// November 20th, 2009 // 17 Comments » // Uncategorized
I didn’t think it would be too long before the anti Irish backlash backlash started. Much like those @ssholes in school who thought they were cool by being the first person to turn against Oasis/Backstreet Boys, there’s always some smug idiot who thinks they’re cleverer than everybody else.
Lazar did a pretty excellent job summarising how painful the defeat was, but as with everything, the context is important. First up is the general shitty state of the country. Forget the economic depression in the US, Ireland has suffered worse than any other country. The London Times reported in April that Ireland has suffered the greatest decline in economic growth of any industrialized nation since the Great Depression. House prices have dropped as low as 33% of what they were 2 years ago in many places. Unemployment rate is currently a whopping 13% and generally it’s been one big depressing moan fest for the last few years. Feeling sorry for us yet? And, it’s rained every single day for the last 482 (possibly) too. As a country we really really needed something to take our minds off everything and something to unite the country. 2 million people tuned into RTE to watch the second leg against France. That’s 2 million out of a population of 4 million.
When we qualified for our first World Cup in 1990, it has been argued many times by respected economists that this was a significant factor in kickstarting the Celtic Tiger. The confidence of being represented on the World stage, the pride in competing equally with global powers (in both a footballing and non footballing sense) really changed the country. You can’t underestimate the effects of the entire country coming together to support their heroes. People who have no interest in Soccer can still sing our songs from that tournament to this day and it really was one of the defining moments in our history.
When FIFA realized that France, Germany and Cristiano Ronaldo might end up in the playoffs and decided to change the rules at the last moment by seeding the playoffs it was a real kick in the teeth. Forget about Fair Play or equal playing fields, it’s all about FIFA keeping their sponsors happy, maximising TV revenues and making money. Forget the fact that Ireland would bring ten times more fans to South Africa than France would, they have a bigger TV market and Michel Platini is French. How could the fact that the direct employees of the Swedish referee team, the people who have the power to make or break the referee have outwardly expressed their preference for France to prevail not affect at some level the referee’s judgement (consciously or subconsciously)?
On to the game itself. Nobody gave us any hope of going to Paris and being the first European team to ever turn around a home leg playoff deficit. How could our motley crew of Premiership reserves and nobodies compete with the Champions League Galacticos of the French team? But they more than competed. We actually outplayed them. Courage isn’t about going up for a header with John Terry or slide tackling Joey Barton. Courage is about having the conviction and the belief to get on the ball and outplaying a vastly technically superior and experienced team. The French were cowards, frightened by their own fickle fans, while the Irish gave their everything in front of 25,000 travelling supporters who outsung the French the whole way through. And then he cheated.
Anybody who says it’s not Henry’s fault, it’s the refereee’s fault, or that if it happened to Ireland we would have done the same thing is just wrong. Wrong Wrong WRONG. If football was reduced to one fundamental rule, it’s that you can’t use your hands. And Henry (one of the biggest stars of the World game), being marked by Paul McShane (one of the worst players in the Premiership) cheated. It wasn’t like the ball hit his hand and he played the advantage. He stuck his hand out to stop the ball going out of play. He then used his hand a second time to position it so he could knock it across the goal for Gallas to score. This isn’t about instinct or things evening themselves out. This is about a double cynical cheat to end a lot of people’s dreams. Forget his subsequent admissions of guilt after the game. The fact that he wheeled away in delight with that smug look on his face says it all. So what if after the game he admitted he handled it. We can all see he handled it and him admitting it after the game doesn’t change anything. A better man would not have handled it in the first place, would have told the referee (this actually happens more than you think – remember Robbie Fowler protesting over a penalty he was awarded), or at least would have been too embarasseed to celebrate.
The reaction in Ireland (and around the World) has been staggering. Everybody from the Football Association of Ireland to our Taoiseach (prime minister) have called for a replay. 80% of French residents think a replay should take place. The French Gym Teachers Union have condemmed Henry and criticized his cheating. A facebook group asking for a replay has already had 260,000 members join. There’s protest marches taking place in Dublin tomorrow, marching to the French Embassy. Upon being informed of the protest, An Garda (the Irish Police) have said they will join the march too.
We all know we’re not going to get a replay, but all the protesting isn’t about that. We don’t want people to feel sorry for us either, we’ve had enough of that over the years. What we do want is to stand up to the corruption and greed that favors the big and powerful over the small. And we want to save football. Cheating is not acceptable. Cheating is not right. Cheating is ruining the game and cheats shouldn’t prosper. Anybody who says differently is wrong and missing some element of being human.
Sign the petition, Join the Facebook Group, We Shall Overcome!
Posted by Cass
