need only reach into his bag of tricks titled “Fifa Fair Play and For the Good of the Game” and pull out a re-match.
Video replay….just what the grubby-fingered U.S. advertisers want. 10 years from now we’ll also have the 15 minute mark water break brought to you by your local Chevy dealer. At 30 minutes, they’ll stop so two kids sponsored by Dell Computers can race each other to a goalpost to win a new 2-inch laptop.
Don’t slow down the game just because the NFL produces 7 to 12 minutes of actual “ball in play” during 3.3 hours. England of all people should be thankful their 3rd goal “went in” in 1966. As for Ireland, the approach to the beaches of Normandy are now largely unguarded. On to the Bastille and the Stade de Fraud.
Kxevin, youre trying to defend the indefensible. I don’t get it.
Alfred Lord…, if the television audience has time to see the goal celebration, multiple replays of the goal from different angles, fan reactions in the stadium, reactions from both coaches, and even a brief replay of the goal celebration, all before play has formally resumed (or with the audience missing mere seconds of resumed play,) somebody on the field can be examining an instant replay without severe time delays.
Too many silly comparisons get made between American football and Association football. Mostly made by people who don’t like the US, these being the very same people who cry and squeal when their team gets cheated to no avail. American football and Association football don’t have anything to do with each other. Therefore, holding on to current policies doesn’t make you a stronger Anti-American, it just makes you in favor of corruption.
Just in general, at first I never understand why Brazil and Italy automatically get hated on whenever debate springs up in international soccer that had absolutely nothing to do with them. Then I remember that Brazil has five world cups and Italy has four. Stay on your job, haters.
Excellent commentary here:
http://arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=516781
Excerpt: “The FAI this week begged and pleaded with FIFA to ‘uphold the integrity of the game’ by giving them a replay. Strangely enough, when Ireland beat Georgia at Croke Park earlier in the Qualifying campaign courtesy of some incorrect officiating, I don`t recall them offering Georgia a replay. When Damien Duff dived for a penalty in the 2002 World Cup I`m not sure I recall the same media or FAI uproar. I`m also not sure why the FAI have demanded Thierry Henry apologise for his handball on Wednesday night, yet have somehow not asked Robbie Keane to do likewise- Keane, you will remember was twice penalised for deliberate handball in the match. Is it only intent to cheat when you get away with it?”
If Ireland are so pure and morally superior to France, then why didn’t the FAI offer to replay their game v. Georgia?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf9fx4ipF4Q
Keane deliberately catches the ball with his hand and somehow gets a penalty.
This is all about hypocritical, selective moral outrage. When it’s done to “us” then it’s just cheating, immoral and the perpetrators should stand up, own up to it, tell the referee and agree to a reply.
When we do it to “them,” well, it’s just one of those things.
Posted from United States
CeCe, perhaps you don’t “get it” because you don’t understand what I have written. It isn’t a defense. It’s perspective. Both sides did have chances to put the match away. Both sides screwed the pooch. The ref missed the call. Henry played to the whistle, as any other player would.
He has fessed up to the incident, and even come out in favor of a replay as the “fairest solution.” Not sure what more he can do aside from tattooing an Ireland flag on his backside and agreeing never to play the game again.
The problem is that the view of the matter will depend upon what side of the fence you’re on. To some, it was deliberate act committed by just another arrogant, cheating Frog. To others, it was a player playing to the whistle, no different from when a player who is clearly offside keeps running at the goal until he hears the whistle.
Cheating? Hardly. Stupid? Yep. Regrettable? Extremely. Even Henry says he wishes that it hadn’t happened that way.
Posted from United States
Yes sandrahn it’s true that the Irish are enraged about this particular incident because it happened. And that another nation would do the same thing if something similar happened to them. I’m still missing your point though. It seems as if you are still arguing that because you think that actually doing something about these incidents is unfair to their past victims. If that’s how you feel then you are just being bitter and non-progressive. The point here is to prevent vital mistakes like these from occuring in the future, not to whine about the past. So far you have only stated the obvious and also acted like a victim of Francophobia. Also, in the link you just posted, Keane’s handball is not exactly the same. It’s not clear whether it is intentional and Henry’s certainly is in the most blantant manner. Also, there was no way that Keane could have known that he was about to get an absurd penalty decision when he handled the ball. Henry knew that by handling the ball that France could score and win the match to qualify, whereas Keane was just trapping a speculative forward ball, not even actually trying to win a penalty. Secondly, there’s a big difference between a wrong call and a non-call. That incident was clearly due to the stupidity and utter incompetence of the referees. He and his linesman had a clear view of the incident and made a ridiculous decision that Ireland was not playing for. On the other hand, Mr. Henry was quite clearly trying to deceive the referee in an attempt to cheat France’s way into the WC. The non-call from the referee and ensuing goal was exactly what Henry’s handball was meant to achieve. In this case the referee made the wrong decision because he and his linesman obviously did not see the incident. That is why something akin to video review must be done now to prevent further cheating. It’s quite impossible for us to account for the stupidity of some referees as demonstrated by your example, but we could certainly do a lot more to make sure the referee makes the most informed decision possible. I’m sure the Irish would feel at least somewhat better about this whole thing if FIFA decided to implement such a policy even if it didn’t have any effect on the outcome of the qualifier.
Posted from United States
Kxevin, asserting that both teams played poorly is a shell game, and it’s also not the issue at hand. There are rules, which are called laws even, Henry (deliberately) broke them, and then got away with it, and that’s wrong. By your argument, Ireland should get over this because they didn’t make better use of the chances they had. One, I don’t understand how that’s the same thing as a handball from offside. Two, this is football, since when does the shots on goal/goal ratio dictate that the team should be blamed when there’s terrible refereeing? Football has been filled with spilled/foiled chances since it’s invention. That’s the game. I don’t see how this is an offense, let alone a consolation for Henry’s actions.
I don’t hate Henry, I understand why he did it, but he’s wrong, and something should be done about it. The problem it’s looking like once again nothing will be.
Hi,Guys,
Ive heard all sides of this argument about henry and the hanball incident
I even watched it myself :
over 30 million other people worldwide witnessed it too
Henry himself admitted it :
If something is done wrong and you get found out you are punished:
This is whether you own up yourself or are caught ..same diference.
Because Henry was Representing His National Side He is more culpable:
He alone but representing a Nation caused a breach of ethics that is going to have reverberating hardships for others:
In my opinion :: and its only an opinion there are only 1 of 2 options
open to FIFA/FFF and the like:
1: Let FRANCE forfeit the Match and walk away and Let Ireland in because of the breach of ethics….FIFA has said it would be too much trouble to arrange another match : this way they dont have to…Cheaters punished
and No change in amount of teams:
2 : Platini & Co to dig into their rich pockets and reimburse ALL of the
Fans who turned up to see a World Cup play off that was a Farce:
No body should be expected to PAY for this shambles:
There is of course another way :
Sue FIFA/FFF & Others if their is a Lawyer out there who would have the Bottle to take the job on…Im sure that dedicated fans of our sport of SOCCER would more than willingly help to pay for a chance to make FIFA etc
pay for this and all of the unethical things they have done now and in the past
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Thanks
Posted from 
United Kingdom
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So we have to come to the conclusion so far that the precedent thing isn’t necessarily perfect. Mark is busy wallowing in previous defeats, in a non-progressive attitude. Just because murders will always happen doesn’t mean we should try to prevent them. And especially if you’re trying to say that doing so would be unfair to previous victims. That is the most morally despiccable argument against this I have heard. Yeah, other countries have suffered similar injustices, but I’m sure they’d feel just as glad as Ireland if Fifa decided to do somethingto prevent further things from occuring. Mark, your logic is flawed in so many ways, I cannot begin to describe the implications of what you are saying. Just because other teams have had similar things happen to them doesn’t mean they wouldn’t like something to be done about it in the future. This issue has to be dealt with and you have to start somewhere. Slavery is another example. When Lincoln finally emncipated slaves he wasn’t worrying about being unfair to the slaves of previous generations who he wasn’t able to free. At one time or another, we are just going to have to address the issue whether it’s now or five years from now.
Posted from
United States