We all saw the handball. Thierry Henry, a fantastic footballer, decided to use his hand as a guide to set up William Gallas to score the goal that ended Ireland’s hopes of playing in 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Henry should be ashamed of himself for what he did. Though no angel on the pitch, the blatant movement of his hand smacks of cheating, and sadly for many, including myself, has relegated the enigmatic Frenchman to the level of “cheat” before even considering his football career. The fact that he decided to say afterwards that he thought about quitting international football smacks of a selfish asshole who just doesn’t see what he did. His suggestions about the game being replayed were hollow and a lie, since he knew, along with everyone else, that that was never going to happen. King Henry he isn’t any more, more like Henry the Treacherous.
While the Irish have a right to complain and hate Henry’s guts along with the three blind mice (aka the match officials), they just refuse to let go, which is not only making a mockery of the men who got to the play-offs but also the administrators who run the game in Ireland.
First, they wanted a reply: never was going to happen. Now I read with interest that they have asked to be the 33rd team in the World Cup. Is the Irish Football Association on crack?
But their assertion about the mysterious seeding system coming into effect at such a late stage as a Fifa ploy to make sure the big boys got to South Africa is right on the money (Fifa care about generating maximum income when it comes to the World Cup), such a move reeks of mediocrity on the administrator’s part. The tag of sore losers will soon come to replace the good-will the Irish have felt since that fateful night in Paris. We all know they were right, but as fate would have it, they got screwed.
Was it unjust? Absolutely. Was it, frankly, a load of bullshit? Definitely. Can they do anything about it? No, since there is fuck all that can be done. Sepp Blatter may have said that Fifa would be considering the request, but everyone with some sense about how the big world footballing pooch thinks will now that he was just saying that to make the Irish feel better. He might have gone into his office afterwards, closed the door, and popped a lung from laughing so hard.
Roy Keane was the first noted Irish son of football to say “get over it and stop whinging”. Though Keane has always had an axe to grind with the Irish football administrators, he remarks came at a time when all and sundry were losing their heads. The fact that he has a point seemed to escape the majority at the time, who rather saw his comments as insensitive and typical of that “asshole” Keane.
Ireland need to forget about what happened, otherwise memories of Paris will fog up any vision of the future. When Henry’s France take to the field, at least several million Irishman will be saying “fuck you Thierry” and praying for the French demise in 2010.
Life isn’t fair, but if the Irish keep going to Fifa acting like Oliver Twist, asking for more, they are only going to meet disappointment. My advice: get over it (though that might take a while) and press on. There will be another chance to reclaim their honour since France so eagerly tossed theirs aside to ensure a plane trip to SA.
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