Sir --Thierry Handry has a high regard in football, but he can't hide from that hand ball.

I don't blame Handry completely; if you can get away with it, fair enough, but don't try to hide and say "it just hit me". Everyone else would do the same, given the chance, to send their team to the World Cup. But don't sit down with Dunne and play the innocent man.

I'm struggling as to whom to blame the most, the linesman who could clearly see the offside and the hand ball or the defending of McShane, once again proving himself to be a very ordinary championship defender, who's not up to the international standard.

Our best chance of going to a tournament and making an impact has been stolen.

There is now a huge chance that the next World Cup campaign may not have our best players still involved.

And with no sign of real quality emerging from the disaster that is the under-21s, at present, I think we could be in real trouble. It's now a reality that we could not qualify for a World Cup for a long, long time.

I know this will all be forgotten next week and Fifa won't punish Handry like Uefa did with the Eduardo diving incident so ... is this the way forward?

With the hurt and anger still raising the temperature of my blood, I feel the time has now come for the Irish to take on the world, which comes in the form of our fair play preachers, Fifa.

Let us believe!

Philip Cox,

Via e-mail

Sir -- I recall when God used the hand of Diego Maradona to knock England out of the World Cup in 1986 that not all Irish soccer fans shared my sympathy for England.

Given Thierry Henry's recent sporting performance in Paris against the Republic of Ireland, and the support in the UK media for our plight, I'm pleased that I felt empathy for England in 1986.

Tony Moriarty,

Kenilworth Park, Dublin 6W

Sir -- I'm French and I will try, with my modest English, to explain to you the shame for us to qualify our football team for the next World Cup. We want justice too, and you must know that a large majority of French people think the same and would like the match to be played again. We are a lot of people to mail Fifa or Ministry of Sport to influence them.

Congratulations to your national team, they should be qualified for the next World Cup instead of ours. I wish Fifa would decide to play again the match.

M. Le Potier,

via e-mail

Sir -- I write in relation to the Ireland versus French World Cup qualifier held on November 18, in Paris, France.

The French team have broken Fifa regulations and should be disqualified or, at a minimum, be heavily penalised for the blatant breach of Fifa regulations.

Alan Deery,

via e-mail

Sir -- I request a replay of the France v Ireland second leg on the basis that it goes against the Fifa fair play initiative and does not adhere to the spirit of the game.

The winning goal for the French was a blatant hand ball missed by the officials. This 'goal' cost Ireland its chance to play in the World Cup and a possible opportunity to take part in a penalty shootout.

The only 'fair' recompense to this would be either a) to replay the match in the interests of the game and of fair play; or b) offer us the opportunity of a penalty shootout.

Since we are a small nation and Fifa decided to bring in seedings late in the day to ensure the 'big nations' such as Russia, Portugal, Greece and France got weaker teams, I feel the stakes have been placed against us by Fifa, the supposed upkeepers and guardians of this 'fair' game.

If you don't allow a replay, I feel thousands of fair, decent Irish fans and supporters of fair play will not support a World Cup based on cheating, dishonesty and lack of sportsmanship. What kind of World Cup do you want anyway? What kind of example do you want to set to kids?

Name and address with Editor

Sir -- What a game between France and Ireland.

I find it very disappointing that an organisation such as Fifa do not follow their own 'code of ethics'.

Ireland participated the whole way through the group stages and the two play-off games with honesty, integrity and participated in the true spirit of the game.

The 2010 World Cup will now, in my view, not have one of the deserving countries participating due to blatant infringement of Fifa's regulations and therefore the integrity of the World Cup competition is now in question.

There is no question that the French goal should be cancelled as the player himself, Thierry Henry, admitted following the game that he did indeed handle the ball.

However, he stated that he was not a match official.

With this evidence Fifa should, for the good of the game at least, investigate this matter in the interest of fair play.

The competency of the Swedish referee Martin Hansson should be brought into question and he should be removed from the World Cup team of officials. It is clear that Martin Hansson does not have the ability to officiate a fixture of such importance.

With regard to France, at this stage there is nothing to be gained by any ill feelings.

I wish them well with their World Cup journey should this shameful decision not be rectified or at least investigated in the interest of fair play.

Fifa has let down the true spirit of the game and have learned nothing from the heartache the England supporters must have felt when Diego Maradona handed the ball into the net, thus eliminating England unjustly from the 1986 World Cup competition.

Name and address with Editor

Sir -- I wish to address the dear brave people of Ireland. First of all, please receive officially our great respect for your nation, our sympathy for the people of Ireland and our faith in the Irish people.

We Algerian citizens have been angry against the same Fifa federation, after the "froggy's hand" of Thierry Henry disqualified your brave and superb team. You deserve to go to the World Cup in South Africa. Shame on Henry and on his manager Domenech.

We share with you our happiness, we will think of you in South Africa. Algerians have always been beside their friends, the Irish people. Please send all our greetings to Ireland from all the Algerian people.

Best regards from braves to braves.

Fariz Bereksi,

Algeria

Sir -- Giovanni Trapattoni my light, my life, I feel for you with Ireland not entering the World Cup. However, remember the referee was blind to see that you had the best team.

The French cheated with a hand ball which was not to be seen by the naked eye but it was there and they did cheat. But as I'm told, that's sport! As a woman I cannot conceive that. To me, a cheat is a cheat.

Giovanni Trapattoni, we Irish love you and thank you for all you have done for the Irish team.

Terry Healy,

Kill, Co Kildare

Sir -- In light of Daft.ie's recent research into average rents coming down, if you check more closely, looking right into each property listing, you find that the cheaper places do not take rent allowance.

Are the landlords in Ireland paying their taxes or is it that they are just completely unpatriotic in our country's time of crisis in supporting those who have lost their jobs and in many cases their homes and are seeking private rented accommodation!

Eileen O'Sullivan,

Bray, Co Wicklow

Sunday Independent