Yeah we are pretty small fish but it was a massive global story, the controversy was far bigger than us. The fact that we are only little Ireland probably added to it in a sense, because it was the little guy getting so blatantly rode for everybody to see. If Germany or Italy had been the victims, the worldwide sympathy would probably have been far less, you win some you lose some kind of thing, but most neutrals wanted Ireland to beat France, or at least had sympathy for us losing in those circumstances. FIFA parting with loose change like €5m wouldn't knock a stir out of them.
I'm a bit confused about the 33rd team thing as well. I know Blatter made a holy show of us at the time but I thought we had some semi-logical reason for the request, while being fully aware it was logistically impossible and never a runner?
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