I don’t usually write about soccer on this blog but the hand of Henry debate stretches far beyond the usual parameters of sport into moral questions of right vs wrong; guilt vs innocence, truth vs lies and big business vs the little guys.
The immediate reaction of Irish fans to the blatant hand ball prior to France’s decisive goal was of disgust and rage, In some quarters this led to a furious rejection of all things French – wine, kisses , letters, you name it.
Thierry Henry, the man at the centre of the storm, is trying to avoid a Maradona effect, whereby his career would be forever blighted by this case of creative cheating. He claims that it was an instinctive reaction and not deliberate although if you watch the replay, the first looks like carelessness but the second is a blatant scoop to keep the ball in play.
John Henry in the traditional folk song and Thierry Henry of the mediocre national squad are both villains and both are desperate men. Thierry has cleverly described calls by Ireland’s call for a replay as fair and reasonable safe in the knowledge that FIFA were guaranteed to reject this demand.
England’s ex-golden boy Gary Linekar and a top Guardian sports critic have commented that the onus should be on players to own up to crimes of this magnitude and confess to the referee at once. With the stakes so high this in pie in the sky stuff. Some have suggested that the referee’s blind eye was deliberate and with the newly emerging scandal about match rigging, this can’t be entirely ruled out.
But when the dust has settled, I think the key issue to come out of this squalid affair is the FIFA cannot continue to bury their heads in the sand and refuse to use video technology to avoid such major controversies. With the World Cup in South Africa looming, what sense does it make that millions watching at home can immediately witness an injustice but one individual is left to make a snap decision based on what he sees in real time.
Admittedly, this may slow the game down a little – I can see the risk that players will make a TV mime to the ref every time there’s a foul, offside claim or penalty dispute. But for the sake of the game, a trial period should be set to establish a system whereby a fourth official is able to whisper into the ear of the man in black : “You might want to look at this!”
