France go through to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year after a disputed goal saw them defeat a valiant Republic of Ireland team last night with an aggregate score of 2-1. The score on the night was 1-1, the French goal came after the ball hit the hand of Thierry Henry before he passed it along the goal line for Gallas to head it into the net from very close range. In the build-up, following a free-kick to France, Henry and another French player seemed to be offside. Understandably, the Irish team feel robbed. They were!
The Italian manager of the Republic side is reported today in The Guardian as saying:
"I prefer that we'd have gone out on penalties and I am sad because the referee had time to ask the linesman and also to ask Henry. He should have done that and I am sure Henry would have confirmed that he had handled. It wouldn't be the first time that a referee asks a player whether it was or it wasn't. It wouldn't have been out of place to ask. This is not good for fair play. I have been to schools many times to talk about fair play. I tell the young children that it's so important in life. This is a bitter evening for us."
Henry admitted after the match that the ball hit his hand but felt it was not his role to come forward at the time. If he had been asked, then I am sure he would have admitted it.
What is wrong with the common sense of asking the player?
Full article from The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/19/ireland-thierry-henry-france-hand
The words of the manager of the Irish team reminds me of my own words in earlier blogs about getting children involved in showing how to play fair, to shame the adults.
I wrote in an October blog:
ReplyDelete"What have they got to lose? ...........So, why don't the school teams cut out the shirt handling? And why not the diving as well? They should set an example."