Thousands vent fury on Facebook over Henry
The ‘We Irish hate Thierry Henry (the cheat)’ Facebook group was receiving up to 100 new members a minute at one stage last night as Irish people from across the globe expressed their anger following the match in Paris on Wednesday night.
While some of the entries took a measured approach to the incident, many of the posts were humorous with most littered with expletives as people struggled to contain their anger.
For his part, Henry managed to issue an apology of sorts on his Twitter page.
“I’m not the referee but if I hurt someone I’m sorry,” he posted.
A rival ‘We Still Love Thierry Henry’ campaign was also started, but had managed just 23 members.
While one poster on Facebook expected a major slump in croissant sales in Ireland following the match, most were aimed squarely at Henry and FIFA.
Terry Gannon was just one member of the group to label the Frenchman a “cheat”.
“Yes, he is a cheat. If he is a professional he should own up and they should have a replay,” he said.
“In other sports cheaters are punished. There should be replay and Henry banned from the match,” wrote Richard Harris.
Other posters urged people to write directly to FIFA demanding the game be replayed.
It was not only Irish people who felt to join the group and comment on the game. A number of French people expressed shame at how their nation qualified for South Africa.
“I’m French and I’m sorry for last night! It’s a shame for us believe me. You deserve to go in South Africa. Sorry, really sorry. We hate Henry too,” wrote Sébastien Verger-Giambelluco.
His compatriot Xavier Serrier echoed such a view and said Ireland deserved to be going to South Africa ahead of France.
“French too and same feeling as Sébastien above! Ireland is a wonderful country with the best people, you deserve South Africa far more than us,” he wrote.
A further Facebook campaign to have the game replayed also had bypassed the 20,000 mark with more than 100 people signing up to the group.
The petition is the fastest growing page on Facebook and will be taken to the highest levels of FIFA to demand a replay of the disputed game.
Many of the members of the group expressed little hope for a replay, but were determined to vent their anger at the result on the social networking site.
Denise Ronan said the World Cup would have provided the lift the country needed during the recession. “A replay would be the only solution but still the ‘beautiful game’ will never recover in my eyes.
“I was so looking forward to the World Cup, it’s just what the country needs, something to look forward to,” she posted.
Henry’s Wikipedia page was also locked after numerous derogatory comments were inserted overnight.
