World Cup 2010 - Henry escapes handball sanction
France striker Thierry Henry will not be punished over the handball which led to the decisive goal in the World Cup qualifying play-off against Ireland and sparked one of the biggest outcries in the competition's history.
A FIFA disciplinary committee decided there was no mechanism for punishing Henry over his part in the goal widely compared to Diego Maradona's so-called Hand of God' effort for Argentina against England at the 1986 World Cup.
"The Disciplinary Committee reached the conclusion that there was no legal foundation for the committee to consider the case because handling the ball cannot be regarded as a serious infringement as stipulated in article 77a of the FIFA Disciplinary Code," FIFA said.
"There is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions for any incidents missed by match officials."
The decision is likely to whip up another storm over the incident and may increase pressure on FIFA to introduce technology to help referees or give officials more power to subsequently change obvious refereeing mistakes.
Television replays showed that Henry twice handled the ball before William Gallas bundled it over the line in extra-time of the second leg to give France a 1-1 draw and 2-1 aggregate win in the November tie to reach the finals in South Africa.
In the controversy which followed, Ireland, already upset at a late FIFA decision to seed teams including France but not themselves for the playo-ffs, demanded a replay, a request which was quickly turned down by FIFA.
The row gained political overtones when Irish fans protested outside the French embassy in Dublin and French President Nicolas Sarkozy apologised to Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.
"The result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed. As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final," FIFA said at the time.
Ireland later asked FIFA president Sepp Blatter to consider giving them a 33rd place at the World Cup and were furious when he made the request public. Blatter later apologised.
Henry, who initially celebrated the goal, quickly apologised and admitted the handball.
"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa," he said.
Labelled a cheat by some critics, he later told L'Equipe that he had considered quitting. "The day after the match, and the day after that, I felt alone, really alone," he said.
Article 77a says that the disciplinary committee is responsible for "sanctioning serious infringements which have escaped the match officials' attention."
The other sections of the article say the committee can rectify obvious errors in the referee's disciplinary decisions, extend an automatic suspension incurred by a sending-off and impose additional sanctions such as a fine.
Few refereeing mistakes have caused so much heat since Maradona punched the ball into the net to give Argentina the lead against England in their 1986 World Cup quarter-final.
Nine years earlier, Scotland qualified for the 1978 World Cup with arguably an equally blatant handball against Wales.
Replays clearly showed that Scotland forward Joe Jordan punched the ball in the Wales penalty area during their decisive qualifier, yet the Scots were awarded a penalty which they converted and set them up for a 2-0 win.
Unlike Henry and Maradona, Jordan, who kissed his fist as the referee pointed to the spot, escaped with almost no criticism.
Comment 157 - 176 of 176
What about defenders who may deliberately foul just outside the box in order to stop a potential goal scoring chance or goalkeepers that could pull the ball back from over the goal line, not seen by the referee or his assistant? Do contributors that would ban Henry, criticise Blatter and call for a reinstatement of Ireland want to extend the argument to these situations?
It's a disgrace. I've been an Henry fan for many years, being an Arsenal fan. I think he has let himself, his country and his fans down by blatently cheating. He should be out of the world cup, and the goal should have been disallowed straight away through tv refereeing. How hard can it be? Blatter hasn't got a clue!
So basically.. Cheaters do prosper??
What kind of example is that supposed to set?
Well lets all handball and win games..
Sepp Blatter is the biggest football Noob in the world. he knows F*ck all about the game and about how to run FIFA. he needs to stand down before he embarresses himself.
Fifa have bottled it.
who cares what rulle 77a Says.. What about The rules of Fair play??
Yet again, FIFA have shown no compassion for the game. they are in it for the money, not the fans..
Sepp.. i hope you read this. you are a f*cking moron.
Who gives a toss. Soccer is at best the fourth most popular game in ireland and thats questionable. Corrupt Fifa should allow the use of hands in the game but they can't because the officials and players alike are all too busy using them to stuff their pockets full of the ordinary man's hard earned cash.
@ 181--Peter S
I kno u wud have loved for the Irish to go thru but they didnt deserve to, their continually missing clear cut chances clearly suggest that, so in the end they got wat they desrved jus like Georgia in play-offs World Cup 2002 when Robbie Keane scored a penalty awarded from nothing, now yu same fools start claiming justice should be done??I Say justice has finally been done... If yu were as honest why didnt yu offer Georgia a replay???jus like what yu wanted France to do!!
Thiery Henry never in a million yrs deserved punishment, JUSTICE DONE..
FIFA please introduce Technology. It is the only solution to these problems
why the hell did FIFA contemplated punishing Henry, he didn't do anything anyone wouldnt do if they had a quick mind as Henry. he jus wanted win so so much.. Republic Of Ireland got what they deserved NOTHING, the score was 1all its not like the Irish were going through even if Thiery hadn't handled the ball. Still to go thru the Irish should have scored again to make it 2all & guarantee a World Cup place.
The Irish should look back to World Cup 2002 play-offs, when they were awarded a penalty 4 nothing really & Robbie Keane scored and burried Georgia, perhaps they should look at it this way, they were neva meant to be in South Africa this Summer lol
Fifa overturned their decision on Arsenal's Eduardo's punishment for his (Tom Daley) diving lol in a champions league play-off against Celtic..Clearly Eduardo's punishment should have stayed... So for FiFa overturning Eduardo's decision then they shouldn't have even thought about punishing Henry until they change the rules of which they can change til end of season..
the.slinster how about you f.uck off with your ho.mo f.ucking dreams
I am rather glad that he got off without a punishment as he's a legendary player and his reputation has allready taken a big hit with the controversy. I glad for him.
Blatter/Platini/Henry all happened to be French, not a surprise there, that no action was taken. Still if happened to be any other country, they would have been kicked out of the World Cup. Not a good image really, so handball is okay now, as long as the ref does not see it, however the rest of the world does. Well done FIFA.
After reading some posts about henry cheating&he knew what he was doing,would anyone
else do the same thing?also sometimes these things are natural reactions,the refs&linesmen don't have the benefit of tv replays,human element is gonna make mistakes
henrys reaction would be the same as when you drop an item and the reaction is to reach out and grab that object,which is more instinct than anything else'human reaction
Some of you are saying on here that the referee is to blame. Why?
The ref and linesman missed the incident. It was a mistake. Human error.
Henry knew what he was doing. He cheated.
At the very least, Henry should be fined and/or banned for ungentlemanly conduct. FIFA should set the precedent that there is no room for cheating in this game.
But, what have they done? They have effectively communicated to the world that cheating pays.
Yet again a decision goes against us when it was quite clear and blatant the intention, they all cry for video refs and video evidence, yet when they have it it still gets overlooked !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
U heard wrongly sabathiel FIFA did not campaign for fair play it is fare pay. So if you have the $$$ they can rig anything and still said it is right.
I thought sport was about fair play, obviously not. FIFA bottle it again
Who say politicing & sporting are not complementing? Ask me and I shall enlighten u.
Now you understand why I said from the beginning that Blatter is a dictator in FIFA. All you have to do is bow to him like slave just like Platini and you get away with anything (France) what a shame. It just goes to show even in sports money holds the key to everything. Sorry Ireland you are too much of a gentlemen, anyway people like Blatter and Platini are not fit to lick your countrymen shoe.
Who say politicing & sporting are not complementing? Ask me and I shall enlighten u.
Why does not this article mention Roy Keane's nice ball handling against Georgia? Without that result, Ireland would not even have been in the playoffs. You guys so conveniently forget that Ireland LOST, AT HOME to France in the first leg of those playoffs. It was that loss, not Henry's hand that cancelled your tickets to South Africa. Why should Henry apologize? Did Keane apologize to the Georgians? You complain that FIFA has several sets of standards when you use more than one to judge your opponents (in defeat). They used the same tape measure that you have.
Why does not this article mention Roy Keane's nice ball handling against Georgia? Without that result, Ireland would not even have been in the playoffs. You guys so conveniently forget that Ireland LOST, AT HOME to France in the first leg of those playoffs. It was that loss, not Henry's hand that cancelled your tickets to South Africa. Why should Henry apologize? Did Keane apologize to the Georgians? You complain that FIFA has several sets of standards when you use more than one to judge your opponents (in defeat). They used the same tape measure that you have.
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