Ireland want a replay.

[morag]

I see there is much controversy about a Thierry Henry handball.

[Hughie]

Totally unfair to lose such an important game in such a way.

[bobbydarg]

'Reinstate the Irish'

[John Donnelly]

I have always been a fervent advocate against the use of television to assist referees in all sports. My argument has always been that referees are human beings who make mistakes. What goes against you this week, goes for you next week and it all balances out in the end.

I have changed my mind. For some-one of the standing of Henri to 1), do such a thing, and then 2), to admit it openly afterwards, saying 'that's sport for you,' or some such remark, just raises my hackles.

Unfortunately, the rules of football, as they stand, mean that the score stands. What we need is for the rules to be changed. With pain in my heart, I'm beginning to think that the time for TV re-runs to be used to back up the man on the spot has arrived.

Again, it's the story that there is just so much money at stake, that even well-thought of players like Henri, will stoop to such blatant cheating, and then shrug it off afterwards as acceptable, because they're all doing it. It's like the doping argument in cycling. "We're not getting an advantage from it, we're only keeping up with everybody else who are doing it."

A totally disgusted JD.

[little plum]

John, when I think back to Maradona and his "Hand of God", Joe Jordan and his "Jesus Christ, it's a pen for Scotland" there is something to be said for video replays. My only concern would be the financial implications for the teams who couldn't afford to install, run and maintain it. To make the system effective, it would need to be installed in every ground, not just the elite who could afford it.

[Penny Tray]

Little Plum,

Your point is well well made. At the present time the two major clubs in Scotland suffer unfairly from off-the-ball incidents viewed by the SFA's video panel. This is because every square inch of their matches are often recorded my as many as 24 or more camera whilst others grounds might have a single camera concentrating on where the ball is. However, every World Cup match played under the auspices of FIFA is sufficiently important to have multiple camera coverage. I think the furore resulting from the France/Ireland match may now result in a wind of change in major competitions. Football may now go down the road Rugby travelled some time ago.

The financial loss for a small country like Ireland from this blatant cheating is phenomenal. Their chances of getting justic however, is minimal. History will tell you that both UEFA and FIFA tend to favour countries with large television viewing poplulations - France/Ireland is 'no contest'.

On the justice side, if it hasn't happened already, Henry will already be "wetting" himself. There is a danger, because his cheating was so blatant, that many of his sponsors may now want to distance themselves from him.