Hand it to Henry!

IN a thrilling encounter France booked their place for South Africa 2010 but the repercussions are still going on after Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball in extra time before passing for Gallas to score the crucial decider.

The European play-offs had already been under a cloud after FIFA decided to seed the eight countries at the last minute thus guaranteeing the top sides would not play each other.

The Republic of Ireland had complained bitterly about this change prior to the draw being made and after they had drawn France their sense of injustice had magnified tenfold.

The first game in Dublin was a tight affair but France played the better football and ended up winning 1-0 taking a crucial away goal to the second leg. France though, under Raymond Domenech, are not the force they once were and whilst it was always going to be a difficult night for the Irish went to Paris with hope.

Robbie Keane's first half goal exposed the French frailties and Ireland had other chances to see the game off. However, they could not take them and with the scores level on aggregate the game went into added time.

Then came the moment the whole of football is talking about when Henry handled the ball not once, but twice, deep inside the Irish penalty area before feeding Gallas to slot home.

Irish hands went up immediately as Henry wheeled away to celebrate with his fellow players but it would not be long before the viewing public could see the extent of the infringement by the French forward.

Firstly, the ball hit his hand but then he appeared to deliberately control the ball for a second time and from then on injustice was in the air. It has been a media frenzy with opinions being sought from anyone who has ever been involved in the game.

Calls for a replay, as well as for France and Henry to be banned from next year year's finals have been rife but FIFA have held firm and there will be no new match and the Republic will not be at next year's World Cup finals.

Henry himself has admitted handling the ball but denied cheating saying that action replays do not appreciate the speed these incidents happen at. However, there are plenty of onlookers who think it was just a plain case of cheating including comments from the Irish government who believe that tens of millions of euros have been lost to an already struggling economy.

Strangely though, not a lot of criticism has come from players both past and present, David Beckham included, who have taken a more philosophical view by not actually criticising Henry whilst still saying it was wrong. This, in itself, shows where the current group of players stand with regard to 'sportsmanship' within the game.

Time wasting, diving, holding at corners and deliberate handballs are now so prevalent within the game that players are treating it as normal.

This is a sad indictment of the state of the 'beautiful game' and the governing bodies must take some responsibility for this as their punishment system is now so weak that players know that being caught cheating is worth the risk when the stakes are so high on the field.

There has also been moral outrage from other sports but they have no reason to take such a position as no sport is immune from such events. Drug cheating is rife in athletics and cycling, technical offences occur regularly in motor sport, cricketers appeal continuously for wickets whilst batsmen refuse to walk and most recently rugby has been under the spotlight for an incident where pretend blood was used to enable extra substitutions to be made.

With the rewards so high everyone is looking for an edge and we are getting used to having to re-evaluate our opinion of a result when cheating has eventually been uncovered.

The main difference with the Henry incident is the timing and the fact that it is one of the established powers of world football putting one over a small nation and denying them a place at the biggest table of football.

Just because it was so close to the end of the game does not make it different to an incident that happens in the first minute of the first qualifying game. Therefore, any calls for video evidence and replays do not stack up as every game would have to be analysed to see if any of them had a fundamental influence over the final qualifying outcome.

No, the solution lies with the players and the authorities to change the underlying spirit the game is played in which would lead to a self regulatory system of peer pressure and governing body punishments to rid us of this epidemic.

This appears very unlikely though and it will not be long before an incident like this happens in the final of a World Cup and will not only embarrass the individual concerned but also the game itself with the biggest audience possible watching on television.