Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Previous editions
Friday, November 20, 2009
IRELAND’s very own "Hand of God" incident sparked a media frenzy yesterday as newspapers around the globe bemoaned Ireland’s hard luck at the hand of Thierry Henry.
Even the French newspapers were resigned to the fact their team was on the plane to South Africa courtesy of a blatant handball by Henry.
French daily sports paper L’Equipe splashed with the line "Main de Dieu" (Hand of God) and was heavily critical of the French performance.
It was "a miracle a miracle the French team had survived as long as it did in the game, with its childlike passes and the very average performances from its players".
"No game has been so eagerly anticipated and as monumentally ballsed-up as this one in a very long time," the newspaper said (loosely translated).
Le Parisien also described the result as "a miracle" and said the team struggled to string together more than a few passes.
The team were labelled "incredibly apathetic, incapable of cobbling together the barest semblance of football or to pull off two consecutive passes".
France Soir said the French victory came "as a climax at the end of an unbearable game and thanks to a handball that will be the focus of debate for the days ahead."
The New York Times, which had described Ireland in the build-up to the game as "Europe’s feisty minnows" said France "advanced to the World Cup in South Africa thanks to a little legerdemain by a veteran of many of its great recent triumphs".
Closer to home, most of the British broadsheets and tabloids were also critical.
"Thierry Henry is an insincere cheat who has tarnished his reputation for good," Tony Cascarino wrote in the Times.
Daily Telegraph writer Henry winter agreed. "France cheated their way on to the last flight to South Africa. Thierry Henry handled not once, but twice in setting up William Gallas’s goal that broke Irish hearts and all rules of sporting justice at the Stade de Fraud on Wednesday night," he wrote.
The game even made headlines in Sweden, home of referee Martin Hansson.
Leading evening newspaper Expressen described the game as "Hanssongate" and advised the referee against travelling to Ireland, while another leading newspaper criticised him for dashing Irish hopes of qualifying for the World Cup.
Interestingly, the one match report which initially failed completely to mention the handball incident was on the FIFA website which simply stated that William Gallas scored the equaliser to send France to South Africa. The report was subsequently updated to mention the handball.
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