Thierry Henry's "Hand Of God" Goal
Anybody close to Sepp Blatter’s ear? If so, pleeease whisper, “Sepp, that match has got to be replayed!”
Once again, ethics in soccer takes center stage in the world of sport. Thierry Henry’s “hand of God” goal was an absolute travesty, and then for him to have looked up, in a gesture of devotion to the divine, made it even more bizarre. Surely now FIFA must act - the credibility of the game is at stake.
Sitting on the sidelines it’s hard to grasp the amount of time, work and energy that teams and managements put in to preparing for the World Cup, and then to be robbed of your chance in a split second of cheating, is totally unacceptable. Why soccer cannot introduce technology in to its refereeing boggles the mind. The cry that it’ll interfere with the flow of the game, or take over the human element is absolute nonsense. Rugby, cricket and tennis have successfully introduced it, much to the enhancement of the game.
Credit to Thierry Henry for finally admitting to the deed, although the confession should’ve come sooner, especially after denying the incident at a press conference. Incidents like these not only bring individual players in to disrepute, but their teams and the game itself.
FIFA now has a marvelous opportunity to show character and integrity. Stage a re-match. Ireland deserves it, the world of soccer deserves it. It won’t create a precedent for all in sundry to shout, “Replay, replay!,” because then you introduce technology with its boundaries clearly defined.
The last thing we want is for these blatant acts of cheating to appear again in the World Cup, or anywhere else for that matter. If we watch France play in South Africa next year, we would like to know that they got there fairly, and so would a million others.
Diego Maradona’s “hand of God” incident against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final taught FIFA nothing. Will Henry’s do the trick?
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