In recent months, Craig Foster has written a series of scathing articles aimed at denigrating the football codes that use an oval ball, the AFL in particular.
His thesis was that anyone who can walk on two legs can put their hand up to be a professional AFL player, the indigenous game being so utterly devoid of skill, while professional soccer players need to be blessed with almost superhuman, extra-terrestrial powers to make a go of it.
Until recently, I had had my doubts about what Fos was saying, but having watched Thierry Henry handball France into the 2010 World Cup, I am starting to understand where he is coming from.
Watch Thierry Henry carefully on this clip.
Note the expert manner with which he controls the ball with his left hand then guides it back down onto the boot, retaining perfect balance, wheeling round with the archetypal 70 degree angle, reminiscent of Captain Blood’s legendary pose.
Of course, the one give away that Thierry is not playing Australian football is that he does a quick two shoe shuffle to get the ball back onto his favoured right, rather than hit it immediately with his left.
If would appear that the God like skill demanded of the world game does not extend to any great proficiency with the non-preferred foot.
Nevertheless, one can’t argue with the end result – except for the Irish that is.
Ironically, they too tend to prefer a form of football that involves the use of hands, and as it happens, a round ball.
Henry could do no worse a form of penance than offer to replace Tadgh Kennelly at Kerry County, the reigning All-Ireland champ’s.
As for what it means for the world game, well, to be honest, it means absolutely nothing.
We all understand that the World Cup needs the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany and France (winners of the last 10 World Cups).
FIFA knows that all this will blow over in a few days, and they are left with their preferred attendee: France.
In the modern age, any nod towards retaining a semblance of romanticism in the game must be fleeting at best.
History tells us that the world’s population has always been able to gloss over the one great flaw in the world game: that one moment of insanity; one freak accident; one imbecilic referee’s decision; one inexplicable oversight; one moment of utter discrimination, is sufficient to produce that single game determining goal, often with very little association with what has occurred in the other 90 minutes.
That’s why talk of video refs and the like are all quite misguided. It’s as if there is some inherent logic as to who should win or lose a game, who is meant to proceed or drop out of tournaments.
Let us all be reminded that the two of the last four World Cups have been determined by means of a penalty shoot-out.
What happens during the actual 90 minutes is of secondary importance.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
...and the first French bloke who tried to handball it while it was in the air. This attempt to get a hand to a ball in the air is becoming far, far too common in the modern game. You will recall that Simunic did it twice against us three years ago. He was pinned once, but got away with the second, which was actually clearer. At least one player tries it on in almost every game you watch these days - at all levels.
AndyRoo
Guest
Pip, that's not fair. If you see where the ref was standing he was unsighted. When I didn't know to look for the handball I didn't spot it first time either. The offside however.....
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Well - this article is all about multi-skilling!! Henry looks like he could be a handy Gaelic footballer, the way he managed to bring the ball down with his hand - although his reluctance to use his left foot would be frowned upon by the average Irish fan.
Derm
Roar Guru
Pip - they were waiting for Gallas to put the ball in the net, so they could point to the centre spot and blow the whistle, obviously. What more do you want from them - multi-tasking?
Pippinu
Roar Guru
In the Herald Sun this morning they write about how the Swedish ref considered quitting - it appears that he has been astounded by the backlash. He is very clear that it wasn't his fault or that of his assistant refs. They didn't spot the clear offside. They didn't spot the French player attempt to handball while it was in the air (missed by an inch with a raised hand). They didn't spot Henry handling the ball not once, but twice - and very clearly at that. It's not their fault that they couldn't spot three clear cut infringements in the space of two seconds. What the hell were they watching in those two seconds?
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Gibbo good call! I find the FIFA and FM games are pretty close to the mark in all matters such game politics and off field shenanigans.
Gibbo
Guest
its definately a 3-0 forfeit on the fifa playstation games... i've tried protesting bad calls on there only for it to fall on deaf ears.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
...see out the final 10 minutes so that you can then flop on the ground feeling sorry for yourself while suffering the double ignominy of being comforted by Henry himself? "Well played chaps, you gave it your all, rotten luck what? C'est la vie"
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Freud At that juncture - what purpose does honour serve?
jus de couchon
Guest
The Henry cheating exposes soccer for the hypocracy it embraces . That one incident sums up what football has become , a sport driven by money and false idols. T Henry has traded on his public personna as a great and honest sportsman to gain enourmous sponsorship deals. He will no doubt be banking on the short attention span of most foot marble fans to forget. Unfortunately hes probably right.
dasilva
Guest
I'm quite sure it's a 3-0 loss forfeit or something like that However considering that Ireland had a chance to come back and win the game and so the dream hasn't been extinguish yet. Forfeiting the game isn't an option
Freud of Football
Roar Guru
Credit to the Irish for not thinking like Pip. One of the most disappointing things I've seen in sport was Ranatunga cracking the shits and leaving the field after Murali was called for throwing. Whether he chucks or not is irrelevant, the umpires, referees, assistants, officials in general are there to make such calls, if you don't like it, don't play from the beginning, you can't have a sook and run off like a 7-year-old every time things don't go your way. This was a FIFA sanctioned professional football match in front of a crowd of tens-of-thousands watched by millions more across the world and yet you suggest Ireland should literally drag the game down to the lowest of lows because the referee didn't see a handball?
Pippinu
Roar Guru
At no point have I thought a replay was an option. I'm saying, at that very point, immediatey after knowing you have been dudded - why kick off to restart the game? The dream is gone - cause a ruckus, force the ref to abandon the game - put the spot light on him. What's the point of continuing with the game? What are the rules if the ref is forced to abandon the game at the 77th?
AndyRoo
Guest
Have you seen the clip of the Ireland georgia game earlier in qualifying. The irish weren't offering to replay that game.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
I might have felt good about it!! What about avoiding to re-start - what happens in that circumstance? The ref might have to stop the game short of time - that might have actually helped the Irish more.
dasilva
Roar Guru
Pip Ireland only needed one more goal to go through by away goals I think they had about 15 minutes left in the game to score the winner so I don't think getting yourself a red card would do Ireland any favours.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Heh, heh - I read that too and chuckled. I have to admit - seeing that the ref had missed the handball right at the death knell - as an Irish player I would've: 1. Had an absolute urge to smash Henry's face in (afterall, what does a red card matter at that point?); and 2. refused point blank to restart the game and mugged the 4th official, afterall, at that point, why bother with a restart when you have just been screwed over big time? Why add any semblance of normality to the game by restarting?
Art Sapphire
Guest
Cantona confirms Irish lack of mental toughness - to be sure :) "What shocked me most was that at the end of the match, in front of the television cameras, this player (Henry) went and sat down next to an Irish player (Aston Villa's Richard Dunne) to console him, even though he'd screwed them three minutes earlier." 'If I'd been Irish, he wouldn't have lasted three seconds.' 'I think that Raymond Domenech is the worst coach in French football since Louis XVI,' to be sure, to be sure :)
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Heh, heh - that's a fantastic clip - seen it a few times on Fox News already - it's hard to argue with. The one thing that Keane says that rings true above all else is what he says about mental toughness - even football fans understate this - even someone like Fos does (technique without mental toughness is of no value to anyone). About what Keane says about Ireland failing to clear the ball - it's true - but when you see the clip - the players basically stopped, waiting for the ref pick up on Henry - Keane mentions this as well - it's all part of the mental toughness - or lack thereof.
Art Sapphire
Guest
The Wisdom of Roy Keane - unedited. Great Stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fXh7VpObbg Check it out when a reporter's phone goes off halfway thru the interview.