FIFA decided not to suspend

i think all of us stop to blame Henry.Henry is guilty in that game but he had admit that he is wrong and had try to ask FIFA to rematch the match France and Ireland even FIFA never approve the request.so if there are someone is blame, the person is referee. I hope Henry can entertain us in his ability and determination to guide France get the good position in South Africa 2010

i think all of us stop to blame Henry.Henry is guilty in that game but he had admit that he is wrong and had try to ask FIFA to rematch the match France and Ireland even FIFA never approve the request.so if there are someone is blame, the person is referee. I hope Henry can entertain us in his ability and determination to guide France get the good position in South Africa 2010

Now, wasn't this expected from FIFA. I think I replied to a similar discussion earlier as well when Irish fans were demanding a punishment for Henry and France but it was never going to happen. The fact that FIFA came up with the play-offs idea only after they found that France and Portugal had not qualified shows how biased they are. Sepp knew that teams like France who've done well at world cup level would bring more eyeballs compared to other European teams and hence the new concept for qualification. Also, they've taken the easier route forward as punishing Henry would mean they would have to start punishing every player who cheated and got away with it. Weak management I would say. FIFA is losing respect of the people this way.

Even i think in the same way as you think numberoneplayer. If such mistakes are merely neglected then there is always a chance that others might start doing such mistakes. Henry surely deserved a punishment. Now because of his hand ball only France are into the world cup else ireland would have replaced france. Think FIFA should have taken some disciplinary action or the other like banning henry from world cup. It was unfair decision by FIFA.

I don't see the incident lively. But from all over news, I saw that Henry is seen as the one to blame, because of what he is today. I mean, Henry doesn't need to act like that because he's a star, and not a controversial one. If he could have just stop when he touches the ball, every single person would honor him, not insult him like right now. FIFA sometimes is controversial also, and I think Henry should get a ban from what happened back then.

I don't blame Henry for this. Even if it would have been nice to see him stop and admit it was handball still he's a professional who plays for his country so he would do anything. The problem is with the referee and with FIFA. They support big countries and take harsh decisions only against small countries. I'm tired of seeing that the big countries always have the referees on their side and FIFA doesn't do anything about this. My country lost many games because of bad refereeing, especially from Lubos Michel and Kim Kilton Nielsen but every time everybody closed their eyes. And they will close their eyes forever since there are a lot of money involved. Everything in today's football is about the money. They tested the 4th referee but I saw that in many games this referee doesn't do anything. I saw a game between CFR Cluj and FC Copenhagen when Cluj scored a goal with the crossbar(the ball felt almost 1 meter behind the line), and the 4th referee was looking on the sky to see if it was raining. Why pay another thief? This referee was put on the filed just to watch for suspicious goals and suspicious plays in the penalty area and when something really happened... he did nothing. We don't need a 4th referee. We need good referees and competent people in FIFA and UEFA. If you have the courage to ban forever a referee that makes big mistakes then, maybe, they'll think twice before ruining a game and ruining a team.

I doubt that it will lead to more players trying to repeat the actions of Henry. If a player is going to cheat he will cheat regardless. The truth is that the game of football is now so huge that expectations are bigger than ever. I don't condone what Henry did and found it sickening. I wonder if the same exposure would have been given in the media and the same complaints made if it had been a game between two smaller footballing nations from a different qualifying region. Fifa should have handled the situation better, but how often in the history of the beautiful game has it been evident that Fifa is soft on punishing those at fault? France were not looking likely to qualify at all for the World Cup until Fifa decided to change the way the playoff games would be drawn, introducing a seeding system so teams like France and Portugal would play a weaker footballing nation. The seeding system and the Henry incident go along way to showing the cowardice of Fifa. The only way they could have done more to ensure France qualified was if Sepp Blatter (fifa president) ran onto the pitch from the stand and headed in the winner himself from a corner. :D

I think Henry should have been banned for the entire tournament - effectively ending his now-overshadowed career. But it doesn't surprise me that FIFA decided on such a course of action: they are notoriously spineless when it comes to dealing with bigger nations, and bigger players. Whatever happened to fair play?

I really think it isn't Henry fault. I think FIFA is right. But I think France should be suspended of World Cup!!!!!!!!!!! And the referee and his assistents should be banned for soccer camps because everybody saw Henry uses his hand but nobody says anything!!!!!!!!!!! So I think France should be banned and Ireland should participate because they'll participate if the referees don't comited that fault. Because suspends Henry don't solve the problem. He's just a player! So other players will do this and did this! But the referee and his assistents should pay attention to punish them!!!! And other selections will use this! So if France was banned from world cup other selections will think twice before use this!!!!!!!!!