FIFA to take no action on Henry
Reuters - Monday 18 January 2010, 16:26
ZURICH - France striker Thierry Henry will
not be punished over the handball which led to the decisive goal
in the World Cup qualifying play-off against Ireland and sparked
one of the biggest outcries in the competition's history.
A FIFA disciplinary committee decided there was no mechanism
for punishing Henry over his part in the goal widely compared to
Diego Maradona's so-called "Hand of God" effort for Argentina
against England at the 1986 World Cup.
"The Disciplinary Committee reached the conclusion that
there was no legal foundation for the committee to consider the
case because handling the ball cannot be regarded as a serious
infringement as stipulated in article 77a of the FIFA
Disciplinary Code," world soccer's ruling body said in a
statement.
"There is no other legal text that would allow the committee
to impose sanctions for any incidents missed by match
officials."
The decision is likely to whip up another storm over the
incident and may increase pressure on FIFA to introduce
technology to help referees or give officials more power to
subsequently change obvious refereeing mistakes.
Television replays showed that Henry twice handled the ball
before William Gallas bundled it over the line in extra-time of
the second leg to give France a 1-1 draw and 2-1 aggregate win
in the November tie to reach the finals in South Africa.
In the controversy which followed, Ireland, already upset at
a late FIFA decision to seed teams including France but not
themselves for the play-offs demanded a replay, a request which
was quickly turned down by FIFA.
The row gained political overtones when Irish fans protested
outside the French embassy in Dublin.and French President
Nicolas Sarkozy apologised to Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.
"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," FIFA said at the time.
Ireland later asked FIFA president Sepp Blatter to consider
giving them a 33rd place at the World Cup and were furious when
he made the request public. Blatter later apologised.
OBVIOUS ERRORS
Henry, who initially celebrated the goal, quickly apologised
and admitted the handball.
"Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way we won and feel
extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in
South Africa," he said.
Labelled a cheat by some critics, he later told the French
sports paper L'Equipe that he had considered quitting.
"The day
after the match, and the day after that, I felt alone, really
alone," he said.
Article 77a says that the disciplinary committee is
responsible for "sanctioning serious infringements which have
escaped the match officials' attention."
The other sections of the article say the committee can
rectify obvious errors in the referee's disciplinary decisions,
extend an automatic suspension incurred by a sending-off and
impose additional sanctions such as a fine.
Few refereeing mistakes have caused so much heat since
Maradona punched the ball into the net to give Argentina the
lead against England in their 1986 World Cup quarter-final.
Nine years earlier, Scotland qualified for the 1978 World
Cup with arguably an equally blatant handball against Wales.
Replays clearly showed that Scotland forward Joe Jordan
punching the ball in the Wales' penalty area during their
decisive qualifier, yet the Scots were awarded a penalty which
they converted and set them up for a 2-0 win.
Unlike Henry and Maradona, Jordan, who kissed his fist as
the referee pointed to the spot, escaped with almost no
criticism.