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Last night, had the referee been allowed to make use of the near instant video replays available at big televised games, the debacle of France’s goal against Ireland would have been avoided. The technology is there; other sports (e.g. Rugby Union, Tennis) have embraced it. So why not soccer?
Surely UEFA is a forward-looking organisation, desirous of making football as fair and honest and sporting as can be? Keen to do away with cheats and to make the referees job easier? Keen forthe professional game to be, well, refereed professionaly?
Er..no. Because UEFAs president, Michel Platini, is a dinosaur. Great footballer but that doesn’t make him a great administrator, any more than Jimmy Lindley being a top jockey made him a good TV racing commentator.
Here’s a quote from an interview in the Daily Telegraph on the 3rd November:-Although TV highlights mistakes, Platini refuses to contemplate instant video umpiring. “Technology will kill football. The human system is better. My job is to help referees see everything.
“TECHNOLOGY WILL KILL FOOTBALL” … “HELP REFEREES SEE EVERYTHING” Oh yes, sure Michel, we believe you!
What a Thomas-the-tanker. Who the f””” gave him this job? How the hell do you get rid of him?
But, knowing what a contrary load of so-and-sos contribute to this forum, is there anyone who thinks, on this, that he’s right?Agree with all you say about Platini – I wonder if he will be as keen to pursue Henry for his handball, or Anelka for his equally clear dive last night, as he was when Edouardo was pilloried after the Arsenal/Celtic game earlier this year.
I’ve no doubt that Platini would argue that TV decisions would stop the flow of the game. Presumably he hasn’t spotted that every free kick, penalty or goal is already followed by a minute of argument, wall positioning or celebration before play resumes.
All that is required is to specify that TV can only be used to dispute yellow or red card decisions, penalties or goals, and that each team has a maximum of one unsuccessful appeal per half.
After that, it would only need proper enforcement of existing laws against simulation to deter all but the most foolhardy from cheating.
If Ireland had been able to get a TV decision last night, one would hope that not just would the goal have been disallowed and replaced by a free kick to Ireland, but Henry would have been shown a card (preferably red) for cheating.
AP
I’m not much of a soccer fan but as a proud Irishman Henry’s actions last night disgusted me. Any player could handle the ball instinctively without meaning it but Henry should have immediately told the referee he had handled it and the goal should not stand. Instead he galloped off behind the goal to celebrate. In the past players like Robbie Fowler and Paolo Di Canio have done the sporting thing but Henry disgraced himself. He had the neck then to go after the final whistle and sit next to Richard Dunne who was distraught. I’m amazed Dunne didn’t thump him there and then. He may have apologised to him but it was far too late at that stage.
Despite my disgust with Henry, I think the FAI and our politicians are embarassing themselves with their clamour for the match to be replayed. There isn’t a hope in hell of it happening as it would set such a dangerous precedent. If a replay was granted then any match where there is any sort of controversial incident whatsoever would have grounds to be replayed. We are a proud nation and we should be better than some of the headlines in the red-top rags this morning. Take this injustice on the chin like men and use it as motivation for the future.
Truth be told, the time for video technology was ten years ago when it was brought into rugby. I don’t believe there is any logical argument as to why it shouldn’t be introduced. The longer FIFA bury their heads in the sand (check out the match report on their website) then the more corrupt the sport will become.
Not to even try video replays is poor. last night was a shocker. His admission, embarrassing. I’m getting p****d with footballers. Overpaid t***s. Why not just give it a go in a cup competition or something. Grrrrr….
CrizzyI feel sorry for ireland. But its football that is the loser. It used to be a mans game, a game with a modicum of humanity and played in an honourable and sporting manner. Now its a winner takes all win at all cost piece of piss! Diving and cheating is always the major talking point sof games these days not the goals or saves or outrageous skills on show.
Video technology is only stage 1. In all matches that are covered by tv cameras there should be a video referee who can make instant decisions on key incidents. We’re not talking run of the mill free kicks, we’re talking offsides, penalties, goals, red cards.
Stage 2 is to start banning players found guilty. That is the only deterrent they will understand. Henry should be banned from international football until the world cup is over. Same as eduardo should have been banned for this entire champions league campaign after his dive against celtic.
Until dramatic changes are made this will carry on forever! There is no incentive to not cheat in the modern game!
Football considers itself the ‘World Game’ – it’s been around for 100+ years, and is popular because of it’s simplicity. It won’t be seen to be following the ‘lesser sports’ who have in the main, successfully used video technology.
However, I think last nights disgrace should be the straw that breaks the camels back. It’s just not good enough amymore to rely on possible ‘human error’ and it will ‘even itself out’.
C’mon FIFA/UEFA, get your heads out the sand!!The dogged refusal of Football’s decision makers to utilise technology for top flight games to ensure the correct decisions are made, with so much is at stake, is simply a reflection of the manner in which men with over-inflated egos have ruled the game since it’s inception.
Like Members of Parliament, wanting to be a football governor should automatically rule you out of the running.
I just hope there are enough disgruntled Irishmen on F.I.F.A. to prompt some sort of action, a la Eduardo and the Scotsmen at U.E.F.A.
Platini is the Devil incarnate – make no mistake – and this is about as embarrassing as it gets regarding the somewhat selective war on cheats. The smug ****.
I’m not fussed by the result (but then again I had no emotional attachment to the game) but surely this practically destroys Thierry Henry’s commercial status?
Then again, I guess most footballers make their names with a tarnished reputation. Who is Zidane? A former Real Madrid
galáctico
, three-time FIFA World Player of the Year and European Footballer of the Year? Nah. He’s the bloke who headbutted Materazzi in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final, parodied through the creation of various GIFs and animations such as Family Guy.
I guess companies like Gillette couldn’t care less, but interesting all the same.
Even if Henry told the officials what he did the result would, and should, not have changed.
Regardless of the honest intent, an official should never be influenced by a player on the field of play.
This was one of those moments where little could have been done to alter the outcome. I remember when Phil Neville was sent off for a blatant handball for Everton – a save that any Goal Keeper would have been proud of. It was an instinctive reaction and no doubt he got back to the changing rooms he thought to himself ‘What the f*** did I just do?’
Henry was in a great position and instinctively controlled it with his arm. From the moment it hit his left arm to the moment he crossed it, there was little time for him to react to what he did. It was all done in one fluid motion and over in a second. Nonsense to suggest he should have stopped playing at that particular moment.
I’m not one to criticize officials, but in normal time, from as many angles as you like, you could see he handled the ball. It’s easy to say the officials get things wrong with the benefit of slow motion replays, but on this occasion they did themselves no favours.
The only thing Henry could have done is come out and apologize, but to my knowledge, he hasn’t and that’s very poor.
Officials get no help from cheating players, but the officials on Wednesday deserve to be criticized for THAT goal and should be punished.
Henry is not a cheat. My team, Bristol City were labelled cheats after the infamous ‘goal that never was’ against Crystal Palace. What utter nonsense!
I’m not one to criticize officials, but in normal time, from as many angles as you like, you could see he handled the ball. It’s easy to say the officials get things wrong with the benefit of slow motion replays, but on this occasion they did themselves no favours.
The only thing Henry could have done is come out and apologize, but to my knowledge, he hasn’t and that’s very poor.
Officials get no help from cheating players, but the officials on Wednesday deserve to be criticized for THAT goal and should be punished.
Completely Disagree. The referee was looking through a ruck of bodies and couldn’t possibly have seen the incident. His linesman mayube should have. But the fact remains, Henry cheated, not the referee. Plain and simple.
Apparently he sat next to Richard Dunne after the game and admitted he handled the ball and, amazingly, Dunne never even moved. If I was Dunne I’d have absolutely lamped him one!! If Henry was really embarrassed he should have come out afterwards and apologised.
The France manager (Domenech) doesn’t help. In an aftermatch interview with Lizarazu (former top french full back) he said now was a time for emotion and joy and that everyone french should be celebrating. When Lizarazu said he couldn’t celebrate out of respect to Ireland Domenech basically said he couldn’t give a toss.
FIFA have made a right cock up of everything to do with the playoffs. Fisrt there was the seeding issue and now video technology issues. All we need now is for a player to be murdered in South Africa by some mafia type gang! Henry maybe!
Even if Henry told the officials what he did the result would, and should, not have changed.
Regardless of the honest intent, an official should never be influenced by a player on the field of play.
This was one of those moments where little could have been done to alter the outcome. I remember when Phil Neville was sent off for a blatant handball for Everton – a save that any Goal Keeper would have been proud of. It was an instinctive reaction and no doubt he got back to the changing rooms he thought to himself ‘What the f*** did I just do?’
Henry was in a great position and instinctively controlled it with his arm. From the moment it hit his left arm to the moment he crossed it, there was little time for him to react to what he did. It was all done in one fluid motion and over in a second. Nonsense to suggest he should have stopped playing at that particular moment.
I’m not one to criticize officials, but in normal time, from as many angles as you like, you could see he handled the ball. It’s easy to say the officials get things wrong with the benefit of slow motion replays, but on this occasion they did themselves no favours.
The only thing Henry could have done is come out and apologize, but to my knowledge, he hasn’t and that’s very poor.
Officials get no help from cheating players, but the officials on Wednesday deserve to be criticized for THAT goal and should be punished.
Henry is not a cheat. My team, Bristol City were labelled cheats after the infamous ‘goal that never was’ against Crystal Palace. What utter nonsense!
Of course Henry is a cheat and only a complete idiot would say he is not. He deliberately handled the ball which is against the rules of the game and his team scored a goal because of it – how is this not cheating!!
His reaction to handle the ball was not instinctive – otherwise this type of situation would happen regularly in soccer every week. It was deliberate – look at the replays!!
Also the referee could have changed his mind if Henry had been honest straight away – it is ridiculous to say that a referee cannot be influenced by the good intentions of a footballer.
Let’s stop blaming the officials – I am sick of it. You cannot blame the referee each time a player cheats and he does not see the incident. I am fed up with so called tv pundits taking a few mins to look at replays of an incident at different angles and then blaming the referee for not giving the correct decision. The referee only has a few seconds from a ground view situation to make up his mind.
Catch and punish the cheats by using video technology – it is the only way because the cheats and divers are presently getting unpunished for their actions…..they need to be stopped somehow or they will continue doing it and it is turning me off soccer ( apart from the gambling part of it ).
I’m an idiot….as what a load of fuss about nothing.
I played competitive football twice a week, more or less every week for the best part of twenty years and I would have done what Henri did in every one of those games if I had too.
Clearly, it’s not fair and it’s not right but it’s not cheating….it’s just part of the game. The slings and arrows so to speak.
Since when has handball been cheating? On that basis everyone who commits a foul is cheating, what about all the fouling and cheating that goes on when there’s a corner that goes unpunished?
As said previously it was an instinctive decision to handle the ball not pre-meditated like Anelkas dive was.
How many goals have been scored from free kicks or corners incorrectly given, are you going to have a video replay for them? I’m afraid it’s a fact of life that similar to players, officials will make mistakes. I’m amazed how officials can make head nor tail of the ludicrous offside rule and get it right so often.
Even if a goal line official had been in action it’s quite likely the handball would have been given but so may have the penalty for the dive.
In any case football now is a very corrupt sport completely dominated by money so who cares.I’m an idiot….as what a load of fuss about nothing.
I played competitive football twice a week, more or less every week for the best part of twenty years and I would have done what Henri did in every one of those games if I had too.
Clearly, it’s not fair and it’s not right but it’s not cheating….it’s just part of the game. The slings and arrows so to speak.
Basically what your saying pompete is that human kind is flawed? People cant stop themselves from handling the ball – its in-built in to our psyche? Dont buy that for a second. I too played football for years and never once did I deliberately handle the ball. And i would never cheat in such a deliberate manner. Maybe I am in the minority.
Pompete…would you have cheated to get your team into the world cup?
Unbelievable!!!….It seems that some people on here do not understand the english language. One of the dictionary definitions of the word cheat is –
To violate rules or regulations
Deliberate handball by players ( apart from the goalkeeper ) is against the rules of the game of soccer so Henry cheated
Another dictionary definition of cheat is –
To behave in a dishonest way in order to get what you want.
Henry deliberately handled the ball ( forget this nonsense about it being instinctive – he is not a goalkeeper ) which is against the rules of the game so he was being dishonest and is therefore a cheat.
Henry cheated and just because some other soccer players also cheat does not make it right.
Had it been a Europa League match, then the handling offence would most likely have been spotted – although whether it would have been called at all is a matter of conjecture ( not to mention cynicism on my part ).
Cheating will always take place in sport, especially on a football field. Fans will inevitably condemn it, just as players will invariably try to justify it.
We will now have to listen to Irish moaning and complaining for the next hundred odd years over the Henry handball incident, just as we long suffering Scots have to endure the never ending bleating from our Southern neighbours over Maradona’s infamous "hand of God."
Yet, I come back ( again ) to the never spoken about Paul Scholes punch ball into Polish net incident at Wembley in 1999 during a Euro qualifying match. Keegan was England manager at the time. Swept under the carpet, lost in the mists of time ( conveniently, some might argue ) and never once referred to in the list of notorious cheating misdemeanours.
I wonder why ?
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