We woz robbed...

A few weeks ago Irish football fans were subjected to an agonising exit from the World Cup qualifying campaign, when the second leg of the deciding match against France ended 1-1 (it was 2-1 on aggregate - France beat Ireland 1-0 in the first leg). As anyone vaguely interested in sport will know, the circumstances of the exit were particularly painful. A late equaliser from France via a blatant handball from Thierry Henry (he handled twice, which is even illegal in volleyball) gifted victory and a trip to South Africa for the world cup finals next year.

This may seem trivial to some, but the implications of the loss of this mere football game are substantial. As a country Ireland's economic plight is well known - and at the very least a World Cup campaign would have provided a much needed boost to economic morale. To give a little bit more context - there are those who go as far as to suggest that when Ireland beat England in the European Championships in Stuttgart in 1988, it played a significant part in the economic recovery that spawned the Celtic Tiger. Amazingly it can be that important for a nation's sense of self worth.

While I love sport, I am not a big football fan. Watching this match helped clarify my rationale for this point of view - it's based in what I would see as the spirit of the game. I don't particularly like the segregation in the stadiums, or the aggression of some supporters, but most of all I don't like what I see on the pitch. For me, what happens on the pitch is the root cause of the problems off of it. It is a game where the rule-makers have managed to foster an environment where cheating (and getting away with it) are a significant part of the skill set of the professional game. The responsibility for correct behaviour has been almost entirely abdicated from the individual player and onto the match referee and his linesmen. It's OK to cheat, you just need to make sure you get away with it - which is down to how well you can dupe the referee at the appropriate moment.

The protections afforded to these poor souls charged with refereeing responsibilities seem fairly limited - their job is highly pressurised and very difficult - for which they suffer regular abuse which largely goes unpunished. The facilities to correct this situation are entirely available - there are countless video angles that record the action at the big games; yet none of this is used to aid the referee during the course of the match, and it is very rarely used to identify cynical or cheating behaviour in the aftermath of a big game.

In the case of Thierry Henry's handball, not only did the player himself know of his foul, but the majority of the people in the stadium, the other players and the millions watching on TV knew that a foul had been committed. That information was captured both in real time and in replay. It would appear that the only person who didn't know there was a foul was the Swedish referee Martin Hansson. It was a bad mistake, but the speed at which things can happen on a football field makes such mistakes almost inevitable. What is tragic is that it occurred at such a pivotal moment in the context of Irish and French sport. In all honesty, if roles were reversed and the situation had involved an Irish player, he would likely have acted the same way as Monsieur Henry - it's the nature of the game. (Though the referee probably would have spotted it!).

In the aftermath, the recriminations have been widespread - some more serious than others. An Irish radio phone-in the day after the match clarified the extent of ill-feeling; one caller went as far as saying he would give up both french fries and french kissing as a protest. In seriousness, the focus of protests has been varied from anger at Thierry Henry, to anger at the referee, to anger at the lack of video replay in these key decisions. For me what's tragic is that those who run the game - FIFA - seem to be of the view that what happened is part and parcel of their sport; just one of the trials and tribulations that the "bounce of the ball" subjects participants to. This is the most maddening aspect of the situation. Their response merely reinforces the importance of cheating well in the game.

I know you're probably thinking that I'm using this week's blog to vent my frustration about the fact that Ireland won't be at next year's World Cup finals! That's only part of the aim.

There is an interesting parallel to be drawn here between the way in which rule makers in the footballing world choose to administer their game, and the way in which regulators have tried to manage the world's financial system. The similarities between Sepp Blatter's approach to running FIFA and the various bodies from the FSA to the SEC who regulate financial markets is dangerously similar, and has in many ways produced the same results. Many of the methods used to "game the system" - the financial system, that is - which have blown up in the past couple of years came because "gaming it" became culturally accepted by individuals (players), their peers (team-mates), their bosses ("gaffers"), and their shareholders (club owners). Football terminology in brackets.

The responsibility for "calling a foul" was abdicated almost entirely onto external bodies - poorly equipped or empowered regulators (who didn't have access to video replay) or rating agencies (who turned a blind eye to video replay). Regulators, while sadly displaying a lot of incompetence in the past few years, did not have the powers to make a meaningful cultural shift happen within financial services. The largest penalties for foul play seen in the past few years in the UK have been fines of a few thousand pounds combined with removal from the industry. These penalties have been nowhere near widespread or strong enough to act as a catalyst to alter the behaviour "on the playing field".

In the same way, until football players are subjected to post match critique that examines cynical or foul play, then they will continue to cultivate this particular art-form. All of the Galacticos, whether they be in financial services or football, are supposed to be superstars. They need to be held to standards that match that status.