Who's saying what about Thierry Henry's handball, which helped send France to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa at the expense of the Republic of Ireland:

"Yes, there was a hand, but I'm not the referee. Of course, I kept playing. The referee didn't whistle for handball. I was behind two Irish players, the ball bounced and it hit my hand."

- Henry on the controversial moment at the Stade de France on Wednesday, in which he handled the ball before setting up William Gallas for the winning goal

"You could see the referee hesitate and look at Henry. He could have asked him what he thought. If the referee had asked Henry, he would have said: 'Yes, it was handball'."

- Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni

"We got robbed, you can tell by the boys' reaction, it hit his hand blatantly. We feel cheated - we were the better team over the two legs, every fan in the stadium will say we were the better team tonight."

- Ireland defender Sean St Ledger

"The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport. We now call on FIFA, as the world governing body for our sport, to organise for this match to be replayed."

- The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) in a statement

"Our minister of sport will write to FIFA in support of that complaint and look for a re-match."

- Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen

"Neither the French government nor the Irish government should interfere in the functioning of the international federation."

- French PM Francois Fillon

"Football is the real loser. It's a victory without glory for France."

- Former Ireland coach Mick McCarthy

"For a sport that is so high profile, with so much money and so much prestige at stake, video technology has to be used. Rugby, tennis, cricket and American sports have all embraced technology and it can actually add to the excitement of a match. I think not to use it is burying one's head in sand."

- Gordon Taylor, chief executive of England's Professional Footballers' Association.

"We were robbed."

- Irish Star newspaper

"Le Cheat"

- Irish Mirror

"Hand of the Frog"

- Irish Sun

"The hand of God"

- French sport daily L'Equipe

"The worst refereeing mistake in 20 years - Martin Hansson robbed Ireland of a place in the World Cup."

- Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet

AFP

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