Comments on: Breaking News: Ireland Ask FIFA To Let Them Go To South Africa

By: brn442

brn442 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:17:20 +0000

I’m sorry Ron but I respectfully disagree with you, points add up.. After all, Ireland missed out on an automatic berth because of such a thing. Ireland’s luck ran out.

By: Phil McThomas

Phil McThomas — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:50:38 +0000

No-one should pretend that adding the assistants behind the goals will provide infallibility.

NEWS FLASH! Video will be used to overturn a decision that was made correctly on the field, should it ever be introduced.

Why not use extra officials AND video evidence?

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:31:46 +0000

Latest news is that the FAI didn’t even refer to the possibility of being a 33rd team in a written submission to FIFA just before they met Blatter last week.They spoke only about how things could be made fairer for teams in future.

The subject of a wildcard entry was raised only verbally in a private meeting with him on Friday and apparently the FAI knew even then their chances were very slim.Blatter has acted like a cad as far as I am concerned in bringing this into the public domain,when he knows that the FAI have zero chance of success.Why mention it? It seems his sole intention was to embarass the FAI and make them look ridiculous.

By: ken byrne

ken byrne — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:37:14 +0000

a legal recourse shoul be available against fifa,the irish economy will lose millions ,and related irish companies abroad.any good lawyer could set a precedent and get world wide tv coverage to compensate every business that will lose money, fifa have created a culture of cheating ,mr blatter laughing today was an insult.if you are a lawyer why not set a precedent,i am very sure donations would be very forthcoming,ireland will not be in s.africa,but will somebody please stand up ,it will happen again and is sepp going to laugh at your country,i hope not.

By: CA_backpacker

CA_backpacker — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:33:37 +0000

Ireland were cheated, pure and simple. Wasn't the decision to seed the last stage made relatively recently in the qualifying process, and not at the start of WC qualifying, as would make sense and be fair? Add to that the obvious hand-ball? And imo, Football desperately needs instant replay. For circumstances like this and for "questionable" off-sides I'd like to see it (I would use it like hockey's delayed penalty...where if the linesman is not 100% sure whether a player is onsides or not, the play continues and is in a "delayed offsides ruling state"...if a goal is scored, it is reviewed; if not, meaning the potential offsides didn't matter, then the "delayed offsides ruling state" is removed and play continues). This wouldn't delay play at all, and would remove the constant wrong calls that dramatically change games. This isn't NFL, where a single call rarely decides a game...in "soccer", where there may only be a single goal, getting it right is paramount. Sports that don't stay current and up-to-date with technology and video review (read, baseball and the hilarious mistakes made in the recent World Series games?) just make themselves look foolish, or worse, corrupt.

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:28:17 +0000

It’s a fair enough point about the penalty against Georgia BRN 442,though it’s worth remembering that in a qualifying campaign of 10 matches there will be quite a few refereeing errors made that may cost teams one or three points,or gain them one or three points.Even if you unfairly gain an extra point or two in a particular match,chances are your luck will run out in a later match when a refereeing decision goes against you (and vice versa).

But a decision going against a team in extra time of the final World Cup play off is always going to have a catastrophic effect on their chances of qualifying.

By: Tyson

Tyson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:24:12 +0000

MONEY MONEY MONEY!

When you have it all you want is more. FIFA is run by a lot of very rich guys if anybody even for a moment thinks all the decisions taken by FIFA aren’t about money they need a brain transplanted into their head.

They have a system where they over rule everybody else regardless of what happens and they always back the referee regardless of whether hes wrong or right.

Last year they gave the game away with the Chelsea semi finals BS, this year they showed they wanted France in the world cup rather than Ireland.

While I would also prefer to see France in the world cup rather than island I am not so naive to think it was an accident that they went through and the linesman saw nothing. Big powerful rich organisations don’t care about what you have to say they care about their bottom line. It’s hardly rocket science.

By: Rory

Rory — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:57:23 +0000

Sepp Blatter truly is an odious piece of work, good post Paul by the way. The FAI absolutely did not want this public and a former chief executive of the organisation said Blatter should never have come out with it. The request was a bit ridiculous but Blatter coming out with it at a live press conference and having a good giggle about it is beyond belief. This is the head of world football? I struggle to find any redeeming qualities in the man and the thing is Blatter is just the tip of the iceberg.

By: Paul Bestall

Paul Bestall — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:45:29 +0000

Exactly, he’s brought in to the public domain to try and embarrass the FAI to back down, which is typical of the man. He runs FIFA as his personal fiefdom and it’s appalling.

The laughter from Blatters cronies is quite sickening in my opinion and shows the lack of respect these people have for the competing nations.

By: Paul Bestall

Paul Bestall — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:43:01 +0000

Fair points BRN 442.
Well my observation that Henry cheated is the based on as the ball is about to hit his hand, Henry actually spreads his fingers, increasing his chances of keeping the ball in play, then moves the hand again to make sure. That’s my opinion which you are more than entitled to disagree with.

Yes, the peoples game bares no relation to the top level game anymore, yet it is an argument that is consistently used by FIFA as a defence to veto video technology. They could learn a hell of a lot from the NFL, which I watch every week.

Thanks for the comments.