The Hand of Gaul!

23 years since the original Hand of God goal scored by Diego Maradona against England in the '86 World Cup, another prolific, exceptionally gifted and widely admired footballing talent takes the road down the dark alley of footballing infamy. Within a mere five seconds of twice handling the ball, passing it off and then rushing over to celebrate with goalscorer William Gallas, French international captain and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry had marred his reputation almost irrevocably.

Often credited to be the leading inspiration behind the Anti-Racism movement in football, Henry's double handball in extra time against the Irish that ensured progression for France to the 2010 World Cup, has very much ripped the 'good' he's done over the years to tatters. It also ensures the millions of dollars that go along with a team's presence at this global sporting extravaganza, the continuation in the post of manager (at least for a while more) of the often criticised and controversial Raymond Domenech and spares the blushes of the French football association, fans and to some extent Fifa.

The Hand of Gaul

For in all reality, while genuine cries of uproar are coming out of France today, the fans and officials of the French footballing bandwagon are indeed happy somewhere that their team made it through to South Africa. A French employee can at least go to work without facing the taunts of his Italian or British colleague about their teams non-qualification. Fifa itself has often been criticised of favouring European giants France and Portugal in the draw for the European playoffs. Judging by the expected mammoth economic benifits of France making the African sojourn in 2010 instead of say Ireland, one cannot blame Fifa either, in the present economic climate. One just wishes that their claims of 'fair play' are dumped in the incinerator where it belongs!

Gallas Scores and Henry commiserates with Dunne after match

Where next for Ireland and football?

Well definitely not to football's global governing body Fifa and their at the best of times, controversial President Sepp Blatter. Fifa has waved aside claims for a replay of the match saying that the referee's decision is final. I agree for once with this actually. What Fifa needs to be doing is ensure such incidents are never repeated again.

A lot has been said about the use of video technology to avoid such incidents in the future, a lot of which have come from high ups in Ireland. After all of their concert

ed efforts to keep the game flowing, if Fifa succombs to pressure and implements a modified Hawkeye technology as used in rugby, it would be interesting to see what that will do to the amount of injury time at the end of every game! Teams like Arsenal, Barcelona, Argentina and Spain who thrive on free flowing, momentum building styles of play could very well be affected by constant stoppages. It has already been noticed how teams like Bolton and Blackburn have efficiently used a physical style of play to force constant stoppages, thereby enjoying success against the Arsenal's of the game.

It seems that the best Irish fans can hope for and the least the French Association can do is drop Henry from their team for South Africa, but the meteor supposed to arrive in 2012 will consume earth and the rest of the universe before that happens!

Was Thierry Henry at fault or was it a refereeing blunder?

As Henry would have all believe, he is not the ref and the ref is at fault! True, the ref and the assistant ref both failed to spot the handball but they were clearly not at a position to spot the infringement with their view blocked by all the other players. Yet, even after the goal had been scored Henry had the opportunity to own-up! Show some fair play! Stand up for his actions! As Russel Peter's would put it - Be a man! Instead he ran over with a gleeful (looking as stupid as always) grin on his face to celebrate with Gallas.

Its hard to say Henry was at fault for doing what he did. The obvious advantages of not admitting his action to the ref weighed up on one side. On the other, who ever said that human's are perfect? And with this incident Henry definitely proved he is as human as you or I. But in the same breath, to say that Henry was not at fault for his actions is even harder! The handball might even have been a reflex, but he very well knew what he was doing when he passed the ball over to Gallas. He knew that he was extinguishing the hopes and aspirations of millions of Irish football fans and the Irish team who arguably owned the French on the pitch that day at the Stade de France. He knew that he was probably forever tainting not just his reputation but also of his nation and the glorious game. Still he did what he did. To err is human. To forgive, divine?

- BiBinhio