But I’m afraid we supporters of France are going to have to get used to a good deal of hostility being directed towards us, errr … the French NT–possibly for years to come.

As something of a novice to the game, I was outraged that one of my favourite players from my favourite international team should have done what he did.

But after reading & thinking much about it, I now see a much larger context: one in which (surprise!) cheating is an accepted part of the game. What’s more, a tacitly expected part of the game on the part of managers and players. I think that’s why so much of the European football establishment came out in support of Henry as a good guy–which by reports he probably is–and definitely not a cheat. But what is a “cheat” in the context of football?

The larger problem is human nature’s tendency to get away with what it can. Which is why we police ourselves. Football is merely analogous to society at large, but whereas society provides it police forces with ever evolving, up-to-date instruments to supervise an ever-evolving society, football has not done this for it’s police, the referees.

While I appreciate and enjoy the fact that football is played in real time, something must be done to help stop this by now intrinsic flaw in the game. Some form of video replay, however limited, seems like the obvious way to go–or at least experimented with at some level of the sport.

It’s too easy to blame the referees–I’m amazed they do as well as they do given all they must observe within a tense, pressurized context. They need help, some kind of reinforcement …

Any Irish supporter complaining about Fair Play who don’t mention this is a hypocrite:

http://footballblips.dailyradar.com/story/ireland-georgia-ridiculous-penalty/tweets/?p=1

A few questions for people to think about:

When was the last time a world cup finals didn’t have Brazil, Italy, France, Argentina, or Germany playing against eachother?

1978 Netherlands over 30 years!

Since 1998 when I believe the seeding process has taken place name the only team out of the big 5 (France, Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Argentina) not to be seeding in group 1?

never! wonder if it will happen again this year . . .

In the case of Henry, yes, it does get to his character. I don’t know where the nuance comes in (and Laurie, really, you do a superb job with the France posting) but it’s pretty black and white to me. His handling of the ball was intentional. He double handled it for crying out loud!

However, where I draw the line is the calls for him – and France – to be “banned” which is pure rubbish. France fans feel bad about it but they shouldn’t beat themselves offer it either. It’s not like Ireland got their breaks.

Last, I can’t believe what I’m reading about the skepticism of replay. It won’t solve anything? Are you kidding me? Are you guys following other sports at all? They used to say the same thing in hockey and football. Now? Fans thank the good Lord for it. It saved those sports in many ways. It’s worked fine in tennis and baseball and in all cases it hasn’t damaged the integrity or traditions of the game. It’s called evolving.

So, I say learn to LOVE REPLAY!

http://www.jeu-de-main.com/

OK, with this I think I’ve officially moved on.
Let’s get a defense.
Let’s get a strategy, a direction, a game.
We build a good team with the first piece: the goalkeeper. In my opinion, he is the one who took us to SA, by keeping the Irish close.