Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Last night’s events produced an unprecedented reaction. The following is a selection from the hundreds of comments posted on irishtimes.com yesterday.

The criticism in the French media today has been huge . . . the media launched into a day of attack, that Ireland were the better side on the night and that football in general has turned into a scam. Then this afternoon the French teachers’ union publicly condemned Henry’s handball and worse, the French football authority’s smug acceptance of the result, asking what is this shameless cheating teaching children. Folks, don’t knock “the French”, no exaggeration if you were to carry out a poll today, well over half the French would disqualify France themselves. People here are sickened by all this. This is about the murky, vulgar, sneering, insincere, dishonest, bling, scumbag world of professional football that doesn’t care about people.