Nov 19
A few thoughts on Henry, ‘cheating’, the universe etc
This is a United blog. I’m quite aware of that. We are also in the midst of the international week which, thankfully, is coming to an end. [Almost feels like a birthday present] But sometimes, even events that transpire during a spell of supposed irrelevance, such as yesterday, can turn out to be pertinent and worth discussing in a shrine — such as this site — so engrossed in red-tinted worship.
So bear with me this once.
I had the pleasure of being at work, unable to partake in the drama that was the Ireland-France world cup playoff match. My sympathies are with the Irish, who are out thanks to, what could be mildly put, an unfortunate incident.
I did however pore through twitter, where I’m quite active. [Stop snickering at the back there! What?! You're not on twitter? Well, you should. And when you do, you should do the right thing and follow me; byte-sized pearls of wisdom, and immortal quips, I can guarantee.] And amidst the streams of frustration, sadness and anger was another wave — a tidal wave of moral indignation. “Henry is a cheat!” “Thierry Henry has tainted everything because of that.” “Henry u r a fkin twat! @#$#)*,” said another quite eloquently.
But such hysteria is acceptable to a degree. It’s a part of the game; passions are heightened because of the occasion. There’s a lot of pain for most Irish, and fans of the Ireland team, and it’s quite natural for anyone to fall into that depressing chasm.
I also observed a fair number of journalists on twitter — English journalists mainly. You saw a similar thread of thought not too different from fans. Of course, they are, after all, like us — passionate football people; love some or loathe some. But the least you’d expect is for them to collect their emotions, lock it in a basket in some mental recess — keeping just an ounce of it — while gathering that thing called perspective and write a piece that doesn’t centre on the demonization of a footballer. Everyone, from Henry Winter in the Telegraph to some on the Mirror have gone for it.
The vocal majority conclusion, or so it seems, has been this: Thierry Henry, while auditioning for the French national volleyball team, has tainted everything that he achieved as a “footballing legend” forever consigning him to the ranks of footballing villains.
Of course, if I would briefly put on my red-tinted glasses, we as United fans would know fully well that Henry is far from one of our favourite players. I wasn’t particularly fond of him, for all his brilliance for Arsenal. And I think it’s not just because he was an Arsenal player. What shocked me about the widespread media reaction to his act of cheating wasn’t their general hysteria over it, but their conclusion that this incident particularly destroyed his reputation. What, then, of his blatant dive to earn a free kick against Spain in the last world cup? Was it because it was against the Iberians that it wasn’t tainted enough? Does it have to be against one of the teams on which the glare of the English speaking media are firmly trained to earn a despicable taint? This, of course, doesn’t include the wide litany of reasons United fans would give to explain why Henry was a twat, but let’s leave that aside for now.
It’s not right that Thierry Henry cheated. It’s terrible, in fact. Everything about those series of events feels awful even in highlight reels. The result is terribly unfair, and will doubtless spark off another series of debates on the need for technology [as the cynic in me would say only as far as the club season resumes in the weekend.] But, this self-righteous indignation — of demonizing anyone because they weren’t confirming to their moral framework, dismissing, in a fit of rage for sure, everything a player may have or have not done because of an incident is something they need to get out of. It’s deflecting blame from real issues. Ronaldo was vilified for a wink [while Rooney was overlooked for actually stamping on Carvalho's crotch], Eduardo was treated like a terrorist for a dive but when his leg was broken in two by a horrific (potentially career ending) tackle by Martin Taylor — the tackler received more sympathy on the lines of “oh, he’s not that bad as a person.”
Diving is as bad as thuggery on the pitch. I would actually argue that where diving cons the referee, thuggish, cynical tackling could potentially end careers. Nonetheless, the moral compass will continue to scream whenever a player cheats, and invoke sympathy for thugs. There are the usual thoughts on Platini and Blatter, for instance, to have rules in place to stamp out both ugly sides of the game. But, as much as we would like to introduce video replays it’s hard to strike a balance, disrupting the pace of the game, in our bid to try to get every decision right. But, as much as Platini’s faced stick, his proposal of having referees near the goal would have spotted this particular incident. But that’s besides the point.
My point? Well, there wasn’t one particular point in this rambling piece. I think I tried to cover a few issues that have irked me several times in the past.
Meanwhile, discussions between Arsenal fans stoutly defending Henry as an Arsenal great to United fans will have moved the discussion towards who was the more honourable diver. “Hey, at least Henry admitted it was a handball,” said one. Indeed. Quite moving.
PS: For those of you scratching your heads going WTF, at this post, fret not. Regular service will resume — United related service, I mean. It’s a momentary lapse… of topic.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Gabriel Obertan – Shades of Henry?
- Man Utd v Chelsea: Community Shield Preview
- United get Milan, Giggs gets new deal
- Reaction to the Chelsea defeat
- CHAMPIONEEEESSSSSS! YESSSSS!
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Onkar: dude i never questioned ur choice.. each for himself.. its just that u were giving out a wrong impression of the music in India… as for your stats they ain’t true.
plus u keep mentioning the oldies.. thats a choice u make so keep it to u.
cheers.
Like?
0 
0
@colver: Tosser!
Like?
0 
0
To all bloggers trying to somehow justify henry’s decision,bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I know cheaters, and this whole logic of lets blame the ref for not seeing it is utter crap. When as a player you step in to the field, you are expected to carry yourself with some dignity and integrity and play the game like it’s supposed to be played. I can imagine the irish, who stepped on to the pitch expecting to play a honorable and respected french side, only for 1 stupid ignorant wanker, to spoil what was a great game.Fuck henry, yeah I said, he’s a cheat and I hope his entire legacy is canopied by this single incident. So many of this so called great players lie and cheat their way to victory,I even remember messi doing it once. When they realize the opposition has got their number, they use every dirty trick to get a victory, how about playing footie the way you are supposed to play it, stupid fucks.
It’s even more annoying to hear the french brigade say theuy didn’t see the handball, for fuck’s sake, you already won, their is no chance of a replay, the least you can do is admit of cheating. I hated the french but it’s now gone a notch higher.
If football is to be played with an air cheating, then FIFA should also allow high tackles in case a player cheats, but only to that player. I’d have loved to see an irish player slide with both feet, stud showing and crash into henry, end that cheats career.
Like?
0 
0
It is a difficult issue. A deliberate handball in my view is no different from diving to get free kicks and penalties. If it does not lead to a goal people forget it. It is only when it leads to a crucial goal that people start complaining. Ultimately the rules of football are that if the referee did not see it, it never happened. Henry’s cheating is a question of sportsmanship and a sense of fair play. But football is just too big a game. If Henry went to the referee and admitted to handballing France could have been knocked out of the world cup. The entire French football team would be labelled a bunch of flops by the papers and the nation. The economy would lose millions of pounds.
I agree Henry should not have cheated. But lets face it lots of footballers do cheat. But once Henry got away with cheating it is hard to expect him to admit to cheating when to do so would mean his team would lose a vital game that would prevent them from participating in the world cup for the first time since 1994. He took one for the team.
But hopefully this does cause the authorities to look into ways to take away the arbitrariness of referee decisions. The decisions of referees should not determine games this much. Chelsea should have been in the Champions League final last year. Ireland should be in the World Cup.
Like?
0 
0
did anyone else notice that arsenal’s goal difference is twice ours and they have a game in hand?
Like?
0 
0
@bildani: Yep.
But i think that Arsenal have had a good run against “lesser” mid-table to relegation prone teams.
we on the other had, have had to play against top half opposition.
I still think Arsenal are to be reckoned with this year, but as usual Van Persie is having his yearly injuries. Our season will hinge upon how we perform against lower opposition.
Like?
0 
0
Someone posted this on ROM:
http://twitter.com/Ryan_Giggs
What think you? Boss?
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Mate, my kids have been listening to The Who for 23 and 25 years respectively. I think your theory here is short sighted.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: i have a hard time believing that that is the real ryan giggs…
Like?
0 
0
@Grognard: Calling rap gutter back alley poetry is a close minded and ignorant statement. And you can say what you want but it smacks of racism. I’m not even gonna waste my time trying to debate with you about rap because you clearly don’t know what your talking about when it comes to that subject.
Then you have the audacity to blow trumpet about the greatness of Elvis Pressley. Easily the most overrated musician of all time.
Like?
0 
0
@Johnsom33: I’m with you on Elvis. Rap is not my kind of music, but I think the spontaneous jam sessions of rappers are pretty good – I’m not a big fan of the manufactured MTV shit though. And I’m not being racist about it. Just so you know.
Like?
0 
0
@spizzy: How did those honourable irishmen feel after cheating Georgia?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf9fx4ipF4Q
Like?
0 
0
@Onkar: Am not surprised by your response,only the personal attack which i shall not pay any mind to.
To clear things my point is,there seems to be that kind of cheat talk whenever anything goes against the British teams because of the loud nature of the British press like Edwardo against celtic and tis one against Ireland.
The reason i bring up rooney is to bring the point close so you know thing happen every day in football we just react to what the press feeds us.
Like?
0 
0
Good piece. I thought, when people called his career tainted by one handball, what about the Scholes handball in the CL game? Has that one cheat tainted his reputation forever? Doubt it.
Even as they want a replay, the Irish uniformly say they wouldn’t offer it if the shoe was on the other foot, and no current player can claim that he would have done anything different than Henry.
The ref was at fault. But what could he do, for a play that covered 50 yards or more. The real fault lies with FIFA, who have refused to even experiment with a proven technology that is, let’s face it, the source of their wealth — television. Pretty ridiculous.
Keep in mind that it was a Barcelona player who handled the ball, not an Arsenal player, just as it was a Liverpool player, not a ManU player, who dived for England in the World Cup. Club affiliation matters not a whit.
Like?
0 
0
@Redrich: Ahh sorry bro, its just that most people who dig “Behind Blue Eyes” these days call it that song from CSI.
And I never really “got” that song to be honest. But I never relly got the Who, then. Still have to listen to Quadrophenia, which by all acounts should be more fitting to my tastes, but I was a bit underwhelmed by Who’s Next…
Like?
0 
0
@Johnsom33: @Red Ranter: tHe thing with Elvis is that in many ways he’s similar to the Sex Pistols. His greatness has more to do with his existence, what he did and what he represents, that his actual talent.
But ultimately he was a very, very talented performer. Don’t know how much of his material is actually written by him though.
Like?
0 
0
@Footy4Eddy: I doubt the worst ghetto in Norway looks anything close to Compton in LA, East LA or all of Detroit. In fact even parts of Vancouver where I live would probably make your part of Norway look like a paradise. You shouldn’t have to reduce your taste in music to accommodate your living standards or neighborhood mate. Think above that. If John Lennon or Paul McCartney wrote music that fit in their Scouser environment, they would never have become the legends they are today. And finally, I will say again that rap is not music. It contains only 1/5 of the content required to categorize it as true music. All it is besides it’s angry and crappy lyrics rhythm and percussion. It is devoid of any melody or traditional hooks and requires hardly any musical instruments other than a DJ box so that he can mix strange sounds and scratch records as well as a drum machine. It’s such total garbage that even talking about makes me want to lose my breakfast. Sorry mate but you are preaching to the wrong choir.
The one name in all of those that you brought up and that I do believe is quality and sound great are The Black Eyed Peas. And their version of Fergie is pretty hot.
Like?
0 
0
@Red Ranter: I know what you mean. I can list dozens from the 80′s especially, some that I would be embarrassed to mention because they are a bit bubblegum but I liked them. When you are 50 you have really run the gambit of rock and all it’s cousins. I have tried it all. Currently my new iPod Touch contains 4000 songs and it’s still growing because my MAC has over 10,000 stored in the Hard Drive. And of those 10,000 songs I could say that probably not more than 500 songs come from the past 19 years. That’s not a good total for almost twenty years of trying. I probably have 5,000 from the 80′s alone as that period in my life was the greatest. 70′s is well taken care of and of course the 60′s has thousands of great tunes from a relatively small number of artists.
Like?
0 
0
@Onkar: Which reminds me of a pet peeve that I have with the modern day footballer. Why is it they are so easily injured and can so easily miss weeks at a time if not months over an injury but as soon as international duty calls upon them, many are miraculously cured and ready to go? Why is it that quite often the first game back for an injured player is playing a game for his country? My God if I was a manager I would wring their fucking necks for compromising their club and returning for a an international but not for their club. They need to really assess their loyalties better and remember who pays them and who uses them.
Like?
0 
0
@donibrasco: What a tired old song. Give it up mate because nobody buys it simply because its bull. And it’s not because we are all Rooney fans or United supporters either. It’s because your accusations are bull.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Sorry mate but NWA is still rap and therefore they are crap.
And although I am not a Zeppelin fan, they do have numerous good songs that I like and that I have on my iPod. I just wouldn’t call them a big favorite. And although I like “Stairway to Heaven”, I really get pissed off when i hear radio stations always refer to it as the greatest rock tune ever. It’s really overrated. But then again, everyone’s taste is different and in music, one can diversify greatly from song to song. What I consider to be the two greatest songs ever would be “Hey Jude” and Bohemian Rhapsody”. Truly great rock anthems. I also love “A Day In The Life”. Finally, “Immigrant Song” is great but I never find myself ever humming to myself or in the shower.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: “Linkin Park? *BARF!!!*” CLASSIC MATE.
And so true. Little white punks with zero talent and a lot of noise.
Like?
0 
0
@Onkar: Here’s the thing about divers, 90% of all players are divers when the situation arises. Diving doesn’t bother me when it comes to the player. They are taught and encouraged to do this. This is a football cultural problem that starts with coaches and owners who tell their players do whatever you have to for us to win. If clubs punished their own players for simulating or dives then that crap would end. Good luck, keep dreaming, it aint gonna happen anytime soon. And if FIFA or UEFA got stricter and penalized divers unmercifully, then that would solve the problem, But they don’t so as far as I’m concerned, they are basically telling players that it is part of the game and if you can get away with it, all the power to you.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: And so are his chances per game. It would take Andy Cole ten chances to score one goal where it would take Alan Shearer 2 or 3 chances to score a goal. Big difference in class really. Cole was blessed with incredible service but was cursed with the inability to compose himself often enough to become incredibly prolific. He had great instincts and his movement and pace were always a threat. When you add the great service, he should have been the greatest striker England have ever produced. But he is far from it and his crappy record for England shows just how useless he was seen as being.
Like?
0 
0
@Onkar: What’s funny is that the two fans of Linkin Park on here spell the band’s name wrong. I think that is very fitting because Linkin Park is just so wrong. I call them Missing Link-in Park. Primitive Ape music for the masses.
Like?
0 
0
Anyone seen this??
This guy must have been pissed as f*ck!! lol
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Sam Fisher? Does that mean he is stealthy and sneaks up behind players and stabs them in the dark?
Like?
0 
0
@Grognard:
Spoken like a true outsider. I used to abhor rap, but it grew on me hen I realised that even rock people enjoy the odd rap. You cannot feel indifferent to Run DMC’s “Its like that”. First rap song I really enjoyed.
There is such a thing known as Indie rap, which is basically rap that indie kids enjoy, in opposition to mainstream ghetto rap. THe wonderful M.I.A comes to mind.
And Black Eyed Peas are so feckin overrated!
Like?
0 
0
wait, here’s the link,
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thierry_Henry&oldid=326715091
Like?
0 
0
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thierry_Henry&oldid=326715091
Like?
0 
0
@Redrich: The Who is frakken awesome. When you listen to them, you “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
Like?
0 
0
@Grognard: I wish but no.As a matter of fact Toulalan is just a very tidy defensive player. He just looks so much like Fisher its uncanny.
Like?
0 
0
@Johnsom33: Spare me with your racisism accusation bullshit ok mate. I commented on how I love Motown music and that alone should open your mind up about the fact I am not racist. I just think black music for the most part has enter the gutter the past twenty years. Too many black kids with anger and attitude and with no musical skills whatsoever except the ability to scratch records, and scream out ghetto politics in rhyme. Spare me with your indignation as I come from a background and a country where we take pride in our open mindedness and our inability to be racist. I also think Country music is generally garbage. I guess I had red neck white boys now too, don’t I?
Like?
0 
0
@Johnsom33: And I brought up Elvis as an example of a singer that millions love and adored. I personally think he was vastly overrated and rather tacky myself with those awful clothes and that uncool Vegas routine. How overrated was he. The fact that so many impersonators can not only mimic his look, but his voice says it all. In fact when even I can say “Thank you very much” and sound just like him.
Like?
0 
0
@Grognard: But Shearer didn’t have the movement of Cole and would not have had the said chances in the first place.
Also Cole, despite being a bit ungraceful in his movement, was a great all round player. The midfield could always relay with him and e is one of the reasons why in the vintage late 90s most of our midfield four averaged around 10 goals a season.
His assists stats are also very very good for a striker…
Always will have a soft spot for him as he was vilified by some during his time at United, while he was among the top three strikers in the league imho.
Like?
0 
0
@donibrasco: What where?. They looked the other way in a very convenient fashion. Like I said, they game has nothing but hypocrisy drowning it by the day.
Like?
0 
0
@Gabriel: I think I saw that on ROM… the c*nt!!!
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Who’s Next is an awesome album and how could you be underwhelmed by “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” Both are considered amongst the greatest rock anthems of all time. One thing I still don’t get though is the title Baba O’Riley. What the Hell does that mean in the context of the song and it’s lyrics? I always tell people that it should be renamed to “Teenage Wasteland”. A more fitting name. Speaking of teenage wasteland, a good description of the music of today.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: None of it. He had his moments but fat Elvis was just a sad disgrace compared to the young, vibrant far cooler Elvis that we remember in movies.
Like?
0 
0
@Gabriel: Seen what?
Like?
0 
0
@Gabriel: Yes, I wrote that.
Seriously though, I applaud the bloke who wrote that. Too true on all counts.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: When I play the game I never really notice his look because when he talks the only face that come to mind for me is the voice actor Michael Ironside. To me he is Sam Fisher.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: I made that point. Cole’s movement and instincts were world class but his finishing was up there with Jaap Stam. I think that almost every memeber of Red Rants given the same chances to score as Cole got would have scored more goals.
I’m serious. The guy was an appallingly bad finisher.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: @Grognard:
I was in stitches while I read that!! 
Amid all the hysteria, misplaced self-reighteousness and excessive hyperbole flying around in the media frenzy over the henry incident, that was the funniest bit. 
‘Le C*nt’ 
Like?
0 
0
@Grognard: The fact that you refer to rap as “black music” show how open minded you are. Also being from Canada or liking Mowtown doesn’t make you exempt from making racist comments.
Just to be clear, I’m not calling you a racist.
Like?
0 
0
@Grognard: Baba O’riley and Won’t get fooled again are two AMAZING all time great songs. Still not enough in my book for it to live up to its reputation of all time great album. The other songs are not that great for me.
Bargain, Pure and Easy, Getting in tune all good songs which are not great.
Its just like a football team: Bulgaria 94 (was it?) had Hristo Stoichkov as an all time great and 2 or 3 other very good players, but for it to be an all time great team (as an album), all but one or two positions (tracks) should be at least great – 8/10 minimum.
Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust has a dud in It ain’t Easy, but all the rest are five star material.
United 98/99 weakest link would be probably Ronnie Johnsen/Henning Berg/David May centre back partnership. By the way how poor were we at CB at the time?
Like?
0 
0
@Grognard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2IA27vACVM
Yes he was not the greatest of finishers. But you’re using grandiloquent terms to exaggerate this aspect of his game.
In his first two seasons he was utterly frustrating, but I think that has to do with the expectation that came with his transfer tag at the time *cough* berba *cough* After he settled down he was perfect for us.
He had great, and i want to emphasize this GREAT understanding with Giggs, Keane, and to a lesser level Beckham and Scholes.
RVN was a better finisher (and even he missed a few sitters) but had nowhere near the interplay that Cole brought to his team mates.
Like?
0 
0
@Johnsom33: Yes you are. And further more, what I divulge about myself on this id a fraction of who I am as person so I’ll kindly ask you to keep your personal feelings about me and what you think you may know to yourself. Putting down a specific type of music does not make one a racist unless those who are accusing me of that, also think the music is a black derivative. Smarten up and stop being so touchy on things. You are one of color and all you are showing me is an intolerance to those who do not share you similar tastes. Calling me a racist in a by referring to my comments as that is backhanded and low and i for one am disgusted that you would take my dislike for rap in that manner. I hate Vanilla Ice and Eminem as much as NWA or Snoop Dog. Last time I saw, they were still white boys trying to make it in a black genre.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Yes but musical tastes are so subjective. I may believe that 8/10 songs on Who’s Next are great where you think 2/10 are. I may consider 95% of all rap to be crap where Eddy or Johnsom think the exact opposite. Tastes are so subjective. The one thing I have going for me on the Who’s Next argument is that polls by radio stations and magazines like Billboard have always ranked that album amongst the greatest ever. I am not one who likes to jump on the bandwagon but in this case, I have to agree with them. Still, that doesn’t make me right or you for that matter. Taste is a very personal thing. I’ll confess a very guilty pleasure I have. God forgive me but I rather like listening to ABBA.
OK, let the abuse begin.
Like?
0 
0
@NicoQB: Having an GREAT understanding with other players and having all this great skill in movement and interplay is all great, but it does not take away from the fact that he started as a poor finisher, improved a bit but still ended as a poor finisher. His saving grace was his ability to find enough opportunities in a game that would net him a good amount of goals in a season and keep him out of Fergie’s doghouse.
Like?
0 
0