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Thierry Henry. Cheat?

Published by Ian John on November 19, 2009

Yes.

He is.

It would be a rather short article really to simply state this obvious fact but after last night’s shenanigans in Paris the only logical conclusion that you can draw is that Thierry Henry is a cheat. And a successful one too.

It isn’t the first time that the Frenchman has been involved in controversy and been accused of playing less than fairly. During the 2006 World Cup Finals, Henry went down under almost no contact from Carlos Puyol to win France a free kick with the game tied at 1-1. From that free kick France scored and Spain were mightily aggrieved at the decision. Manager Luis Aragones stating that the referee blew “for a non-existent foul for the second goal”, Puyol stated “If anything it was a foul by Henry” while the Frenchman stated, somewhat laughably given what happened yesterday, “Spain’s left-back Mariano Perina was going to win the ball so I don’t know why Puyol cut across me, but he did. I don’t cheat.”

Not that Henry is alone in his indiscretions. Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero all can claim to know how to grab a goal, quite literally. Odd isn’t it how the four names that leap to mind about hand balls are four of the most talented players to have ever played the game?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear now what UEFA president Michel Platini, who is so adamantly keen on fair play in football, would have to say on the matter? FIFA have denied that anything untoward happened on their website of course. France scored a goal, end of the matter and indeed officially, it probably will be. Because FIFA cannot overturn the result and order a replay of the game. If they do, then they need to order a replay of the England – Argentina 1986 World Cup Quarter final, which is a bit of a problem as Gary Lineker’s got a gammy toe and Diego Maradona is completely mental.

I have great sympathy for the Irish, when things go against you like this, it is a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. Even more so when the protagonist is someone who purports to play the game fairly and is renown for his fair play. However the notion that Henry is the only player who would do this does not bear up well to any scrutiny.

However given the nationalities of the four people named above as exponents of clever hand movement, one does wonder that should Argentina and France clash in the World Cup this summer, whether this would resemble the outcome…

Argentina v France 2010?

It happens from time to time and the onus is on the governing bodies and officials to stop this by effectively sanctioning those teams and players that get away with it. To hide behind the notion that “the official didn’t see it, so it didn’t happen” is cowardly and means that players of all levels and abilities will seek to gain an advantage in this way because although they may get caught 99 times out of 100. They may not get caught once and when that happens you can take your team to the World Cup Finals, or the World Cup Semi Finals.

I do like the fact though some fans are seeking to absolve Henry because he apparently admitted it to Richard Dunne, but stated that it wasn’t really his fault he got away with it, more that the official didn’t see it. So cheating is fine, if you can get away with it.

Henry is a legend in England from his time with Arsenal. That status for me, and many others, is now somewhat tarnished. Sad, but true.

Image Courtesy of ***Doitlike-Deezy*** at Flickr.com

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