There are a lot of grey areas in football but one where there is no doubt that the player is cheating and breaking the rules of the game is deliberate handball — not a case of ball kicked to flailing hand or whether it was upper arm a ball hit or the shoulder but an example where the player deliberately alters the course of the ball with conscious movements of the hand. So for Ireland to lose out on a place in the World Cup Finals to a piece of cheating that rivals Maradona’s famous 1986 goal against England is completely sickening. It takes a pretty arrogant player to even attempt something so blatant — but that’s the French for you. It will take a few gallons of Guinness to erase the memory of this disgraceful incident.
Beer and sport and pubs and poetry is all a Mackle needs