Hand Up
The difficulty with writing sentences like "Have the FAI lost their marbles?" is that it implies they had any marbles to begin with, but you understand the sentiment. Whatever it was they were given instead of marbles - I dunno, little balls of mála or something - have gone west. They're officially petitioning FIFA to have the Ireland v France match replayed. Because, apparently, this is the first match in the history of time where the winning goal was due to bad refereeing.
Oh, and Dermot Ahern has called for it an' all. On CNN. Fair enough. He's Minister for Justice, and Ireland didn't get justice last night, I tell ya ("Justice" to be pronounce "Jeee-yustice", like how Christy Moore does it*).
Insert heavy sigh and eye-rolling here.
- Edit: OK, everything take everything I'm about to say and multiply by two. I'm sorry, but this is just fucking ridiculous.
Where do you begin?
Well, let's be clear; Ireland were astonishing against France. They played incredibly; they bullied France off the pitch, a French team dripping with world-class players. At ninety minutes, they could easily have been three up. They didn't take their chances, but that aside, they gave everything you could ask for; left every ounce of themselves on the pitch, played the game how it's meant to be played, cut the French apart for their goal, and spent time throwing their shirts to the fans afterwards. Éamon Dunphy may be a gobshite, but occasionally he gets it right; "We shouldn't be too downhearted when we've got people like that... when we can produce people of that kind of character, we should be happy." It's the best Ireland performance I've seen. Robbie Keane mouthed off to the ref a few too many times, maybe; but it was devoid of cynicism, or ego, or any of the things that are so... crap about football, so often.
In other words, it reminded you what was so great about sport. It's difficult to talk about sport without lapsing into cliché, so I'm not going to try; I'll just say that sport, at its best, teaches you so many important things about life. It teaches you honesty, and effort, and teamwork, and dedication. Football, one of the most corrupted of sports, doesn't often hit those heights; still, it's not half exhilarating when it does.
It's hard not to remember Damien Duff weeping at the end. Duff is probably the best Republic of Ireland winger of all time. He is 30 now, and has shipped countless injuries. He certainly won't make the 2014 World Cup, he'll be 33 (and possibly finished) for the European Championships. Wept, having left every ounce of himself on the pitch. Then the players picked themselves up and went to their fans. That's the other thing you learn from sport - how to lose, with dignity. Even when you're the victim of unfairness, or injustice, as you often will be in life.
None of the "replay the game" calls have come from the players. Certainly, the obvious injustice needs addressing. Bringing in a form of video referral system would be a start. As for Henry, he should get what every other player adjudged to have cheated gets - a walloping great suspension, at the very least three competitive matches (i.e. all of France's World Cup group games). Get sent off, or make a bad tackle, or punch someone on the pitch, and you get suspended. Diving and deliberate handballs should be treated the same way. They aren't.
If we wanted to do something about the Henry situation, then these are the things we should be saying. Instead, we're the FAI and politicians are calling for the game to be replayed. It will not, cannot happen, just as Man Utd v Chelsea (equally referee-influenced) won't be replayed; if games are replayed because of bad decisions, referees mean nothing. Ireland conducted themselves like champions tonight, were cheated of the result they deserved, and bore it with dignity. But calling for replays makes us look silly. It makes us losers.
*That's not my joke, it's Willy Robinson's. Just so he doesn't moan about it in the comments or anything.
**American sports and Formula 1 don't actually count as sports, since you're asking.
Oh, and Dermot Ahern has called for it an' all. On CNN. Fair enough. He's Minister for Justice, and Ireland didn't get justice last night, I tell ya ("Justice" to be pronounce "Jeee-yustice", like how Christy Moore does it*).
Insert heavy sigh and eye-rolling here.
- Edit: OK, everything take everything I'm about to say and multiply by two. I'm sorry, but this is just fucking ridiculous.
Where do you begin?
Well, let's be clear; Ireland were astonishing against France. They played incredibly; they bullied France off the pitch, a French team dripping with world-class players. At ninety minutes, they could easily have been three up. They didn't take their chances, but that aside, they gave everything you could ask for; left every ounce of themselves on the pitch, played the game how it's meant to be played, cut the French apart for their goal, and spent time throwing their shirts to the fans afterwards. Éamon Dunphy may be a gobshite, but occasionally he gets it right; "We shouldn't be too downhearted when we've got people like that... when we can produce people of that kind of character, we should be happy." It's the best Ireland performance I've seen. Robbie Keane mouthed off to the ref a few too many times, maybe; but it was devoid of cynicism, or ego, or any of the things that are so... crap about football, so often.
In other words, it reminded you what was so great about sport. It's difficult to talk about sport without lapsing into cliché, so I'm not going to try; I'll just say that sport, at its best, teaches you so many important things about life. It teaches you honesty, and effort, and teamwork, and dedication. Football, one of the most corrupted of sports, doesn't often hit those heights; still, it's not half exhilarating when it does.
It's hard not to remember Damien Duff weeping at the end. Duff is probably the best Republic of Ireland winger of all time. He is 30 now, and has shipped countless injuries. He certainly won't make the 2014 World Cup, he'll be 33 (and possibly finished) for the European Championships. Wept, having left every ounce of himself on the pitch. Then the players picked themselves up and went to their fans. That's the other thing you learn from sport - how to lose, with dignity. Even when you're the victim of unfairness, or injustice, as you often will be in life.
None of the "replay the game" calls have come from the players. Certainly, the obvious injustice needs addressing. Bringing in a form of video referral system would be a start. As for Henry, he should get what every other player adjudged to have cheated gets - a walloping great suspension, at the very least three competitive matches (i.e. all of France's World Cup group games). Get sent off, or make a bad tackle, or punch someone on the pitch, and you get suspended. Diving and deliberate handballs should be treated the same way. They aren't.
If we wanted to do something about the Henry situation, then these are the things we should be saying. Instead, we're the FAI and politicians are calling for the game to be replayed. It will not, cannot happen, just as Man Utd v Chelsea (equally referee-influenced) won't be replayed; if games are replayed because of bad decisions, referees mean nothing. Ireland conducted themselves like champions tonight, were cheated of the result they deserved, and bore it with dignity. But calling for replays makes us look silly. It makes us losers.
*That's not my joke, it's Willy Robinson's. Just so he doesn't moan about it in the comments or anything.
**American sports and Formula 1 don't actually count as sports, since you're asking.
posted by Nyder O'Leary at
19:02
1 Comments:
Couldn't agree more. Sport is unfair sometimes, but you have to take your lumps.
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