Having considered their position, the FAI today confirmed that they will lobby world football's governing body for the game to be replayed."Conclusive video evidence of a deliberate hand ball by Thierry Henry, which led to France's additional time goal, has been seen by millions of football fans worldwide," the FAI said today."The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport and we now call on Fifa, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed."While the chances of Fifa ordering a replay are slim, football's governing body do have the power to demand a rematch and have done so in the past and the FAI have cited that example.In the qualifying campaign for the 2006 finals, Uzbekistan's World Cup qualifier with Bahrain was replayed after Japanese referee Toshimitsu Yoshida made a technical error.When Uzbekistan had a penalty disallowed for an attacking player encroaching, Yoshida awarded a free out rather than calling for the penalty to be retaken. Upon reviewing the incident, Fifa called for the game to be replayed in its entirety."There is precedent for the invalidation of such results," the FAI explained. "In 2005, the Bureau of the FIFA World Cup organising committee reached a decision to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a `technical error by the referee of the match."
Having considered their position, the FAI today confirmed that they will lobby world football's governing body for the game to be replayed.
"Conclusive video evidence of a deliberate hand ball by Thierry Henry, which led to France's additional time goal, has been seen by millions of football fans worldwide," the FAI said today.
"The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport and we now call on Fifa, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed."
While the chances of Fifa ordering a replay are slim, football's governing body do have the power to demand a rematch and have done so in the past and the FAI have cited that example.
In the qualifying campaign for the 2006 finals, Uzbekistan's World Cup qualifier with Bahrain was replayed after Japanese referee Toshimitsu Yoshida made a technical error.
When Uzbekistan had a penalty disallowed for an attacking player encroaching, Yoshida awarded a free out rather than calling for the penalty to be retaken. Upon reviewing the incident, Fifa called for the game to be replayed in its entirety.
"There is precedent for the invalidation of such results," the FAI explained. "In 2005, the Bureau of the FIFA World Cup organising committee reached a decision to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a `technical error by the referee of the match."
(5% chance) - Fifa announce once off replay for this world cup - pending above commission report - and citing "special circumstances" of pay-off format.
