Thierry Henry: My game is cheating

Some years ago, the intellectual journalist, Gbolabo Ogunsawo, wrote an inimitable article entitled ‘The Babangida in all of us' in which he argued that the vices that characterized the administration of former President Ibrahim Babangida are shared by all of us; only that opportunity is not available to all of us for them to manifest.

Last Wednesday, the cheat in all of us manifested in Thierry Henry, a decent player and an Arsenal legend. Out of desperation (a friend put it succinctly, ‘in the heat of passion'), he showed he is human. Previously, Thierry may not have cheated in his football career but he is a cheat now and should stop claiming otherwise.

Why Henry did it

On that day, the former Arsenal forward argued that his action was an instinctive response shaped by two past incidents. The first was during the 2001 FA Cup final in Cardiff when Liverpool's centre-half, Stéphane Henchoz, blatantly handled a goal-bound shot from Henry.

The referee, Steve Dunn, waved away Henry's appeals. Five years later, Henry shot into the CSKA Moscow goal but was wrongly judged by the Spanish referee, Manuel Enrique, to have controlled the ball with his hand in the build-up. Henry was even booked for his complaints.

What was instinctive? The first touch? Even if he can be given the benefit of doubt over the first touch, that cannot be said for the second touch? For the unsighted referee and his assistant, what principles in physics could explain such change of direction for a ball that is at waist level?

My pain as an Arsenal fan

As an ardent Arsenal fan, I am pained. But I would not join those who want immediate rehabilitation of Thierry. Would they be so forgiving (or grant amnesty) if the handball was by Craig Bellamy, Lansana Diarra, Elhadji Diouf or Didier Drogba? Yes, a first offender Henry is but he has not shown enough contrition.

All his actions so far are contrived. Is it not irritating for him to admit that he handled the ball but he is not a cheat. That it was the referee's decision to spot infractions in the game.

It was only after FIFA had ruled out a re-match that he said a re-play was "the fairest solution." Anybody who knows football rules knows that a re-match is not possible. So, Thierry echoing the opinion of the Irish justice minister and France finance minister for a re-play was just playing to the gallery. Though some of his former colleagues (Emmanuel Petit, David Ginola and Bixente Lizarazu) have denounced the Barcelona player, none of his present colleagues has seen anything wrong in what happened.

The cheat in all of us manifests when French president apologises to Ireland but insists he is in no place to judge. It is also emblematic of the response of the French coach, Raymond Domenech, that he doesn't ‘understand (the critics) moralism.'

Domenech job and Hand of God

How can Domenech understand the outrage when Henry's ‘Hand of Gaul' saved his job? In the controversy, it is lost on many that the incompetence of Domenech pushed to the fore the situational principles that we have at hand.

Pray, how can the French national team struggle to qualify with its deluge of talents? Because the French Football Federation (FFF) failed to sack the coach when the national team could not produce desired results. What results could a coach that selects players based on astrology harvest?

But would FIFA not be in a bind if FFF had offered its Irish counterpart a replay? Recall that rare case of sportsmanship when Arsenal replayed its FA Cup match against Sheffield Utd after Nwankwo Kanu had scored a dubious goal in the earlier encounter.

The cheat in all of us is there when Frenchman Michel Platini fails to comment on Thierry's "La main de Dieu" {The Hand of God}. Platini, president of UEFA, had denounced the Arsenal player, Eduardo, for diving in an UEFA match with Celtic.

Though Eduardo professed his innocence, UEFA handed a two-match ban which was over-turned on appeal. But Platini is lost for words as the culprit is his compatriot.

The less that is spoken about the football dinosaur called Sepp Blatter, who happens to be president of FIFA, the better for us all. He is the dean of situational principles. Blatter (and his mentee,

Platini) is the source of the problem that has beset football. They have visceral dislike for technology. Video technology would have saved the integrity of Thierry and the game.

The most contemptible idea heard in this controversy is that the French deserve to attend FIFA's great fiesta simply because of their superior technical talent. If it is a beauty pageant, what do we make of the Greek who play exasperating football? Disqualify them?

The cheat in all of us allowed the Irish to keep quiet over an undeserved penalty given to Ireland in their qualifier against Georgia.

What could Thierry have done

Could Thierry have behaved otherwise? History offers some lessons. According to Richard Williams of London-based The Guardian: "In 1997 Robbie Fowler unsuccessfully pleaded with the referee to rescind the award of a penalty to Liverpool at Highbury after the whistle had been blown for a perceived foul on him by David Seaman.

"In 2000, while playing for West Ham, Paolo Di Canio stopped play by catching the ball when he saw that the opposition's goalkeeper,

Paul Gerrard of Everton, was lying helpless in the penalty area after twisting his knee while clearing the ball. Last March, during a Romanian first division match between Rapid Bucharest and Otelul Galati, Costin Lazar of Rapid refused to take a penalty because he did not believe he had been fouled, and eventually the official agreed with him." Last Saturday, a spokesman for FIFA said that Thierry could yet face punishment should the disciplinary commission, which will meet in a fortnight, choose to study the incident.

"The disciplinary commission is an independent organ," said a FIFA spokesman. "It will decide if the case is of interest. The possibility exists of sanctioning a player for unsporting behaviour on the basis of video evidence." Raúl, the Real Madrid forward, was banned for scoring with his hand in a Champions League game. Mauro Tassotti was banned for eight games by FIFA after elbowing Spain's Luís Enrique during a World Cup quarter-final at USA 94. The incident had been missed by the referee.

In all the hoopla, let's remember that Blatter champions the "My Game is Fair Play" campaign. It is obvious it is a sulphorous campaign.

However, in the name of deterrence, Thierry should be sanctioned-no matter how feeble.