Thierry Henry Case: Thank You, FIFA, for Being the Voice of Reason

I will begin this by saying I am by no means an expert on international soccer at all. I am a casual EPL fan and watch as much World Cup and Olympic soccer as I can.

With that said, I could not be more relieved that FIFA today announced that they will not “punish” Thierry Henry for his handball on the deciding goal that left Ireland out of this year’s World Cup field.

Obviously, this maneuver by Henry, and especially the impact it had on the World Cup field, was regrettable. However, it was a play in the heat of the game and, as an American sports fan, a play that can be compared to plays that are made in every single game in all other sports.

Henry made an illegal play. However, an illegal play is only illegal if it is deemed so by the referees. In every game you will ever watch in every sport, there is an instance where a player tries to “get away” with an illegal play.

In football, an offensive player holds a defensive player on every snap. So, if an offensive lineman holds a rusher and the refs miss it, and then the QB throws the TD pass that wins the Super Bowl, is the offensive lineman the villain? Should he be suspended?

In baseball, if a player hits a long fly in Game Seven of the World Series that clearly does not go over the yellow line but is still called a home run, is he the cheater?

In basketball, every time a player drives into the lane, a defender slides over in front of him and flops over backward like he has been hit by a train. Should a player be treated like a criminal if he draws Kobe’s sixth foul in Game Seven of the NBA Finals with such a maneuver?

No way. None of them did anything but compete and accept the officials' calls.

The onus is on the officials of the game to make the correct call. If they miss the call for whatever reason, then the ensuing burden is not on the player to make it right.

Are we really supposed to say that Henry should have called the handball on himself?

And even if he did, are the refs even allowed to accept that call?

This is nuts. Thierry Henry is a victim here. He is a victim not of his actions, but a victim of horrible officiating. Maybe even more of a victim of this awful blown call than the entire country of Ireland, because Ireland can qualify for the World Cup many times in the future.

Apparently, this uncalled handball is going to stick to Henry forever like a scarlet “A” on his chest.

Had the referee done his job and called that rather obvious handball, everything would be right, and Ireland would be preparing for their World Cup match in South Africa in a few months.

But the refs, and only the refs, blew it.

How is this situation any different than if Henry had been 15 feet offside and the ref missed it, and Henry went on to score the same goal? Would there be outrage toward Henry in that case? Would people want him to call offsides on himself? Would there be a hearing to decide on a suspension for him?

Henry made an illegal play. No disputing that. But there are hundreds of illegal plays, in every game, in every sport. 

There is an old adage that “if you are not cheating, you are not trying.” While this might be a bit extreme, it is the nature of top-level competition in every major sport.  We may not like it, but it’s the state of sports.

I can just hope that a good man like Thierry Henry, a man who has actually expressed remorse for his act, is not thrown under the proverbial bus here. 

I know soccer fancies itself “The Beautiful Game” and maybe footie fans and officials think they hold themselves to some sort of higher standard, but how can these people claim that Henry is a cheating criminal on one hand, and at the same time, sit and watch games where grown men fall to the ground and roll around in agony when, in reality, the replay shows that the player was never touched and it is a full-fledged “flop?”

How about when that same guy then lies on the ground and writhes like a worm in a frying pan long enough that play has to be stopped and a stretcher is called out? Then, after he is carried off 90 seconds later, the same player is waiting to be waved back in by the ref?

How about if every single one of these floppers is suspended for their “cheating” acts? Aren’t these guys just as guilty of undermining the high standards of sportsmanship as Henry was?

Unfortunately for soccer, if they did suspend every player who flopped and acted like a fool on the pitch just to try and coax a yellow card out of the ref, they would have nobody left to actually play. It would be a suspension-fest in FIFA.

So kudos to FIFA for seeing through the hypocrisy of the cries to penalize Henry. Soccer has a lot of "cheating" to clean up in their own sport before they start penalizing superstars for indiscretions that are only issues because of the ineptitude of the referees.

Let the players play and the referees referee. Today’s decision is the only way justice could ever be done.