The Frenchman on the down escalator at the Gare du Nord needed to think about his taunt. "The Irish fans... The first... Flight 'ome."
The Irishman going up, replied suitably tersely with one word - "Handball" - and a gesture to his arm. Half an hour or so after bitter defeat, I admired the restraint. Now I can't help thinking how much better it would have been if it had been left at that.
Instead thousands more words have followed, culminating in the Football Association of Ireland's appeal for the second leg of the play-off to be replayed. I had every sympathy for Ireland fans on the night, but it a request that must be refused. And the more the Irish protest, the less convincing their case becomes.
The last thing I saw online before going to sleep in the early hours of Thursday was Tony Cascarino's condemnation of Thierry Henry in the Times. I drifted off dreaming of the kicking he deserved, though Mediawatch has saved me the trouble.
At the time I had not noticed that Damien Duff was the token recipient off a booking amid the mass protests. His penalty-winning antics in the 2002 World Cup have been mentioned in Mailbox, though perhaps not sufficiently: he did not simply dive, he stuck out a leg sideways to kick a defender who had pulled out of the tackle. And there's Robbie Keane, whose handballs on Wednesday I had not been so well-placed to see as I was for Henry's, but who would not have been complaining had a goal resulted from one.
Liam Brady, Kevin Kilbane and the FAI can call for a replay, but FIFA are right to resist the appeals for the restaging of this game rather than, say, Ireland's vital qualifying victory over Holland before the 2002 World Cup, when Shay Given escaped without punishment after bringing down Ruud van Nistelrooy at 0-0.
These incidents do not prove that anything balances out across time in football (this is a fallacy), though it demonstrates amply that the Irish are just as capable of foul play and cheating as Thierry Henry. To be fair to Given, his foul against Holland is not in the same class as Henry's handball, but the grounds for appeal are just the same as they would have been for Holland.
The precedent of Bahrain versus Uzbekistan, which FIFA ordered to be replayed in 2005, has been cited, but was fundamentally different. Even Graham Poll has his uses, and the man no stranger to cock-ups in World Cup games officiated in the replayed match. The grounds were not that the referee missed or misinterpreted an incident, but that he got the laws wrong. There was encroachment at a successfully converted penalty and instead of ordering a retake a free-kick to the defending side was given.
Poll has been on TV rehearsing that tale and pointing out the crucial difference. He has also been defending the linesman on Wednesday, who may have been unsighted by Given; I had a similar angle to the official but the advantage of height, and if I may have been unfair on the Swede. Unusual though it is to see the word "sensibly" in the same sentence as "Poll", he has been advocating, too, the introductions of video help for officials. As does Keith Hackett, head of the Premier League referees' body, not least because they would rescue officials from being blamed over incidents they cannot clearly see.
Those are the replays we need, not the kind the FAI are requesting. We have known for some time that the wisest man in the Irish game is an Italian, and Giovanni Trapattoni's acceptance after the game that that was that for this tie is an example the rest should follow, while joining Poll, Hackett and the rest of us.
Philip Cornwall
Your Comments
rebus2009
"I'd agree as irishman that we should all move on following the henry affair and hoepfully fifa will learn lessons. A replay was and never should have been an option.
What henry did was against rules/spirit of the game but it would hard to dispute that any irish player wouldn't have done similar to make the WC.
My issue with the article relates to the suggestions by philip cornwall that the irish after 2 days of upset and run of the mill quotes should disappear off with their disappointment becaase its starting to annoy him. Maybe he should note that the primary drivers of all the follow up coverage were sky news - an english channel - and many of the english tabloids salivating at the opportunity to have a go at the french - several times in blatantly racist fashion.
Before he starts moaning about a few days of excessive hype about replays etc, it is worth noting (and this was not lost on several french people I met after the game) was the restrained good natured apporoach taken by 100% (not one arrest again) of the irish fans in paris despite the shocking manner of the defeat. As a few french mentioned, if the same had happened with capello's army in paris, you'd be able to smell the surphur all the way to marseilles.
Was extremely proud of the teams performance but even proudly as an irishman of the way 15,000 fellow countrymen acted in the aftermath when in paris.
Maybe philip should think back to the sorry litany of trouble caused by english supporters and he might wish that they could adopt the approach that "the pen is mightier than the sword""
joekelly
"Hi Phil
the game is full of ups and downs England still cry about the World cup that Maradona stole from them but nothing about a young Owen dive. I never expected a replay but at least the ref and Henry get suspended for a while other wise incompetency is exceptable and cheating is ok. I think both will get off and the game will be fun of Idiot refs and future cheats in the future. even worse than it is now"
Footykid
"Oh I've had enough, England, we don't want your sympathy. Keep it. We're going to have to listen to 6 months of how you're going to win the World cup and then the excuses after you lose to Slovenia on penalties. "
dow_
"The faI know there will be no replay theyre just trying to be seen to make the right noises because they know everyone in the country will take it out on them if they dont. After the joke theyve made of Irish football over the years theyre trying to get the people on side with them united against a common cause. Same with that clown Brian Cowan saying he will take it up with Sarkozy. Hes just trying to distract people from the mess him and the rest of the government have left us in. Theyre just trying to get people on theyre side. They can all f**k off as far as im concerned. It was a sickener to lose the match like that and theres nothing we can do about it but I wonder would the chances of a replay be bigger if that happened to France. Maybe im just being paranoid but its possible. Blatter and Platini would definately be in favour of it."
Gandhi
"for godsake, could my fellow irishmen please get a sense of perspective. Yes a few english men did send death threats to Anders Frisk. I am fairly confident Phil Cornwell was not one of these. I would also safely assume that he would quickly condem his fellow country men for the incident. I am also sure that Phil would have felt equally as aggrieved with Maradona hand of god as we irish do now. I seriously doubt it though he wants the game replayed. Either way i think Phil should be allowed to give us his opnion without having to feel guilty about the past actions of a few of his stupid countrymen.
An please stop this "i bet hes english", "hardly english Phil?" "typical english"- we have all moved on a long way from this.
Yes it was a horrendous decision and we have a right to feel hard done by, just like any country on the wrong end of a decision has. But lets do so in a dignified manner. The whinging and self righteous whinning is quickly turning what was worldwide sympathy into annoyance and embarrasment.
And while im on it, please stop trying to compare Henry to Maradona. Anyone who has watched football over the last 10 years and has heard Henry speak does not need me to explain why this is just ridiculous. Henry is not a villain and is no more a cheat than any other professional footballer. If that honestly is your opinion then your argument is with modern football not Henry. In which case you have an option- just stop watching!"!!! "
JD_Quench
"I'm Irish, I'm proud of the performance on Wednesday night, I'm gutted at the way we lost - and now I'm moving on. Now that the dust is beginning to settle, there should be no replay (which we'd probably lose anyway IMO)and no vendetta against Henry or the officials; it's football and as Roy Keane has come out and said in his own subtle way today, what goes around comes around. Every team will get the lucky and unlucky breaks at every level of the game, cheats will always - well, usually - prosper, and justice and perceived injustice will prevail in equal measures. In the cold light of day, any honest Irishman will accept that we could - nay, should - have won 3-0 in 90 minutes and it's no coincidence that the two Irish players doing most of the bleating are the same two who could not deliver us a trip to South Africa next June by doing what they're paid so much to do."
GUMBOAVFC
"I believe the FAI were doing the most they could, every sane Irish man or woman knows that a replay would never happen, they just want a stop to controversy in such important games that the governing bodies of football created. And as in all negotiations you go in high and get some middle ground.
Johnny nic must be on his period or something"
charliepanayi
"You guys do all realise that Phil Cornwall isn't responsible for the actions of every English football supporter and every English newspaper?"
corkrebel
"How come when the English national team feel aggrieved its made out to be world ending. Remember when Ronaldo winked and got Rooney sent off? There was a public witch hunt for Ronaldo. This site even advertised t-shirts to buy (albeit from an external site).
Yes, Robbie Keane handled the ball & got punished. Isnt consistency what its all about? What about Abidal handling the ball in the box in the 1st leg? That was not given either.
The only region in the world which does seeding for playoffs, the first time I can ever remember was this year in Europe. When Russia, Germany, Portugal & France were struggling & Platini in charge of UEFA. Call it what you like, just a bit odd to me! Why did they revoke open play-offs against teams from outside Europe? Bahraim qualified!! Are they going to improve the World Cup or serve as whipping boys to some big team?
A very frustrated Irish fan!"
shanemc
"philip cronwall english by any chance?? any one remember the hand of god ?? oh how could we forget yer still going on about it now 23 years later so dont go around on your high horse saying your sick of hearing us we were beaten by a shocking bit of cheating he handled it twice !!! ever time maradona are argentina come up the rest of the world has to listen to it all over again so next time take a look at your self first ."
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