France rejects Irish appeal for World Cup replay

Can fans around the world demand FIFA for a replay? Does anybody know how to start a chain e-mail and send it to FIFA?

I hope France can only beat mexico in the world cup!!!

Arguements for both sides are well in order. The refs descion is final but when you have replayed a game in previous years due to a blunder like that you should continue with that precendent. As a fan I think that France should bow out of the WC and let Ireland in. I know this won't happen cause France is now a bunch of cheats and are too scared to play again. I used to love watching Henry play now I hope France and him get booed throughout everygame they play in the WC and in freindlys. Fifa just showed they care only about bigger markertable names like France. Way to let a team cheat to make the biggest stage in Futbol. All this does is allow any and all teams playing in the Wc to know if you pick the right time to cheat and get away with it you will get in no trouble whatsoever. Great message out there to all the young fans. I never would wish harm on another human but I think it would funny and ironic if someone steps on and breaks Henry's hand in one of their next games.

Hey vegas you made some good points and the only thing that bothers me is "Ireland hasn't beat France since 1937 so why would it happen now???" US has never beat Spain so why would it happen now? Oh wait it did. 1990 World Cup Cameroon defeats World Cup Defending Champions Argentina 1-0. (They never beat them before) How about in 2002 when the French were carrying a World Cup, European and Confederations Cup Championship and lost to Senegal 1-0 and didn't even make it out of their group! (Senegal never beat them before)! The Irish were completely robbed of a WC berth and Henry and Wenger are obviously the only two Frenchmen who are willing to admit it. France didn't need the U.S. to bail them out of another mess this time they had the Swedish ref to thank but I'm sure they did with a bigger bank account back home in Stockholm!

Henry is a great player,probably a hall of famer of soccer if they had one,but he is not a cheat and most people who knows soccer knows that... anyway this kind of play (handball) in soccer happens.. not all the time,but it happens..But in this case you gotta blame the refs,at the begining of the play 2 french players were offsides already (Henry & Gallas) ( at least 1 for sure on the replay wich is Gallas) then Henry "accidently" controls the ball with the hand and passes to gallas wich he was offside and makes the winning goal...soo my conclusion is that the refs were not paying attention,and all you can do is blame the refs! why blame Henry and the French,all they did is play the game...specially in a playoff situation you gotta do everything to win,if there is an infraction,well let the refs deal with it thats their job! and clearly they failed at their job so if there is anybody that needs to apologise,its the refs!...that handball would of never happened if the sideline referee had his offside flag up! GOOD LUCK FRANCE FOR THE WC 2010! By the way the Irish has not beaten france since 1937,so why would it happen now?? anyway there is always next time!

PS: I really dont mind to have VIDEO replay,but in soccer it would be kinda weird to stop the action wich is 45mins straight (no commercials) just to review a bogus call, i just cant see that happening right now,maybe later...but i like the idea of adding 2 more refs in the game.. you know 1 in each of the endzones(in the back by the goalkeepers) ,then you could see what happens in the penalty box, like the Thierry henry play or u can see more clearly if the ball passes the goal line and others plays like that...but i dont mind having video replays.

Dear Fifa,
I got your message. Its OK to CHEAT because there is NO PENALTIES. All of my friends and I will be sure to incorporate your sporting philosophy in our school sports and life in general. I only hope that your wise leadership and uncanny method of ignoring FAIR PLAY, spreads to all other sports.
My older brother wants to race horses when he gets older. Fifa, is it ok to whip the other racer's horse in the face while trying to pass? I mean, nobody would see it at the time of the race. Something like that could only be seen by reviewing the replay video.
I watch American NFL Football also, and those people use instant review by their refs. Please dont ever level the playing field like the Americans, otherwise the French wont have anything to say "We did it" about.
Thanks,
Every youth who watches Soccer :)

This is beautiful, am loving every moment of this controversy. Island should play a rematch against Georgia november 24th , then a rematch with france will be considered. meanwhile no need to worry France by the time Island play their rematch against Georgia they will loose anyway. We dont need teams like Island to go the world cup and struggle , well done Fifa. Coming from an Engliah man.

I think FIFA should be pushing for a replay with one simple idea: Henry and the goal scorer at the controversial play should be schedule to miss all and one game respectively, IF a replay is not produced.

The one thing I would do is to redo both legs. Starting back in Ireland and returning to France.

If there is no replay, I think Henry show be punished by missing out in the World cup

Like the beachball with the Liverpool F.C. match, They and the Irish National Teams were totally ripped off and even in the face of video and eyewitness evidence, both were denied justice, well heres justice for the officials :@#$% YOU ALL ! You are ruining this beautiful sport and you need to jump into a massive Shark infested body of blood filled waters! Then you all need to go play a nice game of strip poker on a busy highway that is 1 .5 Km from a big pub so the fans get some justice...!

Blatter, Platini and the French Football Federeation are morons against the development of soccer. They should therefore resign and leave football for those who ahev an interest in the development of soccer and not money. These morons will say anything or pass anything as long as it helps them make some extra colours for their cursed pockets. Hope they just explode wherever they are and just leave our beauttiful game alone.

Just illustrates who had money on tyhe outcome. Cheating by outfits like FIFA is quite common.

Henry,has alway showed great poise and spotsmanship through his career,and I really thought finaly a Frenchman with some true class..Well,like all the Frogs I have known and seen,he has inherited the blood of COWARDS and TRUE LOSERS...He really showed his true side,a DAMN CHEAT!!!!

It's not the place for the French to accept the Irish offer of rematch. FIFA should call for a rematch. The French are simply allowing the responsibility to fall where it belongs. FIFA has wronged the Irish team. FIFA should make amends. Also, a full blown investigation of the refs for the game should begin. It's too obvious they arranged the outcome of the game.

This is typical of the Frogs,I mean the French,lets look at the Frogs history,in W1 AND WW2, THEY NEED HELP TO WIN THEIR ON COUNTRY BACK IN BOTH WARS.. In WW2, insted of fighting HARD THEY GAVE IN AND GAVE THIER COUNTRY TO THE Germans,and Vetnam they they were there almost 20 years before the USA,and still couldnt even win a single battle against the vetnamees,the last time the Frogs won anything was during their own civil war..So we can see the Frogs,are now turnig to cheating on the world stage of the beautiful game,it looks like Frogs dont have the heart or the guts to at least win with honor.Frogs cant win nothing so they cheat now...FIFA,IS A DISGRACE TO THE WORLD OF SOCCER,OR FUTBOL TO ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN,AND NOT HAVE THE SPORTSMANSHIP TO REPLAY THE GAME AGAIN,WITH REFS THAT ARE NOT ON THE PAYROLL OF TURNING THE BLIND EYE TO CHEATING...What a great message that FIFA is sending to the youth of soccer,its ok to cheat,and there are no repecutions for you actions....FIFA, was once a lighthouse of honor,now a dark house of corruption....

I have to agree with Trappatoni, no one else seems to mentioning this, why did the referee not investigate the claim of handball before the restart??? There lies the mistake! If he even asked Thierry, he would have probably admitted handling the ball and the correct call could have been made. That's a major blunder, when you have a goalie and practically the rest of the Irish team screaming FOUL, at least ask the AR and the players (French) before restarting and dooming any chance of getting it right!!! Hold the Ref accountable, let him explain why....and then replay the match!!! Best thing FIFA could ever do!

Benefit to everyone FIFA president & referree (France vs Ireland) to step down before WC2010.....clear the mishandling and fair to the world of footballers.

Benefit to everyone FIFA president & referree (France vs Ireland) to step down before WC2010.....clear the mishandling and fair to the world of footballers.

Forgot to mention
shame on fifa
and shame on fff

I think the major issues in reversing this decision is not that France Or Ireland will win or loose the problem is that if they arrange another game and Ireland end up qualifying WILL THE BOOKIES GET THEIR MONEY BACK ??? Everything boils down to money and FIFA or FFF cares less about Character building and being fair on the world stage. They think people will forgive and forget after 7 days and this case will be shoved under the rug. They are just counting backwards and looking forward.

Place the ball back in the center....
get the two teams and lets play ball.....
Governing bodies this is not a stock exchange decision.....plain and simple sport!
lets redo this for the love of the sport

No wonder !!! French are bunch of wussies and cheaters and they showed it right away. They are afraid of loosing and have no confidence whatsoever in their team.

I wish France gets the taste of their own medicene in the first round itself. As a spectator I would be booing France all the way. The little respect FIFA and France might have had among Fans is belittled further. Shame on both France and FIFA. Atleast both of these organization were given chances to remedy this situation which they refused to fix. Only history will tell what's instored for both of them.

I agreed. French, come out and play. Make things right..

phillipe
even if they didn't get the penalty, who's to say that keane wouldn't have scored an equalizer as opposed to a game winner in that game. plus, take away those 3 points and ireland advances anyway. it didn't cost another team a spot in the world cup, like this had. you also underestimate the pride of the irish. if they were called out like they called out the french, i doubt they would tuck their tail between their legs, put the blame on someone else, and run off. at least admit you're lucky and don't deserve to be there.