Thierry Henry did not own up to the honor system during France’s FIFA qualifier like he most likely did on the pickup field as a child.
Growing up in a heavily urbanized district of Paris, I’m sure Henry played his fair share of pickup games as a child. Goals were probably marked with chalk or trashcans, the ball was most likely torn up or worn from use and the honor system was law. If Henry were to bat the ball down with his left hand once or twice in order to cross it to a teammate for the game-winning goal, he would probably admit to his mistake and the minutes would be replayed. Henry would probably laugh off his misfortune and the game would be decided in a fair manner.
Oh, how times have changed for the Frenchman.
Henry’s obvious handball in the 103rd minute of France’s World Cup qualifier against Ireland set up teammate William Gallas’ easy header goal, giving France a 2-1 aggregate victory. The controversial goal has sent France to its fourth consecutive World Cup, the Irish home to their pubs and Swedish referee Martin Hansson as far away from Dublin as humanly possible.
He almost caught it and walked into the net with it, said Robbie Keane, whose goal put Ireland up 1-0 in the 33rd minute.
What makes the ordeal so huge is just how obvious the double handball was. Countless videos from a myriad of angles have shown Henry using his hand to keep the ball in play, and players on both teams are quick to admit that it was a blatant offense. In fact, according to The New York Times, 81 percent of French people do not believe that their team deserves to be in the World Cup, given the manner in which they qualified. It is almost as if the handball was an inside joke among the entire world, but the officiating crew Wednesday night just did not get it.
I will be honest. It was a handball; Henry confessed afterwards. But I’m not the ref. The ref allowed it.
The openness of the miscall has created a wave of fury across Ireland and the rest of the sporting world, prompting conspiracy theories that FIFA instructed their refs to let France win just to get them into the World Cup. As such, the Football Association of Ireland filed formal grievances to both FIFA and the French Football Federation for a replay; however, they quickly gave up on those demands. The incident has even had international ramifications; Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is said to have lobbied counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy for a rematch.
On the surface, the solution to this fiasco seems just as obvious as the handball that caused it. If the referees made a mistake, and everyone admits to it, the match could simply be replayed on neutral soil with a new officiating crew. France, Ireland and Henry himself have all expressed that this would be the fairest resolution. So why not fix this hullabaloo once and for all and replay the game?
Video replay wouldn’t allow FIFA to fix key matches — that’s why, said one crushed Irish fan. “They wanted France in the World Cup and they got their wish. The Irish can play their socks off, but we’re nobodies. The French stars and the French millions must go to the World Cup,” the fan said.
Naturally, this claim is taking it a little too far. Referees are human, mistakes are made and just because this mistake happened to come on one of the largest stages does not point directly to a conspiracy theory. But the greatest mistake of all was not the missed call itself, but the bureaucratic aftermath orchestrated by FIFA. While it’s understandable that rules are the foundation of fairness in sports, there are some instances that point out their inherent flaws and this is one of them.
The purpose of referees is not to strictly uphold the rules and regulations of the league, but to get the call right by whatever means necessary. Too often do loopholes and specific interpretations of the rulebook get in the way of what is right and what is fair and it is time for organizations like FIFA to welcome new ideas to make the game fair for everyone involved.
Allowing refs to use video replay equipment to determine calls would be a nice start. I am not advocating a challenge system like the NFL uses, but a mandatory video review of every goal scored in a FIFA match would be a great solution to this problem. Mandatory reviews would make it certain that every goal is deserved and would remove any trace of doubt from the system.
But in the short term, FIFA needs to allow this match to be replayed. By ignoring Ireland’s requests, FIFA is setting an example for millions of kids around the world that you can get away with cheating, even on the biggest of stages. The honor system is the foundation of sports as a whole and this inaction is allowing that foundation to crumble. Henry owned up to his handball and was admirable in his actions. But if this were a pick-up game, the minutes would have most likely been replayed to a fair outcome. Unfortunately for the Irish, it was not.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
