PR disaster for world's most popular sport

If I wander into my local town centre later on today and drop a piece of litter it will be spotted by at least one of half-a-dozen CCTV cameras.
It would lead to a small fine and possibly a couple of lines in our weekly newspaper.
On Wednesday night millions of television viewers around the globe saw France knock Ireland out of the football World Cup. Everyone of those armchair onlookers would have seen that the crucial French goal should have been disallowed because of a blatant handball.
Consequently, the Emerald Isle is in a state of national mourning and cyberspace is awash with twitterers and bloggers demonising the French team and key perpetrator Thierry Henry.
The only people who didn't see the handling offence were the only ones who could actually rule it out - the referee and his assistant.
This is because the game's ruling body - FIFA - will not sanction the use of TV replays to help officials get crucial decisions right.
As a result Henry is being pilloried as a cheat despite a previously impressive and unblemished career and the Swedish referee for the game is derided as incompetent.
The real villians in all this are FIFA and the French football federation, who are both ignoring Irish pleas to replay the game.
By doing nothing about it, they are missing a golden opportunity to brighten the image of football in the eyes of the world. Many see the modern day footballer as vastly overpaid and lacking in sportsmanship in their quest to win at all costs.
The latest controversy comes at a time when the integrity of other sports have been damaged by blatant cheating - rugby players faking injury and Formula One racing drivers crashing their cars to gain tactical advantages, while athletes and cyclists continue to take illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
Football has scored a monumental own goal and missed a PR trick by failing to agree to play this match again.
The least they should do is bring in video technology to help referees because it is clear that footballers, who are playing for such high stakes at the top level, cannot be trusted to do the right thing when a similarly controversial incident takes place in the future.
We live in a world where our every move is monitored by CCTV cameras and yet the football authorities decide not to use them in their multi-million pound sport.
Shame on them.

Jordan's celebrity masterclass

Watching a couple of episodes of ITV reality TV show I'm a celebrity...get me out of here! has been a real education for this particular public relations student.
Former glamour model Katie Price, aka Jordan, has been giving a masterclass for any aspiring celebrities since her arrival in the Australian jungle this week.
Of course she already enjoyed all the publicity she could handle with a TV show, also featuring her estranged husband Peter Andre, best-selling novels (all of which she admits she doesn't actually write) and a residency on the front pages of our tabloid newspapers.
Add to that the multi-page colour spreads in magazines and her range of equestrian clothing and accessories and it seems that Miss Price is one very busy lady.
So why has she pitched up on the other side of the world to a camp where the only food appears to be a menu of jungle bugs and where they sleep in the open air next to rats and snakes?
No prizes for guessing...it's all about publicity. Public opinion appeared to have turned against her as her messy divorce was played out on television and in the newspapers.
So what better way to win back that lost sympathy with the public than do a series of horrific bushtucker trials. It was clear from the moment she arrived in the camp -it's actually the second time she has been on the show - that viewers were going to vote for her to do every trial.
Now, Katie looks horrified every time presenters Ant and Dec break the news that she has been picked again but am I alone in thinking her reactions are less than genuine?
This is exactly what her press agent would have wanted. Prime time exposure on national television and, even better, people feeling sorry for her.
Fittingly, given the location of the programme, she has cried floods of crocodile tears as buckets of cockroaches have been emptied on her head every evening.
But there always appears to be a smile playing on those surgically-enhanced lips and a suspicion that she's actually enjoying it.
Every time a rat bites her ultimately means more cash from media interviews and publicity for her books and merchandise.
The show is dominated by Katie Price so how will ITV react if she is first to be voted off? It certainly won't bother her as it will give her yet another chance to cry buckets and finally regain the public's sympathy.
The secret of celebrity is to polarise opinions - get the public to hate you or love you. Just don't make them ignore you.