Kinsella's fate in hands of observer

SOCCER/Switzerland v Republic of Ireland fallout: Both UEFA and the FAI said yesterday that they would wait to discover the contents of the report of the European body's official observer in Basel before deciding on how to react to evidence that Republic of Ireland midfielder Mark Kinsella threw a plastic bottle at Switzerland's Alexander Frei during Saturday's Euro 2004 qualifier, which Switzerland won 2-0.

The incident appears to have taken place immediately after Frei had doubled Switzerland's lead and then proceeded to taunt players and officials sitting on the Irish bench with his celebrations a few metres away.

In a photograph published in yesterday's Irish Times, Kinsella, an unused substitute at the time, is clearly shown to throw a water bottle at the Swiss striker as he runs back towards the centre of the pitch for the restart, an act that could well provoke disciplinary action by UEFA if formally brought to the organisation's attention.

As of yesterday afternoon, however, European football's governing body insisted that it had not yet received the report of its official delegate and that no decision on what action might be required in the case could be taken until this was available, probably at some point today.

If the incident has escaped the attention of the delegate it seems unlikely that any action would follow.

A spokesman for the FAI said that it too is waiting on the report but added nobody from either the Swiss FA or UEFA had, up to this point, made them aware of any problem.

"We are waiting to hear what is in the report," said the association's representative, "and will decide what, if anything, needs to be done when we discover whether there has been any complaint of misbehaviour."