referee Martin Hansson has gone to ground since his return to his native Sweden after Wednesday's World Cup game in Paris as the full-time fireman is desperate to stay out of the media.

But even though he has yet to comment on his decision to allow William Gallas's goal to stand, despite a clear handball by Thierry Henry -- Hansson told Irish players he was "100pc certain it was not handball" -- that hasn't stopped the Swede from getting an almighty kicking from the media and the soccer public back in his homeland.

"Martin Hansson deprived Ireland of a place in the World Cup finals with the worst Swedish refereeing mistake we have seen in nearly 20 years,'' their Aftonbladet newspaper said today.

"There are some 80 million Irish scattered around the world and I guarantee that they all feel more or less bad today. A group of footballers probably feel worst of all, but I do sincerely hope that there are three Swedes that feel even worse and their names are Martin Hansson, Stefan Wittberg and Fredrik Nilsson.

"The injustice is so total, so incredibly evident. There won't be any World Cup for Ireland, and we assume that Team Hansson has forfeited its chances to continue to judge major international games. Anything else would be a further insult to the Irish nation."

The paper's writer added: "Without a drop of Irish blood in my body, I still find myself feeling unpleasant, almost nauseous. The injustice is so total, so acutely obvious.

"There will be no World Cup for Ireland, and I take for granted that Team Hansson also have forfeited their right to continue refereeing major international matches."

The Expressen daily demanded an apology to Ireland from Hansson. "Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone is human. I make a thousand mistakes every day. But Hansson's clanger was not a clanger. It was a gross breach of duty," the paper commented.

"He should be immediately suspended from all football for at least two years and also have to find a vast amount of money for a fund for the training of young, future referees.

That is the least that Ireland, (Giovanni) Trapattoni and everyone else deserves. And an apology of course."

Another article in Expressen said: "Martin Hansson should probably avoid Dublin for some time to come.

"The Irish, the premier bon vivants of football, had already begun the pre-party ahead of the festivities in South Africa when the Swedish referee turned a blind eye on a handball from Henry.

"With that, a confused France could book a place at the World Championships and Martin Hansson got to write the last chapter in a sad Swedish book of qualifiers.

"In some way I can still feel that you want France in a World Championships, but it was sad that some of the most talented players in the world could not fix that without the help of a Swedish referee."

- Aidan Fitzmaurice