Football Champions

To echo our host's views on this, what took place between France and Ireland on Wednesday night really was a travesty. And lo and behold, here to rub salt in still-fresh wounds is soccer's top authority, FIFA.

For those who don't know, FIFA is about as honest, fair-minded and interested in bettering the world as your average African dictator -- and even that's probably an insult to African dictators.

So it really is no surprise when they not only completely reject Ireland's request for a replay, but in doing so refuse to even admit that mistakes were made. These days you get more accountability from a Wall Street CEO.

The post on the topic yesterday mentioned Diego Maradona's infamous Hand of God handball in 1986. Take it from one who was a wee English schoolboy at the time -- that was bad. But it was also somewhat forgivable because the technology wasn't there to have changed the outcome. Fast forward 23 years and we have dozens of cameras covering all angles, high-definition feeds, and sufficient technology to have instant replays pitch-side. It's absurd that for all the changes to the sport, we're still using the same officiating standards that were in place a century ago.

Addendum: Roy Keane has a slightly different take, though he's hardly an impartial observer.

--Smoods

Photo taken from Sportinglife.com without permission.