February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Duff, who was distraught following Thierry Henry’s hand ball which had paved the way for William Gallas’s crucial goal, is not one to get carried away by the game he plays for a living. Measured and thoughtful, he was still finding it hard to come to terms with what had happened. “I’ll be on my death bed,” he said, “and it’ll be the last thing I’ll think about.”
Given the genuine depth of feeling among players and supporters, and the not so genuine depth of feeling among some sections of the British media who relished the chance to give the French a good kicking, it was no surprise that the controversy rumbled on long after the bitter finale.
Initially, there was hope that Ireland might be granted a replay after the linesman and the Swedish referee, Martin Hansson, saw no evil when Henry handled the ball twice in the build-up to the extra-time goal that gave France a 1-1 draw on the night and a 2-1 aggregate victory.
It appeared that both the French Federation and soccer’s governing body FIFA were prepared to allow the game to be replayed, and Henry – perhaps cynically knowing how it would all pan out — also intervened and said the Irish deserved a second chance.
But in the end, the France coach, Raymond Domenech, who would’ve been fired had his team failed to reach the finals, insisted that the replay would not be granted, adding that he wasn’t going to commit “hara-kiri”.
Away from the hype, and the portrayal of Henry as the villain of the piece, it was accepted that if the likes of Robbie Keane had instinctively handled the ball and scored the winning goal, there would’ve been precious little outcry from the FAI.
After all, Ireland were the beneficiaries of an outrageous penalty decision on the way to a win over Georgia during one of the qualifying games at Croke Park. The referee that day awarded a hand ball which was a blatantly incorrect decision, and there wasn’t a squeak about injustices from the FAI.
The fact that sports such as rugby, tennis and cricket in this neck of the woods have embraced video technology, and that FIFA continues to bury its head in the sand, is the real story behind Ireland’s massively disappointing exit.
These days, if you attend a low-key Celtic League rugby game between say Connacht and Dragons from Wales, the referee is entitled to refer contested try scoring incidents to a Television Match Official who then gives his verdict based on video evidence. Meanwhile, when a coveted place in the finals of soccer’s World Cup is on the line, human error can still be the final arbiter.
But Giovanni Trapattoni, his players as well as the thousands of supporters who followed Ireland thoughout the campaign have to move on. Perhaps instead of thinking about what might have been, we should revel in one of the greatest performances in the history of Irish soccer.