The Case For A Replay

The fallout from last night's game has been astonishing.  All around the world, Henry’s handball is the centre of sport attention.  Here in Ireland, it is the lead story on front page and back.   It’s been spoken about in the Dáil while the BBC have held a live blog about the fall-out, the sort of treatment they usually only give to actual matches.

The demand of the Football Association of Ireland today is simple – a replay.  They’ve lodged an official protest over last night’s result, a move I agree with because to accept it without kicking up a fuss would insult the two-million Irish fans who watched the game.  FIFA have so far said no to this and (in my opinion) rightly so.  Decisions of referees should be sacrosanct, even when they are wrong.  Nonetheless, like a lot of Irish fans, I am clinging to the hope that such a replay should be given.  It’s what my heart wants, even if my head says that it shouldn’t happen.  Like all Irish fans, I have no problem when my side are beaten fairly – I just want to be given the honour of fairness.

FIFA have released a statement on the matter this afternoon, referring to Law Number 5 in their Laws of the Game which can be seen here.  It is both long and convoluted but essentially FIFA are standing by it to say that the referee’s decision is final, and cannot be tampered with.  However, there is precedent which may work in our favour.

In 2005, Uzbekistan and Bahrain played a World Cup Qualifier in which the referee made an incorrect decision which averted the course of the game.  Essentially, a player encroached into the box as a penalty was taken and the referee ordered a free kick for the defending team, rather than allowing the penalty to be re-taken.  To me, that’s a less significant mistake than last night’s but it was nonetheless regarded as important enough to render the game null and void.  That judgement was made under article 12.4 of the 2006 FIFA World Cup regulations, which essentially gives organising bodies the right to make such decisions.  It should also be noted that this decision was made despite Article 14.4 (amended slightly for the 2010 World Cup, under the title Article 13.6) which states that 'no protests may be made about the referee’s decisions regarding facts connected with play. Such decisions are final...'

It would seem that, as they say, would be that.  The FAI look likely to have no way of protesting last night.  I’ve read through any relevant legislation that I can find and can see only one course of action.  Article 5.g says 'all participants...including players...should observe the principles of fair play.'  Those principles, under the FIFA Fair Play Code, call on players to ‘play fair’, to ‘observe the laws of the game’, to ‘respect opponents, team-mates, referees, officials and specators’, to ‘honour those who defend football’s good reputation’ and perhaps most crucially, ‘denounce those who attempt to discredit our sport’.  Last night, Thierry Henry discredit football by his actions and it is now up to FIFA to take action.  I don’t hold my breath.

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Ireland’s only other hope is that the French FA step in on our behalf.  The public in France, I’ve been told by people there, are unhappy with last night’s match.  They want to qualify with honour, like the other 30 countries who won their way through to join South Africa in the World Cup.  However, given the large financial bonus that comes with playing in a World Cup, I wouldn’t expect this to happen, nor would I believe that the French authorities should go to bat for Ireland.  We may just have to walk away from this incident with a very bitter taste in our mouths.

Hand Gaul

I want to sleep badly but I can't.  Too troubled by the match this evening.  Instead of a rushed post about the game, here's an audio blog post capturing how I feel about the Irish team, tonight and that goal.

PS Thanks to all who came out for the live blog.  After this, and Dunne's KO in September, I'm not sure if I'll ever do another.

France v Ireland LIVE blog

Only 31 or so hours to go... loads of time!  Live blog is below.  Do take part but in the lead-up to the match and, of course, during the game itself.  There'll be plenty of posts about the match over the coming days so be sure to come back and check out The Almost Daily Sports Blog.

Allez Les Verts!

Not Such A Bastareaud After All?

While Andy Murray and Michael Jackson continue to dominate the headlines in this part of the word, there is a very interesting scandal involving a rugby star brewing in France.

You may remember Mathieu Bastareaud from this year’s Six Nations. Very impressive in the win over Wales, Bastareaud brought a lot of positive attention to himself and it seemed that, at the age of 20, French rugby was looking at a player who could play at centre for the next decade.

More likely than that, however, is that Mathieu Bastareaud came to your attention approximately two weeks ago after France’s second test defeat against New Zealand in Wellington. Not for anything to do with the match itself but for what happened that Saturday night. The initial reports were that he’d been beaten up by “three or four men” while out on the town. Naturally, this provoked a media storm in New Zealand. Ahead of their hosting of the 2011 World Cup, the country was ashamed that a touring international rugby player could be beaten up by one of their own. Yet that’s not what happened.





Within a matter of a few days, the ‘truth’ had emerged. Bastareaud definitely returned to the team hotel in full health. It seems that he had fallen, drunk, in his room, and had lied to avoid getting into trouble with the team management. He returned home to France, disgraced, where it seems he was met with vilification in the national press. RTE reported this revelation with the witty headline Lying Bastareaud Comes Clean.

In the media storm that has erupted, rumour and conjecture have been flying around France. My French is not the best, so I must rely on second-hand reports, but among the rumours is that Bastareaud’s injuries were caused in a fight with other members of the French squad, a fight for which he was made a scapegoat and thus sent home.

So far, this is the tale of a player who, in either the official story (he lied, got caught, owned up) or the rumoured version (he got into a fight with teammates) did wrong and has righty gotten into trouble for doing so. But this is a story that has taken a new turn, one that could have been tragic. It was reported that Bastareaud attempted suicide over the weekend and is now under observation in a psychiatric clinic. Otherwise, he is said to be fine. Thankfully.

Today the French Prime Minister has written a letter to his counterpart in New Zealand, John Key, apologizing for Bastareaud’s actions. Key has termed this an end to the affair and hopefully that is the case, in terms of a public sense, even if it will not be for Bastareaud, who is left to cope with his now damaged career, and possibly also his life.

Today’s development, the intervention of Francois Fillon, most worries me. Bastareaud is one of the few French rugby players who has heritage outside of the country (Guadalupe I believe). This foreign heritage is something which has been seen with many French soccer players but, perhaps for class differences, not in the oval ball game. Would Fillon have intervened if, say, Cedric Heymans was the player involved? Was (if the rumours about the fight are true) Bastareaud made a scapegoat based on his ethnicity? I’m not qualified to discuss the intricacies of French society but to see how this can affect France, watch the Palme D’Or winning The Class from Laurent Cantet. This stunning film engages with the issue in a simple yet philosophical manner, giving an outsider such as myself an insight into everyday life in multi-cultural France.

Whether or not race is a factor, there is also no doubt that Bastareaud has been exposed by French rugby authorities. Little has been done to defend him after the incident and, it seems, next to nothing was done to care for him during the media storm that followed. He reportedly told friends he was feeling suicidal before this weekend but, again, nothing was done to aid him. He was hung out to dry; even representatives of New Zealand police agree with that much. “At least two French players, maybe more, know the truth,” said Peter Cowan, the police chief in Wellington. “One day it will come out.”

Until that day, let’s hope that Bastareaud recovers, and returns to the rugby field sooner rather than later.