Pele has his say on Henry controversy

THE world’s most famous footballer arrived in Dublin yesterday and it wasn’t long before he was being pressed for his thoughts on what has already gone down as one of the game’s most infamous incidents.

Thierry Henry’s hand ball in the Stade de France has exercised the minds of millions around the globe but Pele was a more interested observer than most.

The Brazilian watched the World Cup play-off between France and Ireland from Tokyo but, nine daysearlier, he had been sitting in a room in Switzerland discussing an issue that has since become such a hot potato.

“I am one of the football committee in FIFA,” Pele explained. “At the last meeting in Zurich we discussed this problem with (FIFA President) Mr (Sepp) Blatter. Myself and (Franz) Beckenbauer talked about having one more official behind the goals.

“This was before everything, all the problems. There are a lot of problems. Arguments caused inside the box, inside the area, and sometimes the referee cannot see because there are a lot of players across (him).”

Pele believes UEFA’s current experiment using two extra-goal-line officials, rather than one, in the Europa League isn’t the way to go.

And as for video technology? Well, that didn’t even merit a mention.

Blatter has been conspicuous by his silence in the week since the Henry incident in Saint-Denis and the resulting pleas for a replay which have fallen on deaf ears inside FIFA House.

Pele can see why.

“It would be very complicated because you have a lot of other matches which were almost the same. With different fouls but almost the same. You would have to have rules for a replay. Do you play three games or one game? Overtime? Penalty kicks? To have a new game would be very difficult.”

If all that sounds cold and calculated, well, then it’s not meant to. When asked whether he felt the result was unfair on the Irish side his answer was an emphatic yes and he knows all too well how it feels to get a raw deal.

“For a long time I fought against a rule,” he explained. “I used to score a lot of goals but I was not a striker. I was a midfielder. I used to come from behind, like Kaka and like (Zinedine) Zidane.

“Many times I used to get the ball and pass one, two, three, four. When I get close to the goal the last defender makes a foul. There was only one goalkeeper and a defender. Then they put the whole team against me in the wall. I said this was not fair. Nobody thought of that. That is my cause and I fight for my cause.”

One of those defenders employed solely to make his life so difficult during his playing days was Giovanni Trapattoni who marked the three-time World Cup winner twice, once for his club and again for his country.

In Dublin to raise funds for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin and the Little Prince’s Hospital in Brazil, Pele joked that he originally decided against coming to Dublin when he found out that Trapattoni would be also be there.

Pele himself was sent off on a number of occasions in domestic football but he never saw red outside of Brazil despite all the provocation and that has guaranteed his status as one of the world’s true sportsmen long after retirement.

His take on Henry’s act was interesting. “I think the only mistake he made was to put the hand on the ball but it just happened. I don’t think he thought ‘okay, I’m going to get the cross, get the ball and put the hand on it and cross the ball to score’. He never thought that way but unfortunately it happened that way.”

It was revealing that the Brazilian did not understand what the word ‘cheating’ meant when asked if it was more prevalent in the modern game, although he immediately recognised ‘simulation’, the FIFA’s preferred phrase.

“Men always try to do this,” he said. “This is normal and depending on which country you play in. In Europe they were always more honest than the Latin. This is no doubt. Playing Argentina or Uruguay or Paraguay was always more complicated. You are always going to have someone who tries to do something but this is life.”