Thierry Henry
19.Nov.09
I interviewed Thierry Henry about a year before he left Arsenal for Barcelona. I found him a charming and articulate young man and I genuinely liked him. Add to this his undoubted talent and charisma on the pitch and you would seem to have the PR agents dream. So why would he be prepared to ruin his standing within the game by cheating? His comments afterwards give some clue. "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." So in other words it wasn't his cheating that was the problem but the fact that the referee didn't spot it. A more perverse argument you would struggle to find.
But we shouldn't be surprised because it's an attitude that runs like a cancer throughout the sport. So much so that even an intelligent man like Henry feels that to "win at any cost" is a virtue. It is a sport where actions like diving and trying to intimidate officials is actively encouraged. They are in fact seen as being part of the game. Well they are not and the authorities should use this moment to try and grab back the moral high-ground. FIFA should ban Henry from enough matches to ensure that he can take no part in the World Cup next year. But they won't and so cheats will once again be seen to prosper just reinforcing the belief within the sport that players should do whatever it takes to win.