Paddy Power Bookmakers refund €250,000

Irish bookmakers Paddy Power are returning an astonishing €250,000 worth of bets following the ‘le hand of frog’ incident in Ireland’s playoff with France.

After Ireland were cheated out of a place in the 2010 World Cup Finals thanks to a blatant hand ball in the Irish box by French football thief Thierry Henry, Ireland’s biggest bookie Paddy Power are refunding over €110,000 to punters who backed Ireland to qualify for next years Finals.

Paddy Power are refunding a further €140,000 on the game after they pledged to refund all losing first/last goalscorer, correct score & scorecast bets placed on the match if Ireland won the game in 90-minutes.

Paddy Power said, “Luck of the Irish me arse!  Not only did FIFA change the rules to protect the big teams, but then we drew France and that dirty little thief Henry cheats us out of a place in the World Cup. After all that we’re only too happy to put our hand in our pocket and hopefully ease some of the pain for our patriotic punters”

On top of that, they’re also offering a range of novelty bets to commemorate the moment, and here they are:

Thierry Henry Specials
8/11      To admit in his autobiography that the handball was intentional 8/11
80/1      Henry to be sent off for deliberate handball at the World Cup
125/1    Henry to score with his hand at the World Cup
500/1    Henry to score direct with his hand against England in the World Cup
100/1    Henry to miss the World Cup with a broken hand
7/2        Henry to say sorry to the Irish people
40/1      Henry to personally apologies to Taoiseach in Dublin
300/1    Henry to buy an NBA franchise
200/1    Henry signs for a Gaelic football team
2000/1  Henry to be GAA Gaelic football player of the year
2000/1  Henry to be GAA handball player of the year
2000/1  Thierry & Diego to form a professional handball team
100/1    Henry to sign as a hand model for Nivea hand cream

Other Specials
250/1    French to be knocked out by a hand ball at the World Cup
5/1        TV referee to be implemented for World Cup Finals
33/1      Match to be replayed
28/1      Michel Platini to publicly praise Henry
100/1    French world cup song to be a re-make of Ottawan’s “Hands up, Baby Hands Up”
80/1      McDonalds to rename French Fries as Freedom Fries in Ireland
25/1      Irish to boycott Gillette

7/4        Ireland to beat France in the Six Nations rugby

Will Trapattoni manage Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign?
2/9        Yes
3/1        No

                                            Fancy a flutter?