It was Johnny Rotten who once closed a Sex Pistols gig in the US with the rhetorical question to the audience: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" And the Irish must have been posing the same question last night as they were dumped out of the World Cup by what has been dubbed 'The Hand of Frog'.

There's no doubt about it, Thierry Henry's blatant handball was one of the worst you'll see - he handled it not once, but twice - before squaring the ball for Gallas to finish what was the worst incident since Maradona's infamous 'Hand of God'. (Copyright restrictions prevent me from showing the Henry video because every time I post a video of it, it gets pulled from Youtube!)

You could see from the reaction of the Irish players immediately after the goal that they knew they'd been cheated, and their record in recent play-offs proves that the luck of the Irish is a total myth.

A phone-in after the match saw someone suggest that Ireland should have taken their players off the pitch in protest. But that sort of behaviour isn't going to get you anywhere, is it?

Well actually it might. One of the strangest incidents in World Cup football occurred in the World Cup in Spain in 1982 when the Kuwait players though they heard a whistle and stopped playing. Ironically it was the French they were playing and they carried on and scored.

The President of the Kuwait Football Association came down to the field and demanded the referee cancel the goal and told his players to get off the pitch in protest. After much huffing and puffing, the referee inexplicably CANCELLED the goal. This is the only time I can recall that a goal has been cancelled due to a protest.  

Henry's sheepish behaviour after the goal suggested he knew he had done wrong, but is it realistic for him to hold his hand up (again!) and admit it is no goal to the ref and have it ruled out. Henry has suggested it's the ref's job to make the right decision. 

I can recall one incident in a Liverpool v Arsenal game when Robbie Fowler was through on goal and appeared to be tripped by David Seaman. The ref pointed to the spot and gave a penalty despite the protestations from Fowler that it wasn't even a penalty. Just goes to show that even if you own up to it, the ref may well just ignore you anyway. C'est la vie.