Tom English: 'Blatter and his lackeys at FIFA are alone in resisting video technology'

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 19:40

MADAM (writes Distraught of Blackrock, Dublin, to Irish Times editor, Geraldine Kennedy). I think if Gillette saw what their advertising man Thierry Henry did, then they should surely reconsider their choice of role model. I'm immediately throwing my Gillette razor and shaving cream in the bin. Otherwise I would be reminded every morning how cheating is now something to celebrate.

Yours, etc,

Paul Hughes

Madam (writes Furious of Naas, County Kildare),

One way to ameliorate the outrage and anger at the creator of the late goal against Ireland is to petition Dublin City Council to change the name of the main shopping street in the capital from Henry Street to something less likely to cause offence.

Yours, etc,

Brendan McMahon

Madam (writes Fed-up of Ballinasloe, County Galway)

Sick, that's how I feel. Why doesn't FIFA just call it volleyball from now on, because that is what is being played. Shame on you, Henry, and your official pals!

Yours, etc,

Eoin Barton

ALL around Ireland there are people cursing the ground under Thierry Henry's feet. They're lambasting him on radio and television and in newspapers, they're taking his photograph down off the wall of their pubs and, in some documented cases, putting his framed Arsenal jersey in a wheelie bin. Kids are moping their way into school.

There is any amount of devastation going on across the water – the economy is in the toilet, unemployment is rising at an eye-watering speed, the cuts to government spending are shocking, school class sizes are rocketing upwards, the number of hospital beds is plummeting downwards – and yet a game of football has outraged a nation more than anything else.

In recent times in Ireland, politicians have been guilty of corruption and bankers guilty of behaviour so reckless it will take a generation to sort out, but Henry has become the most vilified man in the Republic since God knows when.

Sometimes, something happens that reminds you of the extraordinary power of football to touch lives and we saw another example of it last Wednesday night in Paris. Of course, it has taken on the element of farce now. Roy Keane, an Irishman, has told his countrymen to stop their whingeing and get over it. Eric Cantona, a Frenchman, has told his countrymen that Henry deserved a punch in the face for what he did.

We've had contributions from Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson, Rafa Benitez, Harry Redknapp, Alex McLeish, Marcello Lippi and Mick McCarthy. We've heard from Diego Maradona, David Beckham, Fabio Cannavaro, David Ginola and Pele. There's been comment from Roger Federer and Padraig Harrington, the chef Jean-Christophe Novelli and the singer Nicky Byrne, from Westlife. A spokesman from Gillette issued a statement. Jules Rimet's grandson, Yves, has been roped into it. Dermot Ahern, the Irish foreign minister, and Christine Lagarde, the French economy minister, have spoken of their outrage. Nicolas Sarkozy and his counterpart in Dublin, Brian Cowen, discussed the incident at length.

A Facebook page was set up. "Petition To Have Ireland vs France Replayed!!" had, by yesterday morning, attracted 325,284 fans. There was a rally outside the French embassy in Dublin, its figurehead being one of the stars of Irish television – a two-foot puppet called Dustin the Turkey.

Everybody's having their say. Amid all the hysteria and the calling for justice, Mick McCarthy's contribution was one of the most sensible. The former Irish captain and current Wolves manager was furious at the way his country exited the World Cup. "I can't tell you what I think about Thierry Henry," he said, for fear of turning the airwaves blue. But he wasn't having any of this replay argument. "I'd like our game against Portsmouth replayed," he said, "because that was a handball. I'd like Sunderland to be replayed coz there were a few decisions in there that weren't in our favour. Villa. There was one there. I guess Stoke would like our game to be replayed coz our goal was offside. But it's not gonna happen, is it? Not gonna happen."

Of course it's not. It was never going to happen, despite the pleas from the Football Association of Ireland, the Irish government, the Irish people as a whole and a huge number of football men and celebrities who believe that the only way to protect the spirit of the game is to bring the teams back to Stade de France and let them play again. By that token, there would be replays every week in every league in every country. A goal given in error? It happens constantly. Footballers cheating to gain an advantage? The game is full of them. Like it or not, it's part of the fabric of the sport.

This was a stark example of football's unpleasant underbelly. It was Ireland last week and it will be somebody else next week and somebody else again during the World Cup next summer. Without video evidence, these episodes are going to be repeated over and over. It's only the reaction to them that changes.

In this case, we have heard from anybody and everybody, but there is one man who has been struck dumb; Sepp Blatter, the head of FIFA. He has seen Ireland unfairly dumped from the World Cup and he has seen referee Martin Hansson hounded and, in some cases, libelled and slandered for an incident that he could not have seen, his view of Henry's hand being obscured by Irish defenders. Hansson will have Wednesday night on his record for the rest of his career. For something he could not detect, he is being branded a cheat and a hopeless referee. He is a victim in this as well.

Ferguson, Wenger, Lippi, Trapattoni and many others have called for the introduction of video referees. Across the board, the refereeing community wants it. Blatter and his lackeys at FIFA are virtually alone in the sport in resisting it. They say that it would cause unacceptable delays. Reviewing specific incidents would impact on the integrity of the game, Blatter has said repeatedly.

FIFA look at rugby and see long delays as the TMO (Television Match Official) decides whether a contentious try should be awarded or not, but the comparison is bogus. Rugby decisions of this nature take so long because often there are many bodies involved and the ball is heavily obscured.

Football is much more straightforward. Decisions would be quicker and justice would be done sooner. Rugby uses video, so does horse-racing, tennis and cricket. The vast majority of the game wants it, but Blatter ignores them all and talks about integrity. There wasn't much of that in Paris on Wednesday night.