METRO Friday, November 20, 2009 D TO CELEBRATE THE OPENING OF OUR NEW WOOD FLOORING SHOWROOM, WE ARE OFFERING AT LEAST 35% OFF ALL WOOD FLOORING TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY Ballymount Retail Centre, Ballymount Road Upper, Dublin 24. (Exit 10 from M50). Ph: 01 855 5200. Fax: 01 855 7471. Email: info@tilestyle.ie www.tilestyle.ie EUROPES LARGEST TILE & STONE SHOWROOM Email info@tilestyle.ie now to receive your free wood flooring brochure. International condemnation for manner in which France won game Shocking: The image which will forever be remembered by Irish football fans who already say it is the worst sport catastrophe to ever affect an Irish team Picture: Getty World turns on French over soccer cheat HenryIT WASNT just the Irish who were less than amused with Wednesday nights shenanigans: Thierry Hen- rys ill-gotten gains were criticised throughout the footballing world including in his home country. Callers to a popular French radio show claimed the captain had embarrassed France and had disgraced the French jersey with his cheating. Some callers to the RTL lquipe radio station called for a boycott of goods promoted by Henry, while one went as far as saying France should be thrown out of the World Cup with Ireland taking their place. Leading French daily newspaper Le Monde ran an online poll Does France deserve to be in South Af- rica? with 88% saying Non and Ireland should be there in- stead. Even Henrys former team- mate Emmanuel Petit told the BBC the highly regarded player had put his reputation at risk. The feeling among the French public on Thursday morning was one of embarrassment we didnt want to qualify in controversial circumstances, we wanted to beat Ireland by playing within the rules. Frances Secretary of State for Sport, Rama Yade, was one of Henrys few defenders, claiming there was no way of knowing he cheated on purpose. I dont think we can talk about cheating, she said. You cant exactly know where the ball is and where its going to go. Besides, the referee saw nothing. Thierry Henry knows himself that he touched the ball. Only he knows if he did it on purpose. So we cant say if he did it on purpose or not and we cant talk about cheating. Gillette meanwhile has confirmed it will not drop Henry as the face of its shaving products, saying it was not placed to comment on any refereeing deci- sions. Henry was not the only one in the firing line Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet was embarrassed to be of the same nationality as referee Martin Hans- son There are approximately 80million Irishmen around the world. We guarantee they all feel pretty bad today, it said in an editorial piece, But I sincerely hope there are three Swedes that feel even worse. They are Martin Hansson and (referees assistants) Stefan Wittberg and Fredrik Nilsson. There will be no World Cup for Ireland and I as- sume that Team Hansson has also forfeited its right to continue to take charge of major international matches. Anything else would be a further insult to the Irish nation, it surmised. BY ROSS McDONAGH Henry has put his reputation at risk See Letters: Page 19 and Sport: Pages 22-24 World Cup blow costs Irish economy millionsTHE Republic of Irelands controversial failure to make next summers World Cup will cost the countrys economy millions, a financial expert has claimed. Thierry Henry twice handling the ball in setting up Frances extra-time winner meant the Irish were eliminated 2-1 on aggregate and ensured the French would be heading to South Africa next summer. Clearly the cost to the Irish economy, of not participating in the tournament, will run into millions of pounds, Henk Potts, financial analyst for Barclays Stockbrokers, said. Retailers will lose out in terms of numbers of sales, the leisure industry will lose out in terms of the numbers of people going to pubs and bars, the supermarkets would have expected an increase in certain products sold in preparation for matches, and the bookmakers would expect a lot more activity if Ireland were taking part. Mr Potts continued: What we saw happen yesterday was not only a blow to the Ireland team in terms of the World Cup but also to the Irish economy at a time when it has already taken a major blow. Meanwhile, bookmaker William Hill has said it will refund stake money to all punters who backed the Republic of Ireland to qualify for the final stages of the World Cup following the knock-out. It will also be paying out on bets for the French to go through. Dashing all hopes of a rematch, the bookmakers offered odds of 100/1 that Fifa will order the Ireland v France World Cup game to be replayed. UEFA President and former French International Michel Platini would probably get the guillotine if he ordered a re-run, said William Hills Tony Kenny. The bookmaker was the first ever to refund stakes to punters when, in 1986, they disallowed Maradonas Hand of God goal for Argentina against England. Hand of God: Maradona index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html