On this day 15 years ago, Thierry Henry’s handball caused major controversy. Has the view on this moment changed or is it still a hot topic for Irish fans?

by kaZZlimaXX

48 comments

  2. We will never forget this cheating bastard and the sop of 5m from Blatter as compensation.

  4. They say time heals all wounds. It’s a lie. It doesn’t heal fast or deep enough. I am still dealing with the 2002 world cup shenanigans.

  5. I was embarrassed by the FAI asking to be an extra team in the tournament because of this injustice,Henry was a cheating bastard especially how he sat beside Dunne after and showed fake empathy knowing what he’d done but if Robbie Keane had done that I’d have taken it

  7. Innocent times. Back then we all knew the handball rule and still thought video refs would solve all our problems.  Henry is a bollix

  8. One of the All time great strikers. Sure we wouldn’t have played France if Robbie Keane didn’t take a dive for a penalty in one of the qualifying games.

    I blame the ref instead of Henry.

  9. Honestly I know its just a game but serious consideration should be given to declaring war on France.

  10. Really is a crossroads in football for us and France. Yes the tournament for them wasn’t great but they’ve obviously gone from strength to strength. Ireland after this point have had some decent results and have been to tournaments but have never looked like a strong side since then. Not saying us going to the world cup would have fixed the FAI as nothing could have but it’s interesting to think what could have been

  11. >Has the view on this moment changed

    Changed how exactly, what are you expecting here…

  12. Obvious cheating by Henry but I was more annoyed by the officials not spotting it, and our shoddy defending.

  14. I paid $20 into a bar in San Francisco to watch this.

  15. As an Irish Arsenal fan who grew up idolising Henry, This was an awful moment for 9 year old me.

  18. I was living in Paris at the time working as an ESL teacher, many of my students apologised and said they were ashamed by Henry’s handball.

  19. I don’t know how true it is but I remember reading that the French were so embarrassed by his handball that many people in France were glad when the team went on to be knocked out of the tournament early.

  20. I only recently got back into football. I was a kid and an Arsenal fan with Henry’s shirt and a backpack signed by Ian Wright. As a kid, seeing your idol do something so devastating… Flipped a switch inside me, was so sad I stopped caring about football entirely.

    Started following again about a year and a half ago and by god, why

  21. This game is the reason why I won’t ever say get rid of VAR, it may be annoying but it stops obvious stuff like this from happening

  22. Karma got one back for the Irish if I remember correctly, France were the first team eliminated from the tournament after this!

  25. I remember the first leg when Ireland just stood off them and let them play, we really made them look average when we went for it in the second leg.

    Still the most gut wrenching experience I’ve had watching sport, the reaction seemed a bit over the top, although I did get great joy watching them make a show of themselves in that tournament.

  26. It’s funny to look back on really. Had we qualified in not so sure we’d get out of that group, you had a Uruguay team that was the start of their golden generation, Mexico were decent too and South Africa would have been buoyed by playing at home. But also that was really the last tournament we’d have had the likes of Robbie Keane, John O’Shea and Damien Duff being close to their peaks and with us being so well drilled under Trap at the time we could have scraped out also.

    I have forgiven Henry for it though, it’s cheeky but that should have been noticed by the referee. However John Delaney embarrassing the whole country asking to be an extra team at the World Cup was incredibly unprofessional, made even more incredible in that he received hush money for it too. That is honestly a bigger stain for me than the handball itself, especially as there’s no guarantee we beat France without the handball.

  27. Weren’t we only playing France because FIFA introduced seedings for the playoffs once the groups were finished and it turned out France were going to be in them?

  28. He was always an arrogant ass. Never liked him and his stupid “too cool to celebrate” insouciance bullshit.
    Disliked him long before the handball, dislike him even more these days.
    Dickhead.

  29. Remember that government minister going on about Uzbekistan or some other country having to replay a match a few years earlier because of a ref decision and there was a chance to get a replay.

    Embarrassing in hindsight.

  30. Why should the view have changed? You can see what he was doing, right there in the picture. 15 years later the picture doesn’t show anything different.

  31. Think George Hamilton was going on about Gignac playing Gaelic Football in West Cork.

    Him Billlo and the lads in studio all gone from RTE’s coverage, wish I knew I was in a golden age before I left it.

  32. OP your talking about Ireland? We forget fuck all and love a good grudge. Ask in another fifteen years and you’ll get the same answer lol

  33. Its cause everyone found out who he really was that day

  34. If anything I think it’s got worse with age, since weve got so fucking shite since then, and not really qualified for anything since (Just one euros right? Where where we got spanked)

    So theres not been newer events or highs and lows and drama to replace it replace it really, and make us forget. Well just one long low I guess lol.

  35. I know someone who got their hotel room free in France after that incident.

  37. Karma does work sometimes though. They qualified but were utterly humiliated at the tournament finishing last in their group, not winning a game and scoring only a single goal.

  39. Everytime I see Henry emotionally tortured by Kate Abdo’s new marriage, I regain a small sliver of satisfaction

  42. I think the worst thing about all this, other than us not getting a chance to go to penalties/extra time, is that he admitted to hand-balling a few days later and people were saying he was so brave and honourable to be coming forward. As if we didn’t all see it in the replays. People are so weird.

  43. How can the view change he cheated, and there was a literal cover up by FIFA and the FAI to make this scandal go away

  45. Was at the game . French end . Fuck him and fuck blatter too .

  46. Live in Sydney and last new years took our 1yr old to the early fireworks down at the beach. After it finished hopped on a bus to take us a couple of stops. Bus was busy but a nice atmosphere, I’m sure most ppl had a few drinks and were going to continue to party. There were 2 Irish girls behind us who were smiling and chatting with our daughter and she was loving it and giving them high 5’s. They shouted to their friend who was standing up a bit ahead of us, look how cute this baby is she’s giving high 5’s so he comes down and she gives him a high 5 and a few ppl around us do the same. Our daughter is smiling and laughing and loving it, a few ppl are getting on at the next stop and walking past us and reaching out for high 5’s, one of them had a French jersey on and put out his hand all smiles in anticipation and my daughter just looks at him, smile turns into a scowl and hand comes down. The French guy looks shocked and keeps moving, within a few secs the girls friend a dub lad lets out a roar “yeah she’s not forgivin ye for Henry either” there must have been a good few Irish on board because half that bus including us just burst into laughter, was absolutely fucking brilliant ☺️

  47. I remember going to my first ever gig about a week after this happened, Lily Allen in the Point. She announced “this one goes out to Thierry Henry!” and then sang Fuck You, and we went *wild*.

  48. At 5:15am it is difficult to think of a witty, worth-your-time-to-read comment. So I’ll just go with the rather populist:
    Fuck him and all belonging to him. And his dog.

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