The Inescapable Ways of Human Error
Spurs did their best to distract from the Thierry Henry debacle of last week, but even their 9-1 hammering of Wigan contained another hand-ball goal from Wigan’s Paul Scharner. Thankfully the nine Spurs managed mean that the incident hasn’t caused nearly so much consternation as Henry did.
The incident last Wednesday has brought renewed campaigns for the introduction of video replays. I disagree strongly with this. I firmly believe that human error adds to the excitement. Martin Hannson had a fine game officiating the France Vs Ireland fixture. He’d got all his decisions correct, denying France a penalty when Anelka dived and not being afraid to give free kicks to the Irish.
He did, however, make one mistake. Just one. That’s all it takes. He’s a human being and mistakes will be made. The Irish players themselves had made many mistakes during the game but there has been no moral backlash against Robbie Keane and Damien Duff for fluffing sitters.
Henry has illuminated the highest stage with his electric skills on numerous occasions. He gave one of the best performances I have ever seen at Highbury some years ago now when he hammered four past Leeds United. It was a display from one of the games’ finest. Last Wednesday he gave the display of a man whose star has faded. He epitomised the problems in French football right now with his confused behaviour, calling for a replay of the game afterwards.
I appreciate that it was a spur of the moment decision to bring the ball under control with his hand. His celebrations were wild and ecstatic. Hardly the act of a man riddled with guilt. He had, at that juncture, opportunity to move his flagging reputation to new heights with a moment of unforgettable honour. Like Daniele de Rossi did for Roma in the March of 2006.
His side were 1-0 down against Messina when de Rossi scored with a ‘header’ to equalise. The Messina defence went berserk, the referee allowed the goal to stand. Instead of indulging in his moment of deceit with laughing team mates, de Rossi approached the referee and persuaded him to disallow the goal on the grounds that he had handled. The goal was chalked off, Roma won 2-1 and de Rossi was awarded the FIFA Fair Play of the Year gong.
Henry would have moved onto a stage of sporting immortality had he done that. Instead he ran off to the corner flag deliriously. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth but the errors of others pushed him into that situation.
I feel for the Irish, I really do, but the complaints have gone completely overboard. Replay the match? Get serious. You can’t replay an entire game because of one error and the fact you’re strikers are rubbish. The precedent would have had far-reaching ramifications for the sport. Sometimes you just have to pick yourselves up and get on with things. The Irish took advantage of a refereeing blunder at Croke Park against Georgia when they were awarded a suspect penalty. They won that game because of it. Both incidents are unfair but they happened.
Where there are rules there are those who bend them. Where there are decisions there are mistakes. Where there are winners there are losers. To be on the receiving end of all three is a bitter pill to swallow, but these things happen. C’est la vie. Time to move on.
Miles Reucroft
