Saturday, December 5, 2009

Richard Dunne tells FIFA to shove their award


Ireland defender Richard Dunne said talk of Fifa giving his side a special award following their World Cup exit was "taking the mickey".

Ireland were controversially eliminated by France in the play-offs when Thierry Henry's handball set up the winning goal for William Gallas.

Didcredited Fifa president Sepp Blatter said the Ireland may get "moral compensation".

But Dunne said: "It's taking the mickey - give the Irish a plaque instead of going to the World Cup. It's a sop."

Blatter has said Fifa's disciplinary committee will look into Henry's handball incident incident in the crucial second-leg play-off match last month.

But Dunne said any gesture would not make up for the fact he would not be participating in next summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.

"It doesn't affect me one little bit what Fifa will do with Thierry Henry," Dunne said.

"Whether he plays in the World Cup or not, I won't be. Whatever Fifa do will probably be wrong anyway.

"From the moment the rules were changed for the play-offs, when the seedings were brought in, it was decided they wanted France through.

"It's always the same way Fifa think about Irish football. Unless you are a massive country or have massive sponsorship you're not going to be welcome."


And the Aston Villa centre-half said the Republic had no interest in getting an award from Fifa: "They can keep it.

"I would be very surprised if Robbie Keane, our captain, was going over to collect it."

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