Paris, 18th November 2009. A date that will remain etched in Irish minds forever. What should have been this country’s finest victory since beating The Netherlands to qualify for the World Cup in 2001 turned into arguably the most controversial sporting moment in Irish history. As fine a performance as this generation may ever see from our football team has been overshadowed by both a travesty and a tragedy. Thierry Henry’s hand stole the dreams of a nation and denied Ireland a deserved chance to compete in South Africa at the 2010 World Cup. Firstly though let’s focus and what happened pre-Henry.
Dublin, 14th November. A sell-out crowd at Croke Park contains more Irish than originally expected, the French failing to sell their allocation as almost 20% of their tickets are returned to the Football Association of Ireland. Irish fans happily sung along to ‘La Marseillaise’ and welcomed the few French fans that had travelled with open arms, a kindness which was not to be reciprocated. After a close and undeserved loss, many believed that having to travel to Paris and win was a step too far for Giovanni Trappatoni’s side.
In stark contrast to the French’s inability to shift all 6,000 of their quota conservative estimates believe that 20,000 Irish fans travelled to ‘The City of Light’. Pre-match media coverage led you to believe that this would be a formality, that the plethora of stars available to France’s manager Raymond Domenech would have far too much quality for Ireland’s mixture of solid club professionals and journeymen. What was to follow confounded all conventional wisdom as the so-called lesser players outplayed and outfought the French in their own home. An entirely dominant first half display by Ireland was capped off by a fabulous team goal as Damien Duff was released wide on the left he looked up and delivered an accurate pass to captain Robbie Keane who accepted Duff’s offering gladly slotting the ball past the outstretched arm of French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. The second half was to follow a similar pattern to the first with Ireland again in the ascendancy. Chances were spurned as often as they were created with John O’Shea the first to miss badly as he blazed over from six yards out. Worse was to come from Ireland’s point of view though. First Duff was put through by a defence splitting pass by Liam Lawrence, with the whole of the goal to aim for and under little pressure from the defenders chasing him he shot tamely into Lloris’s arms. Robbie Keane was the next player to rebuff a chance to seal Ireland’s passage to South Africa. Slid through Keane rounded the French keeper but his initial touch was too heavy and he carried the ball out of play much to his and Ireland’s despair. The full time whistle was greeted with loud boos and whistles from the French faithful who were less than happy with their side’s showing in normal time. Extra time and possibly penalties would be required to separate the side who were level after 180 minutes. Tied they were but only in score, Ireland had the upper hand in effort, possession and chances created over the two legs but failed to make the advantages count. Extra time began in a dull fashion with neither side willing to commit men forward as both tried to consolidate and not surrender an easy goal. The first talking point occurred ten minutes in as Anelka utilisied his pace in an incisive French break culminating in him taking on Shay Given one on one. Tipping the ball by Shay, Anelka crashed to the floor in agony claiming a foul by the Irish keeper but referee Martin Hansson was unmoved. Two minutes later arrived the key point in the tie. A hopeless punt forward by the French defence was rewarded with a free kick due to a needless push on Henry by St. Ledger. Substitute Florent Malouda’s free kick appeared to be well overhit mid-flight but it in real time it appeared as though Thierry Henry had unbelievably kept the ball in, managed to control it perfectly and place a cross on William Gallas’s head. Magic from Henry again. Or so we thought. The Irish players surrounded the referee and protested before a replay was shown much to the fans bemusement. What was shown in the next few seconds will haunt Irish people for years to come. The ball was in fact over hit and Henry handled the ball not one but twice before deftly flicking the ball into Gallas for an equaliser. Half time in the extra time. The French had finally found their voices. There was however another 15 minutes of play left as the second period of extra time began but at this stage Ireland had become ragged, they had lost their heads. The best chance of the last half actually fell to France as Ireland were pushing forward for an equaliser a sharp counter attack with Sidney Govou scooping the ball over from six yards out much to the disbelief of the rest of his team mates. The final whistle was preceded by ugly scenes French officials and players all standing on the touchline whistling at the referee and waving their arms animatedly signalling for the final whistle which followed a dreadful free kick by Aiden McGeady. Cue exuberant celebrations around dejected Irish players. A squad who believed their own hype through to the World Cup and a squad disbelieving their luck out. Justice does not always prevail as advertised.
I can understand why Henry handled the ball. In fact he said it best himself with his comment ‘I exploited the exploitable.’ He should have admitted what he did. He had the chance to show hundreds of millions of people around the world that cheating is bad and honesty is an important part of the game. Wrong as his actions were on the field though it’s what occurred after the goal which has damaged his reputation irrefutably. The profuse celebration of the goal. The patronising commiserations the Irish players were subjected to after the game. Most disheartening of all though have been his comments in the days proceeding the game. ‘I didn’t mean it, it was accidental’ and ‘I think there should be a replay’. The first of these two comments he cannot truly believe and is an insult to the intelligence of a football fan. A ball travelling at that velocity, with the hardness of the ball itself would have knocked his hand firmly backwards and gone out for a goal kick had it been ‘accidental’. The truth is he guided the ball with not one but two strokes of his left hand directly onto his right boot to seal Ireland’s fate. Cheating in this era appears now to be acceptable but couple with blatant lying is a poor display from a man once held in high esteem by many on these shores. The latter quote was intended to be a clever piece of PR for Henry. Ireland were struggling for supporters for their plight in France and Thierry would swoop in and give his considerable backing as France captain to give fresh hope to the Irish. How it actually unfolded was embarrassing for all parties concerned. His admission that he believed a replay would be best after Fifa, the FAI and the French FA had all declared a rematch would not occur was a desperate attempt to save face by a man whose reputation has been irreparably damaged. Undoubtedly a great on the pitch his dishonesty off it will prevent him from being remembered fondly as one of the greatest strikers ever seen like he should be.
There was never any chance of a replay. And the factors which unfortunately decided Ireland’s fate were not related to sport at all. It was for financial purposes that a replay was never in question. Rough estimates state a figure that France’s qualification is worth up to eight times as much to Fifa than if Ireland had reached South Africa. Herein lies the reason why seeding was introduced at such a late stage to the qualification process. Discussions about seeding teams for the playoff were non-existent until it became apparent that major nations such as France, Portugal and Russia would fail to reach the World Cup through their respective groups. Panic set in and a rash decision was made to try and ensure that the so-called ‘glamour sides’ would get a preferential draw in the play-offs. Fifa’s grand plan almost worked to perfection, Slovenia’s elimination of Russia on the away goals rule the only disappointment they suffered. Surely now after this mistake by the officials and the uproar that has been subsequently caused it is time to introduce new rules to prevent this sort of scenario form arising again. Two options have been discussed and both are viable. Goal line officials reminiscent of GAA umpires are the first choice on the table and video technology is the second. Personally I would be in favour of the former option as it still retains the much loved opinion based decision making where a call is made as it appears in real time, albeit now with an extra two officials to help assist the more difficult rulings. Action must be taken quickly to help soften the blow football’s reputation has taken in the aftermath of this situation.
Disappointingly, according to reports it appears that French manager Raymond Domenech was the driving force behind the refusal to grant the FAI’s wish to have a replay. The French Football Federation were willing to consider the request but Mr. Domenech was adamant that there would be no rematch, perhaps an €850,000 qualifying bonus was a factor in influencing his decision. Fair play may not be something you would associate the French people with after what has transpired this past week but it was actually one of their own, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who offered the most important gesture of fair play seen in the past decade. Arsenal were playing away to Sheffield United in a 5th round FA cup game and it was deadlocked at 1-1. In the final stages of the game one of United’s players required treatment for an injury and the ball was put out of play for an Arsenal throw in. Expecting the ball back which is standard procedure in football, United were ill-prepared as Kanu threaded the ball through for Overmars to slot home what he and the majority of the football community thought was the winner. Not so. Directly after the game Wenger offered Sheffield a replay due to the contentious circumstance in which it had been won. Such a display of fair play was unprecedented and is rarely replicated in the modern game.
The implications of this incident are far more damaging than just failing to reach the World Cup in South Africa. Perhaps one of the most serious elements of the debacle has failed to receive much media coverage strangely. As a consequence of our elimination we have again been placed as third seeds for the Euro 2012 qualifiers. It’s a vicious circle unfortunately and it means Ireland will face an uphill battle to reach a major international tournament for the foreseeable future. On paper it appears that this team as failed in its objective but the courage, heart and determination shown in Paris will not be forgotten quickly. The enduring images of Damien Duff sitting on the turf in tears and Shay Given’s constant apologies to the Irish faithful are ones we will carry with us forever. Over two million people tuned in to watch the game the biggest viewing figures for a sporting event in this county since Italia ’90. With that support behind the team, the passion showed by the players throughout the qualifying campaign and a manager who is able to get the best out of what little he has to work with don’t rule out the boys in green fulfilling the potential shown these past two years by getting to Poland/Ukraine in 2012.
