of course it`s pathetic to watch that type of play,but why referee saw only the foul on austrian`s player,not on poland defender?And earlier free kick:it had been repeated because referee had saw there an arguinment betwen polish and austrian players, but hadn`t saw pushing by the austrian`s player

Robert, Poznan, Poland

If it was clearly declared as official UEFA policy, and consistently executed in all the games of this Euro I would agree. The sad and unfair reality is, that it has happened first time in the 92 minute of the 12 th game. Previous games (and even this one) were full of the same incidents unspotted.

Pawel Durjasz, Warszawa, Poland

The problem is not that penalty was illegal, but the fact that referee was inconsistent. He havent see any behaviour deserving for penalty during all game, when in last minute he perceived it unexpetedly - And this is controversial !

Kuba, Kielce, Poland

English people, are you kidding me? How many penalties you get in Premiership for this kind of action? None! Howard Webb stole Poles victory! Shame!

Marek, Warsaw, Poland

come on, let's get serious here!
that penalty was just a laugh! anyone ever noticed the sponsor in the umpire's shirt?
the german team need a little helping along and this was absolutely needed.....

Tetsuya, Tokyo, Japan

It is pathetic to watch all the pulling of shirts, holding and pushing in the penalty area which have become the norm in the professional game. it is time it was stopped and in this case rightly punished. Perhaps players might change their ways after the referee's decision which cost Poland victory

peter fieldman, paris, france

This decision WAS controversial. One can debate if it was right or wrong, but after 90 minutes where similar incidents took place more then a dozen of times, giving a penalty for one team IS controversial! I agree it was " within the laws of the game", but in this case he shouldn't have done that...

Tadek, Sheffield,

As a referee myself I think that Howard Webbs decision was correct. He did what the rules say in the book. There needs to be more referees like him that stand up and take charge of a game and not let others run the game for him.

Carl , Sheffield, England

If you pull an aponents shirt in the box and the referee sees it and awards a penalty then unlucky. it's a foul. End of. you've been caught. Well done ref for not bottling the decision.

Richard, Derby, UK

Webb is a joke. Webb got the first goal wrong, then gifts Austria its goal. The Austrian forward pushes the Polish defender to start the whole sequence. Webb missed the intial push, of course. Webb would never make that call in the Premiership. Webb is not up to the job and should be sent home now.

Simon, London,

What I find really weird about this case, is that it seems to me that when a player is pulling another back by his shirt, it is at the ref's discretion as to whether he blows for a foul or not: is this not absurd?
Are we saying referees can use their discretion about any foul?How weird!

Oliver, Cambridge,

Even though the referee" decision is said to be final but on this it was not a penalty

William Munorunzika, Harare, Zimbabwe

Webb sold that match for his carieer! It`s obvious that there wasn`t foul, austrian`s player felt down by his own! UEFA sold that match for interest from host country, to earn more money from commercials. It`s a BIG scandal, because now it`s not a sport competition, it`s a big trade!!

Tom, Glasgow, UK

Mike. Pulling someone's shirt isn't OK at all, but if all referees behave like webb, we would have a penalty each time someone play corner or a free kick. It's a matter of instinct which webb certainly doesn't have!

Michael, Warsaw, Poland

It was a penalty and I am glad to see a ref had the courage to give a penalty in the 91st minute. Many refs ignore the disgraceful tugging and shirt pulling in the area, so hopefully this will be a lesson to all the cheats out there

Richard K, Nottingham,

I agree with Gaillard. It was a foul for the penalty. Howard just did his job. Blame the referee, the easy way out. Polish goal was clearly offside and that the penalty for Austria was obvious. Same thing as the match of Italy-Romania today, Panucci grabbed hold of an opponents was foul for penalty.

Bernd, Kleve,

Just because shirt-pulling happens all the time doesn't make it OK. Ref. had just held up the free kick seconds earlier to warn about this and Poland defy him & carry on doing it. What do they expect to happen? The game needs more strong refs. like Webb.

Mike, High Wycombe, UK

Howard webb did not see faul on Bak at the same time when he decided to give penalty for Austrians. Is he blind.? In my opinion he saw what he wanted to see and fact Lewandowski was grabbing Austrian (like few dozens times both teams did earlier) and Austrian felt like baby. Dont make me laught.

Tomek, Legionowo, Poland

Mariush, Poland scored from an offside? I'm not sure the feed you were getting in Manchester but should try to get your money back. Poland's goal was totally legal. Web on the other hand should loose his license and I'm hoping for his sake that's all he looses out of all this. He is Fraud!!

Adam, Toronto, Canada

Look at the replay, IT WAS a penalty. If you want to cheat you get punished. Live with it.

Llyod, London,

well, as someone said, if this was a penalty then we should have 8-10 penalties in every game. poland also scored from clear offside position, so i would not wonder if the ref was "looking for this penalty". you know...let's make a terrible mistake in order to justify the previous one.

Mariush, Manchester,

what about grabing Poles shirts by Austrian players? and no reaction from referee? he was trying for that penalty all 45 minutes and finaly he got it...its sad...for me he was one of the Austrian players...and its not right...and definetly not fair play

Hanna, London, uk

Blame the ref for giving a penatly but turn a blind eye for the offside goal?

James, London,

The Austrian player clearly dived in desparation, having felt a hand on him. A bad call.

I seem to remember an Italian dived in the box following an innoculous challenge in the last minute against Australia in the world cup.

Similar story here. The Polish manager has every right to be livid.

Andrew, Southampton,

well.. well.. well.. what friends are for.. no help no score...

Peter, Wroclaw,

Sorry Maciej - it was a clear penalty. If you grab another players shirt in the penalty box you are asking for trouble. Especially nowadays when players don't need encouragement to dive. The ball was nowhere near the Austrian either so the Pole was doubly stupid

Dan M, London, UK

Good, courageous call. A clear penalty. The only reason that it's controversial is that defenders get away with this sort of cheating 99 percent of the time.

Dave, Notts, UK

Well Majek - don't you think there's a bit of bias in your remarks? or should I say sour grapes?
Deborah, England

Deborah Jackson, Oxford,

Bravo Howard Webb. He was in a lose lose situation though.

Had the Pole tugged the back of the shirt or been further back in the area his view night have been blocked. But he was only yards away and could see it clearly. Had he not given it he'd have been slaughtered by the Austrians instead.

William White, Crewe,

What would Beenhakker's view have been had Poland been a goal down and the same situation arose and the refereee had not given it?

The referee made the call as he saw it.

End of story.

Paul, London,

What do you call an englishman at Euro 2008?



A referee

david, Umhlanga, RSA

Well, maybe he was a good referee in the past but certanly not any more... This time he was simply wrong!

Maciej Bogucki, Warsaw, Poland