Ludicrous media hysteria follows 'Le hand of Frog'

What happened to Ireland on Wednesday was hard to watch. But the reaction by the players, fans and media has gone too far.

Henry Winter calling for Thierry Henry to be banned for the finals is a ludicrous over-reaction that you would expect from an irate fan after a couple of beers, not from a respected football journalist. Remember that horrible little winker Ronaldo getting Rooney sent off in 2006? It was pretty awful and Ronaldo got booed not banned.

The Times has also reacted hysterically. 'Sleight of hand couuld cost Henry a fortune as luctractive sponsorship deals slip from his grasp' it claims. Two reporters it would seem worked on this utterly pointless story, which also claims the handball could hamper a proposed move to New York Red Bulls (whoever they are) next year. Again, total rubbish.

Calls for a replay are equally ridiculous. If you had a replay for every time a player cheated to win a game we would probably still be contesting the 1993/94 Premier League season.

Ireland did not fail to qualify for the 2010 World Cup because of Thierry Henry. They failed because they did not secure automatic qualification from their group - when that happens you enter a bit of a lottery (albeit a lottery that FIFA had skewed in the favour of the bigger nations).

Thierry Henry cheated - as most professional players do every single week - but it was FIFA that inexplicably changed the qualification system at the last minute.

If the Irish really want to pursue this issue, they should go after FIFA on those grounds rather than poor officiating or a cheating Frenchman.

Getting the best view in the house

It’s happened to us all. You walk out into the stadium - the pitch before you, the players warming up as kick-off approaches.

A friendly steward glances at your ticket and points you on your way. Before you know it you’re stat up in the Gods with a nose bleed squinting at the pitch now resembling a postage stamp. You wish you’d just watched it on the telly.

Fear no more, today I was sent a press release about new online product by V Haus that will help fans chose their seats by enabling them to check the view from every single seat in the house… although presumably not those on the subs bench.

As well as showing fans the location of the stadium in relation to the local transport links, the city centre etc. the tool will also enable clubs to sell sponsorship by showing prospective partners how the ground would look with their logo.

Ever wondered where the 'prawn sandwich' brigade disappear to at half-time? The tool also enables clubs to sell corporate hospitality by giving a virtual tour of the stadium’s dining facilities.

Check out the link http://enter3d.de/movies/

Mixed report from Twickenham: England & O2 have an off day, Nike raise a smile, while Investec's sponsorship activation is just odd

The less said about England performance against Argentina on Saturday the better. So moving on...

I have often praised O2 for its market leading sponsorship strategy and execution, but not on this occasion.

Nope, today I have a headache which I'm sure is in some part attributable to O2s decision to hand out free whistles. Please don't do that again, it was awful.

Saturday was so cold that I think I must have grown delirious. I even thought I saw a herd of ‘Investec' zebra doing a saucy dance at pitch side. Surely sports marketing hasn't got that daft...?? Or had it?...

Well done though to England kit supplier Nike for a sneaky bit of branding.

Thousands of England fans proudly held cards above their heads before kick-off, no doubt thinking they would make up a St George's Cross or a rose or something equally patriotic.

Instead the card to reveal a giant ‘Swoosh'. Love it.

Those cards were soon turned into paper aeroplanes for general chucking about and keeping the crowd entertained.

Anyone that has played 'Super Punch-Out' on the Super NES knows Haye put on a boxing masterclass

As a boy one of my favourite video games was Super Punch-Out - still the best boxing game ever made in my opinion.

In it you battled increasingly difficult, and unfeasibly enormous, opponents including clowns, farmers, kick-boxers (rather unfairly) and traditional boxers.

A simple game - when they clobbered you, it really hurt and when you caught them it had little impact. You had to duck, move and sneak in a punch when the moment presented itself.

Which brings me to David Haye vs. Nikolai Valuev (or David and Goliath as it was dubbed on Sky Sports).

Every expert in the land had their say before the fight, but in reality nobody had a clue how it would turn out. How could they? No fighter had ever given up seven stone to an opponent before.

After a couple of rounds my genuine concern for Haye's safety was replaced by opptimism that he could slay the beast. The only detracting factor was Sky's Jim Watt's insistance, seemingly from the first round, that Haye should be more agressive. Wrong!

Ricky Hatton tried that in Vegas two years ago against Floyd Mayweather Jnr, and again against Manny Pacquaio - both ended with 'The Hitman' ending up on the canvass. While Valuev was swiping at thin air there was no danger of Haye losing this one.

Apparently, Super Punch-Out is now available on the Nintendo Wii. I'll send Watt a copy for Christmas.

I know where I'll be next St George's Day (or at least the day after)

St George’s Day has taken on a depressingly repetitive pattern.

Each year, almost everyone I know is in full agreement that as a country we should do more to celebrate St George’s Day. ‘We should be more like the Irish’, someone will say and everyone will agree.

Someone like Fullers or Marston’s will raise our spirits with a patriotic campaign and a few of us in the office will trot down to Latymers (our excellent local) for a free pint or two. But that’s about it.

Next year, sees the launch of the St Georges Day Game at Twickenham, a league fixture between London Wasps and Bath Rugby, finally giving us a celebration worthy of our patron saint.

The game takes place on 24 April, the day after St George’s Day, and will raise money for the armed forces which is, I hope you’ll, agree another good reason to come along.

Wasps are hoping brands will share their sense of patriotism and have hired Bamboo Marketing Communications to source sponsors to the event which aims to sell out Twickenham and will be repeated annually.

Thierry Henry is world's best, says Castrol Performance Index. But is football that measurable?

Thierry Henry is the world’s best footballer.

At least that is the case according to FIFA World Cup 2010 sponsor Castrol through its Castrol Performance Index, ‘the world’s first truly objective football rankings system’.

The French international is followed by clubmate Leo Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (isn’t it lovely not having him in the Premier League anymore btw?).

The list looks fairly credible, until you scroll down the list to number 10 and find Claudio Pizarro.

Pizarro, who wasn’t even the 10^th best player in the Chelsea squad during him time in England, has either undergone a phenomenal transformation during his return to Germany or the Bundesliga is, well, crap. It’s the latter, isn’t it?

That said, I find Pizarro’s baffling inclusion reassuring. While it makes interesting reading – and fair play to Castrol for sparking the debate – it just goes to show that not everything in sport in quantifiable, which for me is part of its magic.

Here’s the list in full;

1. Thierry Henry (Barcelona)
2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
4. Garard Pique (Barcelona)
5. Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
6. Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale)
7. Rafael Marquez (Barcelona)
8. Luca Toni (Bayern Munchen)
9. Carlos Puyol (Barcelona)
10. Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen)