From The Times November 19, 2009
Thierry Henry is an insincere cheat who has tarnished his reputation for good
Tony Cascarino, Commentary
Would you have owned up? In front of 80,000 fans and millions more on television, would you have confessed to handball and wiped out the goal that was sending your nation to the World Cup finals?
It’s a matter of conscience. Don’t think I’m ducking the question when I say that it would never have been an issue for me — because I wasn’t a cheat. In that split second last night when the ball dropped for Thierry Henry, tantalisingly close but just out of range of his feet, it would never have occurred to me to stick out my hand and guide it back into my control. I wasn’t that devious.
I’m no angel, but I know that I wouldn’t have done what he did. And if the roles had been reversed and Ireland had reached South Africa in such a dubious way, would I have been delighted at victory? Of course. Would I have felt it was tainted? Absolutely.
Henry can say what he likes. No doubt he will plead his innocence. But to me, that handball was pure, calculated cheating. Accidental? He handballed it to keep it in, then slightly knocked it again to get it nicely on his right foot.
It’s tarnished his reputation for good. Like Diego Maradona, when we reflect in years to come on the career of one of the finest strikers the game has known, we will have to put his handball against Ireland right up there with all the great goals he scored.
What a tragic missed opportunity. What a chance to be a hero Henry had — not to his home country but to the whole game. Cheating in all its guises is slowly killing football and if Henry had held his hands up again and admitted to the referee that he had handled the ball and the goal should not stand, he would have earned the admiration of the entire sporting world.
But he didn’t. He knew that he had done wrong, but he put self-interest ahead of justice. He could have been a beacon of integrity; instead he shined shame on himself and on football.
Cheating in football is commonplace now because the authorities cheat us all by their spineless failure to punish the perpetrators. Will Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, or Michel Platini, the Frenchman who is his Uefa counterpart, condemn Henry, or float the idea that the tie should be replayed? Of course not. They will turn a blind eye, and another piece of football’s credibility, another little part of its soul, will quietly die.
The injustice is made worse by the teams’ performances. Ireland were so much better than France. Raymond Domenech’s players have hearts the size of peas. But then, Henry is their captain. Handball aside, he showed no leadership qualities. He speaks so eloquently, but to me now he’ll always be insincere, a faker, someone who cares only about himself.
I’m gutted for Ireland and for football.
