Over the last week I’ve listened intently to all the arguments surrounding the world cup play off between Ireland and France. The Irish take on it, from the top brass of the Irish state to the patriotic adoring fans. The French side of the argument, again from the top brass to Thierry Henry the man who is at the centre of all this controversy. But for me the real voices that should have been speaking clearly have been a distant eerie silence – the men in charge of FIFA and UEFA. Bar a couple of statements that hide behind the written rules of the game, the cowards have pushed forward the referee and Henry as the scapegoats whilst behind the scenes they undoubtedly rejoice in the knowledge that they have succeeded directly and indirectly in ensuring the “bigger” clubs are through to South Africa at the expense of the smaller countries that ACTUALLY DESERVE to be there.
Let me go through all this properly though, there are three huge issues that make up this entire farce. First of all there is the question of cheating on the pitch and Thierry Henry. The simple fact of the matter is that he DID handle the ball and directly influenced the goal that put Ireland out of the qualifier. He has admitted that it hit his hand, although not deliberately (which I would dispute due to the 2nd touch) and he even says that in his opinion the game should be replayed. There are not many players in the game that will be so honest, only past incidents such as the Paulo Di Canio one in 2001 can really spring to mind, but his admission of integrity cannot be embraced completely as he knows only too well that this will never happen, FIFA refuse to allow the game to be replayed, so whatever he says makes no difference. Put yourself in that situation – do you thus continue to defend your blatant cheating actions and appear ignorant and lack remorse OR do you try to regain a shred of dignity within the game and admit your fault and make an attempt at quelling the resentment aimed at you by so much of the sporting world. I know what I’d do.
So it remains, any genuine sportsmanship would have been appreciated, relevant and believable if it had been displayed on the pitch at the time by owning up. I’m having none of the rubbish about how he couldn’t have done because of the heat of the moment, etc the reality of it is he knew there and then that he’d cheated and it had astronomical consequences if he allowed it to stand. A quick chat with the referee, a refusal to run away in celebration – any act at the time, whether the referee took it into consideration or not, would have stripped Henry of the majority of accusations and could have set a precedent for the future. Instead, this will always be remembered, it’ll be a blot against him name forever and always mentioned in the same sentence as such other high profile cheats as Maradona in ’86 and Rivaldo in ’02.
Secondly, the men “in charge” – the biggest cheats of anyone in all this. The cheating started well before the Ireland v France game. The qualifying stages were nearing completion, France, Portugal, Greece, Russia are all looking unlikely to qualify automatically leaving the possibility of any one of them or all of them failing to qualify for the World Cup. Any ordinary person admits that this is merely a direct consequence of their own actions – they weren’t good enough therefore they’ll have to play an extra play off match and prove it over 2 legs there. But oh no that’s far too risky and fair for Sepp Blatter and Platini to accept. Instead they implement a seeding process for the play offs out of the blue as an obvious result of their worry that the “big” nations may not qualify. Why? Well lets look at the teams that were struggling; –
France - winners in 1998 have been runners up since, a nation of 60million and oh yes not forgetting the head of UEFA is French!
Portugal – Although they have never won the World Cup, they’re always almost there and possess a worldwide marketing icon in Cristiano Ronaldo, the most expensive player ever at £80million – to have a world cup without him would cost FIFA millions in potential income
Greece – Not the most glamorous side but winners of Euro 2004 and a top 20 ranked side
Russia – Apparently, according to FIFA’s world rankings are a better side than England!! I fear the mass population and unassociated assets of the country are of more importance than quality of football
Therefore, according to FIFA & UEFA the governing bodies, these big nations, who have already been helped out by seedings in the group stages where they have had between 8 and 10 games to prove their ability, also require help in the play offs. PURE CHEATING! The lower nations such as Ireland, Slovenia and Bosnia (no disrespect meant to them) have played their hearts out to prove that they are worthy of a potential place in next year’s World Cup. Many of them have proven that they are good enough by beating the top sides or are at least worthy of a fair test against teams in their EXACT situation. Not according to the people in charge. It’s evidently nothing short of a conspiracy, this argument wouldn’t be taking place if they had announced at the beginning of the qualifying campaign that everything would be seeded – but this was only decided at the last minute out of fear for their own loyalties and they have completely abused their power!
The final debate in all this surrounds the debate over use of technology in football. The rest of the world is moving on, society embraces technology in all walks of life for millions of uses. In sport around the world, their respective governing bodies have used common sense in making the most of the benefits of technology whilst retaining the integrity and spirit of the relevant sport. Crickets 3rd umpire works fantastically well because although there is a slight delay in the game of no more than a minute the umpires can always ensure the correct decision has been made. It is in their hands to decide, players can’t force them to check but the umpires have the intelligence and humility to accept it when there is a possibility they could have been wrong due to inevitable human error. Tennis’s hawkeye allows players to challenge a decision, which again inevitably with serves of over 130 mph, is sympathetic to the possibility of human error. The common sense is again there though, in that players are only allowed 3 challenges per set – that way the game still flows. Many other sports use similar technology – so WHY O WHY can’t football do exactly the same. All it takes is a bit of common sense just like the other sports have done to ensure that things don’t get out of hand. Allow the 4th official to have replays available for contentious decisions that neither the referee or linesman sees. We can’t allow every decision to be disputed, so allow the 4th official to be able to contact the referee about an important decision if it is incorrect. Modern replays take literally 10 seconds for an official to get hold of, so where’s the problem? If players are aware that the 4th official is able to spot things they may even begin to stop with cheating! Lets face it the 4th official does nothing else during the game. My other suggestion is to do with the equipment that has been offered to the football associations for years now – a tiny chip in the ball and an ear piece in the ref’s ear that would go off if the ball crosses the line. Simple, undisruptive and would clear up so many goals that should or shouldn’t have been. Its time Sepp Blatter stopped being such a hypocrite, stop hiding behind pathetic arguments of retaining footballs roots and integrity. If he wants the game and all the financial superpower that comes with it nowadays he has to ensure that he does the most to makes sure the important decisions ARE ACTUALLY CORRECT.
The big thing surrounding so much of this is to do with morality. Henry’s decision, the decision of the authorities and upon what morality they possess (if any!) but most of all the underlying reason which behind the scenes is central to the meddling and conspiracy. That is FIFA want the top teams and players present in South Africa next year, they aren’t bothered how they do it as long as they can get away with it – BUT what about the fans? What do they want, where’s their moral position? I honestly think that the vast majority of football fans would rather the deserved teams such as Ireland were present as opposed to France. I say this because not only has 90% of the outside footballing world turned on Henry for cheating, but HIS OWN country disapproves strongly to how they qualified. Regardless of their patriotic loyalties the French fans has shown disgust in how their own team qualified. The only people in France who support Henry are SHOCK HORROR the French authorities, Domanech and the players – why? Simple – they are the ones who now benefit financially; the French economy gets a boost, the French boss keeps his job, players are on huge bonuses, all whilst the Irish struggle, but the bosses of FIFA, UEFA and the FFA couldn’t care less because their pockets are now lined and will be next year.
In the end Ireland have been cheated out of a place they rightfully deserved at next years world cup – I feel deeply sorry for them, South Africa would have been great with both the English and Irish there (just think of the beer sales!) I just hope football is cleaned up soon otherwise things could get so so much worse!
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