Why is Thierry Henry Being Punished By FIFA?

The eyes of the soccer world, especially those situated in Ireland, will be waiting and watching on Wednesday to see whether FIFA will decide to punish French striker Thierry Henry for his handball against the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifying match, which ultimately led to the elimination of Ireland from the tournament.

Enough has been written on the subject about whether it was intentional and whether or not the referee saw it, so I will not go into that. Nor will I speculate on what could have been had the handball been called or not have happened. Nor, again, am I saying that it's wrong for leagues to punish if a call is missed in a game (such as a violent act behind the play), because I certainly agree with that. I'm not saying whether I that  Henry was in the right or wrong on committing the handball.

No, I am here to discuss whether a handball is reason enough for the global soccer governing body to punish or even debate punishing a player. Now, to let you know where I'm coming from, I live in Canada where soccer is on the rise, but certainly not king, but as a sports fan this is absolutely ludicrous to me.

Obviously, if the handball had been called and Ireland awarded a free kick, there is no chance that by any means that we would be having this disucssion. A handball is not a major offense and had it been called, the game would have continued and no-one would have cared. How is it then fair to contemplate punishing a player for an offense that has never been punishable before?

In sports, much like life, stuff happens. This relation to life is one of the things that sports fans will quote when discussing why they love them so much and while a lot of the times it is difficult to get over, that's what you have to do because that's part of what makes sports entertaining;the human feel.

In a world where everything is supposed to be perfected, stuff happens in sports. It is that unexpected aspect of the sporting world that causes fans to become mesmerized by games. A star player gets injured and a young no-name steps up, the last-place team knocks off the top team, etc. 

The game of soccer has a fanbase in the billions and one of the things FIFA President Joseph Blatter pointed to is that a game that affects so many, has to be perfect. While this may be an ideal thing to say, it's not possible. Handballs will continue to happen and the fact that in the future there will not be punishable is just crazy.

Some may argue that Henry did it on purpose, or that as a highly-regarded player he should not have kept playing. Are you kidding me? In sports, you are taught to play to the whistle. Nothing's against the rules until it's called by the referee. 

I'll reference baseball since it gives it's officials arguably the most discretion. It is the umpire's job to determine what is a ball and a strike. And yes, I know this baseball post-season had some questionable calls, but MLB wouldn't be expected to suspend a pitcher who then struck out a batter after getting a favorable call.

I'm sorry, but you cannot punish a player for having a good reputation and continuing to play when nothing's officially happened; technically, for all we know Henry could have thought it was ball-to-hand.

Henry did what any professional athlete would have done and that is continue to play. Henry's reputation should not be tainted, nor should he be punished. He did what any competitive athlete would do and that's try to help his team win.

I'm sure many players have tried this before, but have been caught and called for a foul. Should they be punished afterwards? No. The referee blew the call (I hate being critical of referees, but it's true in this case) and it is Henry's responsibility to keep playing.

This will not deter players from making a handball in games in the future, because it is a harmless foul (Cue angry responses from Irish football fans). Whether Henry did or did not mean to guide the ball with his hand, punishing him now doesn't change the result, doesn't put Ireland in the World Cup, and won't stop handballs from happening. 

So, I ask FIFA, what's the point?