Gillette

[Swissbloke]

Any one want to buy cheap Gillette shaving products? I hear there's a few million cancelled orders over in Ireland this morning :-p

FIFA: For the good of the game. Well at least that's applicable in France anyway.....

[Andrewmaha]

Also expect order cancellations for Renault Clio's.

[amershamwrighty]

During the Falklands War, my Dad refused to buy corned beef.

Try buying a baguette in Dublin !

[SmileyMan]

Shame they didn't play the match before the Lisbon referendum

[Dr Bob]

Shame they didn't play the match before the Lisbon referendum

Why? What additional French-related opt-outs do you think they would have sought?

[boris]

Sauf que les mains?

[Hog]

Shame the lino didn't see it but hey-ho, these things happen!

[Geoff]

&quotShame the lino didn't see it but hey-ho, these things happen!&quot

Would you think that if Oxford missed promotion on the last day of the season through a deliberate handball!

I haven't been sure until now about introducing technology, but now I'm convinced. Qualification for the World Cup is a huge deal for a small country like Ireland (and for some of their players, who will be too old next time round). The rules may prevent a replay but Henry should be banned from playing in South Africa and technology introduced to prevent a recurrence. How can FIFA promote fair play when it condones that type of cheating?

[Baboo]

Chris Wilder is against the use of technology. It's the first thing I have disagreed with him on as far as I know.
It only takes a couple of seconds to prove the offence in these sort of cases. If the 4 th offical was sat in front of a TV screen in contact with the man in the middle his usefulness would be increased a 100 fold from the phaffing about with the subs &amp added minutes board &amp constant telling the managers and coaching staff they are naughty little boys and must get back in the patch of grass marked for their containment.

But if we had benefited from such a decision to get back in the football league ..... no it wouldn't have felt right. If (I won't say, when) we make it I want it to be earned fairly &amp honestly.

[Ascension Ox]

&quotShame the lino didn't see it but hey-ho, these things happen!&quot

Would you think that if Oxford missed promotion on the last day of the season through a deliberate handball!

I haven't been sure until now about introducing technology, but now I'm convinced. Qualification for the World Cup is a huge deal for a small country like Ireland (and for some of their players, who will be too old next time round). The rules may prevent a replay but Henry should be banned from playing in South Africa and technology introduced to prevent a recurrence. How can FIFA promote fair play when it condones that type of cheating?

If you are a footballer sometimes your natural instinct is to actively handle the ball. It's against the law but footballers do it. Robbie Keane or Kevin Doyle might have handled the ball in similar cirx. Henry should not be hung out to dry for this. Technology however has to come in in massive games like this. Where is the line drawn though? Should France have been given the opportunity to appeal aganst the penalty decision they were not given? Maybe management should be given one challenge a game each. This is not a development that should be entered into lightly though. Football is a fluid, fast game and too much external action replay in re key decisions may impact on the attractiveness of football per se as a spectacle.

[GodalmingYellow]

&quotShame the lino didn't see it but hey-ho, these things happen!&quot

Would you think that if Oxford missed promotion on the last day of the season through a deliberate handball!

I haven't been sure until now about introducing technology, but now I'm convinced. Qualification for the World Cup is a huge deal for a small country like Ireland (and for some of their players, who will be too old next time round). The rules may prevent a replay but Henry should be banned from playing in South Africa and technology introduced to prevent a recurrence. How can FIFA promote fair play when it condones that type of cheating?

If you are a footballer sometimes your natural instinct is to actively handle the ball. It's against the law but footballers do it. Robbie Keane or Kevin Doyle might have handled the ball in similar cirx. Henry should not be hung out to dry for this. Technology however has to come in in massive games like this. Where is the line drawn though? Should France have been given the opportunity to appeal aganst the penalty decision they were not given? Maybe management should be given one challenge a game each. This is not a development that should be entered into lightly though. Football is a fluid, fast game and too much external action replay in re key decisions may impact on the attractiveness of football per se as a spectacle.

Henry shouldn't be hung out to dry for an instinctive reaction (if that is what it was, and I ain't convinced as he handled it twice). But that isn't what he is being criticised for. He is being criticised for continuing to play after handling the ball. He could just have stopped playing.

I agree with much of your commenton use of technology. I think we should use it, but cautiously at least to begin with. Perhaps giving each captain maybe 3 decision challenges for the entire game (or maybe unlimited correct challenges, but only 2 incorrect challenges before forfeiting the right to challenge a decision).

I don't think a system of having an official on the sideline continuously monitoring the game and then interupting from the sidelines would work as by he time of a replay, the game can have moved on a long way. Any decision challenge must come from the field of play.

[boris]

I'm with Wilder on this one. Football is a fast-flowing game and part of the attraction of it is the fallibility of the officials and players. I am intractably opposed to any form of external interruption to the flow of the play, and I think the introduction of technology would be the thin end of the wedge as far as this is concerned. I am also opposed to removal of the referee's authority in this way, although I would support improvements to the laws to make the referees' job easier (such as more active involvement of the fourth official, or allowing the assistants to encroach onto the field of play if necessary).

The fact that technology is seen to be appropriate to rugby and cricket only makes me feel that it would therefore be entirely inappropriate to football.

[A-Ro]

Henry should be banned from playing in South Africa

I've had a long think about that statement and its not quite as idiotic as it sounds. If the ref had spotted the deliberate handball he could have issued a straight red card which would have bought with it an automatic 3 match ban. The footballing authorities have already set precedents in this area i.e. penalising players after the event for offences that the referee didn't see, so it would be appropriate to ban him from the opening round of the World Cup tournament but not the whole tournament obviously.

[scooter]

Im with CW and Boris on this one.

However there are areas that the rules could be improved in to make players less prone to taking chances with cheating/bending the rules.

My top two are:

Points deductions for cards. Have a threshold say 30 points, teams get one point for a yellow three for a red, once a club reaches the threshold they are deducted a point, then say two points at 50 etc.

This would cut out dissent at a stroke as managers would come down heavily on anyone giving unneccesary points away, it's the only way to get the big clubs in line, fines and suspensions have no real effect with the budgets and squad sizes they have.

Secondly if a pkayer is injured in a tackle and has to leave the field of play with the physio and a free kick is given then the offending player should leave the field for the same amount of time.

It has always struck me as unfair that the offending team gain numerical advantage from a foul.

If the pressure is taken off referees with the players showing them more respect they are more likely to make correct decisions.

[Radley Rambler]

This would cut out dissent at a stroke as managers would come down heavily on anyone giving unneccesary points away, it's the only way to get the big clubs in line, fines and suspensions have no real effect with the budgets and squad sizes they have.

I prefer that any player who is guilty of dissent or diving be made to carry a pink handbag for 10 minutes - that would cut it out immediately.

Beano though would have quite a collection.