The cheats have won. France will be taking part in the FIFA football word cup in South Africa next summer after Thierry Henry stole Ireland's place with a blatant hand ball to grab a late goal.
The referee's decision may be final, but it's hard to disagree with the countless commentators who demand that FIFA introduce videos to decide such controversial decisions on the night. It works well in rugby. And in answer to those who say it slows the game, so what? Isn't the right decision better than a quick one?
All the same, I can't get too excited about talk of football's integrity being impugned. Football has very little integrity left. It's a billionaire's game now. Managers such as Alex Ferguson routinely abuse referee's decisions regardless of whether they have a genuine grievance. Millionaire players fall to the ground to try to win penalties even when opposing defenders were feet away from making contact. Fans are charged crazy money to see their teams play.
In short, there are far greater injustices in the world than Ireland's failure to reach the 2010 world cup finals.
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