INTERNATIONAL REACTION:SWEDEN'S NEWSPAPERS were plastered yesterday with pictures of unhappy Irish fans as commentators bemoaned the Paris performance of Martin Hansson, the part-time fireman and Swedish premier league referee whose mistake dashed a nation's World Cup aspirations.
And right across the media spectrum – in print, online and on the airwaves – the sympathy was overwhelmingly in favour of Ireland as Sweden turned a cold shoulder to their hapless compatriot.
Aftonbladet, Scandinavia's largest newspaper, was particularly scathing. Calling Hansson's oversight "the worst mistake by a Swedish referee in over 20 years", columnist Erik Niva displayed a heartfelt empathy with Ireland's fans: "Although I don't have a drop of Irish blood in my body I feel dispirited to the point of nausea. It is so utterly unfair."
Niva, one of his country’s most celebrated sports columnists, went on to suggest that Hansson and his linesmen should hang up their boots. “Team Hansson has forfeited its right to continue adjudicating major internationals. Anything else would be a further insult to the Irish nation,” he wrote.
Johan Orrenius, a columnist with Expressen, was also cross: "Hansson should avoid visiting Dublin for a while," he wrote.
Over at Dagens Nyheter, a leading broadsheet, news that Ireland was demanding a replay topped the rankings of most-read stories online – well ahead of such weighty topics as Swedish prime minister Frederik Reinfeldt's efforts to fill the EU's top two jobs.
The clatter in the media stood in sharp contrast to Hansson’s response after his plane touched down – silence. Martin Ingvarsson, one of the four-man team, said Fifa had imposed a gagging order. “We’re not allowed to talk about the match or about how we feel about what took place,” he said.
Although the Paris debacle surely marks a low point in Hansson’s career, the 38-year-old has been in the eye of an international storm before. Almost exactly one year ago Hansson received death threats over a decision to award a late penalty to Steven Gerrard in Liverpool’s Champions League match against Atletico Madrid.
That decision cost Atletico a place in the final 16 and unleashed a maelstrom of protest in the Spanish press.
Back home in Sweden, frustration at Hansson was palpable. Björn Sundin, a social democratic politician and blogger, took time out from a series of blogs on American politics to issue an open plea to the then US president-elect: “Please, Mr Obama – do something about Martin Hansson.”
The problem was, it appears, that the Liverpool-Atletico Madrid kerfuffle was no isolated event. Hansson had form in Sweden as well, where questionable decisions in his refereeing of premier league matches had caused dismay the length and breadth of the country.
The torrent of abuse at home and abroad forced Hansson to curtail communications with outsiders and go ex-directory. “It’s been horrible and extremely uncomfortable,” he said at the time, and added that the incident made him feel like quitting.
Whether he will now finally call it a day and go back to fighting fires in Kalmar full-time remains to be seen. Yesterday, one solitary voice of support sought to give the impression that Hansson is made of sterner stuff.
“I think he’s strong enough to tackle what’s coming,” said Tom Henning Øvrebø, a Fifa referee from neighbouring Norway.
Curiously, Øvrebø was the man who had to be smuggled out of Britain last year with a police escort after he ruled against Chelsea in a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona.
