If you haven't seen Monsieur Henry juggle France into the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa, well, quite frankly where have you been? Oh, on an adventure holiday in the Brazilian rain forests, oh lovely, did you enjoy yourself? Jolly good, well I'll fill you in then.
Republic of Ireland were 1-0 up on the night, in the Stade de France, the second leg of the World Cup Play Offs, that Michel Platini had so very fairly fixed by seeding his beloved France (well when your President of UEFA, why wouldn't you give a helping hand to your underachieving home nation?)
Into extra time, and a whipped cross into the box was spinning out of play, when Thierry Henry, "instinctively" reached out his arm and nudged the ball to keep it in play and then controlled it with his hand, before poking the ball across goal (with his foot this time, how very sporting of him, why didn't he just grab it and through himself into the goal?) for William Gallas to head into the goal from 2 yards, equalise, and leave France 2-1 up on aggregate, heading for the World Cup.
The first reaction was that it was such an obvious handball(s), that the referee or linesman must have seen it? Of course not! The ball hit his chest according to the referee. He was so sure in the face of indignant, furious Irish faces. Or was that a cover for the knowledge that UEFA had offered him a nice, little brown envelope to make sure France didn't disgrace themselves and not qualify for a tournament they had won and been runners up in for two out of the past three occasions.
Players like Robbie Keane and Damien Duff were damning in their opinion that something sinister had happened, the latter convinced a sponsor agreement had already decided the result required. Keane was just as scathing in his assessment that Platini and Domenech (French coach) would have been texting each other throughout the debacle.
What is quite clear, is that ROI have been cheated out of qualifying for the World Cup. There are no bones about it, even the cheat himself, Thierry Henry has stated he did handle it and that there should be a replay. Of course he admitted this two days after the event, when FIFA had already made a statement that there could not possibly be a replay and why would we want to do something like that when we have got what we wanted (i made that last bit up).
There have been plenty of comment regarding, what if this happened in England's favour? If Gerrard burst into the area, basically caught the ball and crossed for Terry to nod the winning goal to give England the World Cup. Well, to that i say; That hasn't happened has it?
This situation hasn't happened for 23 years. Not since Maradona reached his chubby little pinkies up and flicked the ball over Peter Shilton, has the world seen such a blatant example of cheating, and with such an important outcome. Not only that, but for the observant, that happened AGAINST England, so maybe that would be justice. Of course karma has come back and bitten Diego on the arse, in the form of drug addiction, defeat to West Germany in the 1990 World Cup final, a shameful expulsion from the 1994 competition for failing a drugs test and a less than successful tenure as Argentina coach.
The likely hood of something like this happening again is slim.
Theirry Henry came on as a sub for his club Barcelona last night and the booing was deafening. This is a stadium full of Spaniards. So image if he ever came up against a group of Irish fans of any sport. He'd be sensible to turn heal and run.
This, coupled with the furore in the media, on every news programme and the comments from his peers and own countrymen, should act as a deterrent to any player considering either a) attempting to cheat b) or trying to get away with it. Henry may be full of remorse now, but he wasn't at the time, instead choosing to run after Gallas to celebrate.
He may regret it now, he may apologise and say the only fair thing would be to replay it, but he knows only too well he's safe, the result is set in stone, France will be playing in South Africa next summer and the Irish players left thinking what might have been.
Would the same thing happen if it the roles had been reversed? If Ireland had scored after a handball and been running round hugging each other at the final whistle, would UEFA and Platini have accepted the decision, but later organised the quiet assassination of the referee?
Some say, no, that FIFA and UEFA would have collaborated and brought out a new directive requiring a replay. This may or may not have happened. Its entirely possible with the politics involved in the governing of the beautiful game, especially if it had happened to a country like France. But it didn't. It happened to little old Ireland. No one cares about Ireland do they?
Except of course people do care. There has been outrage across the globe, and its the integrity of the game that has been tarnished and has caused the disgust at Henry. The manner of France's qualification will not be forgotten and sympathy for the Irish will run through the history of the game. People don't forget moments of great skill, fantastic games, brilliant players through out the years the game of football has been played, and that won't change. If anything, the annuls of football history has more possible chapters and volumes than ever before due to the way sport is shown all over the world by hundreds of TV channels, with thousands of programmes dedicated to it, with millions of websites and possibly billions of blogs, just like this one.
This won't be forgotten, and there will be repercussions. FIFA and UEFA would be wise to beware.
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