Thierry Henry Handball Against Ireland in the World Cup Qualifier

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Henry: Another footballing cheat

After France's World Cup clash with the Republic of Ireland, Ian Griffiths is far from surprised that cheating has risen its ugly head yet again.

France, the 1998 world champions and runners-up in 2006, sealed their ticket to the 2010 World Cup finals on Wednesday night thanks to yet another moment of madness that proves the beautiful game is turning decidedly ugly.

With 'Les Bleus' and Giovanni Trapattoni's gallant Irish heading for extra-time in Paris, Thierry Henry, the French captain, the man with a multitude of endorsements and a legion of adoring fans, handled not once, but twice, before delivering the pass that William Gallas converted to send France through 2-1 on aggregate.

It was illegal, a deplorable act of cheating and decidedly unjust for the Republic. A World Cup exit is always painful, but to be dumped out in this manner will scar the Irish for some time to come.

A bashful Henry later said: "I will be honest. It was a handball, but I'm not the ref. I played it. The ref allowed it. That's a question you should ask him."

The 32-year-old's particularly hollow statement hardly amounts to an apology and carefully skirts around the issue that he could - if he had so wanted to - have told the referee that he had handled. Instead he remained silent, and careered off behind the goal celebrating wildly. Talk about rubbing salt in Irish wounds.

In a flash, Henry, one of the game's most talented and admired professionals, has had his once holier-than-thou reputation tarnished for life. The sound of halos slipping must be reaching a crescendo in France. The mighty have well and truly fallen.

Henry's opposite number Robbie Keane believes, quite rightly, that his side was cheated out of the World Cup, while Republic legend Liam Brady has decreed that the Gallic shenanigans were part of a shameful day for football.

Nevertheless, and amid all the vitriol, should we really be surprised by the way the former Arsenal and current Barcelona striker conducted himself during the dramatic Stade de France showdown? Should we recoil in horror because he failed to tell the official - a certain Martin Hansson from Sweden - that he had juggled the football? Personally, I don't think so.

As the riches available to the planet's elite players, clubs and national teams continue to border on the obscene, too many of today's household names now clearly feel that it is okay either to perpetrate or fail to condemn, all manner of hoodwinking en route to the silverware and pots of cash that await any successful individual or team.

A greed for trophies and an unwillingness to do without financially are, it would seem, great motivators when it comes to ignoring what is patently the right thing to do.

Nowadays, fair play has become a rarer than rare commodity as professionals from Middlesbrough to Madrid continually bend the rules. The desire not to lose far, far greater (and financially less ruining) than any desire to play the sport in a manner that befits football's glorious past.

Like it or not, it's a win at all costs mentality that will only ever gather momentum when luminaries such as Henry refuse to confess all in the midst of a match.

So, if we accept that diving is a blight on the modern game, what can be done to stop the cheats? The answer my friends is quite simple: not much - especially if the world's governing bodies continue to turn a blind eye to cheating.

Both FIFA - take a bow for failing to deal with Maradona's 'Hand of God' against England in 1986 - and UEFA - shame on you for rescinding Eduardo's ban after the Arsenal player dived against Celtic - seem intent on adopting a head in the sand approach.

With umpteen retrospective camera angles, it is surely now child's play to bring any miscreant to book, to adopt a commonsense approach and put football back on the straight and narrow.

In 2005, FIFA did order a World Cup qualifier between Bahrain and Uzbekistan to be replayed after a refereeing error from Japan's Toshimitsu Yoshida.

Sadly though, and before hope springs eternal in Irish hearts, it should be pointed out that this particular decision was taken because there had been a technical error in disallowing a converted Uzbekistan penalty and awarding Bahrain a free kick instead.

There will be no such reprieve for the Republic.

Maybe just maybe, there is some credence to Ireland defender David Dunne's post-Paris claim that both FIFA and UEFA have agendas that look to help the planet's bigger names prosper. Sour grapes perhaps from the Aston Villa star, but cheats will always make the world's more honest citizens rage.

There are already calls for Henry to be banned, to be thrown out of the World Cup. He must, the fans say, be made to pay for his crime.

All well and good perhaps, but whilst the threat of an enforced layoff remains a distant pipedream, there seems very little that can be done to rid football of those who cheat when there is such an overwhelming apathy towards tackling the problem.

On the whole, managers and coaches - the very people able to influence how players behave on the pitch - have been remarkably slow to criticise any individual from their side that has decided to take the law into his own hands. Their apathy only serves to compound the horrendous laissez faire attitude being adopted by football's men in suits.

Will we, for example, hear France's embattled and mightily relieved head honcho Raymond Domenech come out and say Henry will not be going to South Africa, that the Gooner icon is never going to play for France again? Hell will freeze over before we do, I can assure you of that.

Maybe Alan Hansen was justified in saying, as he did once via his Daily Telegraph column, that managers stopped thinking about the good of football in about 1956.

Nevertheless, with supporters around the globe continuing to cite cheating as one of their principal grievances, something clearly has to be done - with or without the help of those managers or governing bodies prone to not spotting the obvious - before the conmen bring about the death of the game the vast majority of us love.

Cheats never prosper? Don't you believe it.

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FIFA rule out France-Ireland replay

FIFA has dashed the Republic of Ireland's hopes replaying their World Cup qualifying play-off with France.

The world governing body ruled that the result cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed.

FIFA said in a statement: "FIFA has today 20 November 2009 replied to the request made by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to replay the 2010 FIFA World Cup play-off match held on 18 November 2009 between France and the Republic of Ireland in Paris.

"In the reply, FIFA states that the result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed. As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final."

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) had formally requested a replay after Thierry Henry's clear handball in the build-up to William Gallas' decisive goal.

The announcement was not a surprise - a senior source at the world governing body had said yesterday they would have no option but to reject the demand.

The FIFA source told Press Association Sport: "There is no way the game can replayed.

"To do so would cause absolute chaos for football. If it was replayed then every match in the future would also be subject to these calls for a replay any time a referee misses an incident.

"FIFA's rules are absolutely clear. Law 5 states that a referee's decision on points of fact are final. That is the end of it. You cannot replay the match on this basis.

"You have to have a rule that says the referee's judgement is always right."

The wording of Law 5 of the Laws of the Game states: "The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final. The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or, at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee or the fourth official, provided that he has not restarted play or terminated the match."

The FAI had claimed there was a precedent because FIFA ordered Uzbekistan to replay Bahrain in 2006 World Cup qualifier after the referee made a "technical error" after a penalty had been awarded.

However, in that instance, the referee was guilty of wrongly applying the rules rather than missing an offence - he awarded an indirect free-kick against Uzbekistan when one of their players encroached on the Bahrain penalty area as the Uzbeks successfully converted a penalty. The correct interpretation would have been to order the penalty to be retaken.

Henry's handball would almost certainly have been spotted by an the extra assistant referee behind each goal-line - the system that is the brainchild of UEFA president Michel Platini that is being trialled in this season's Europa League.

Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Ray Houghton admitted he did not expect FIFA to order a replay as they are governed by the rules but he appealed to the French Football Federation to play the Irish again.

"I really feel it is up to the French Football Federation," he told Sky Sports News.

"If they are unhappy with the way they have qualified then they should ask for a replay. You don't want people going to the World Cup on the back of conning the referee or the officials.

"Surely for the sake of fair play, it should be replayed."

And Houghton called for FIFA president Sepp Blatter to make a public statement on the decision by football's world governing body.

"Where is Sepp Blatter? Why hasn't he come out and stood up and told everyone how it is.

"He's very good at telling other countries how to run their game. It really needed the top man to come out and tell the footballing public why they have made this decision."

FIFA's response will now be considered by the FAI's board of management, which sits for a pre-arranged meeting this afternoon.

The FAI said in a statement: "Football Association of Ireland today confirmed that it has received correspondence from FIFA rejecting the Association's request for a replay of the World Cup play-off match between France and the Republic of Ireland.

"A previously scheduled meeting of the FAI board of management will take place this afternoon where the matter will be considered.

"No further comment will be made until this meeting has concluded."