Following a practice on Monday, NBA All-Star Steve Nash was asked about Thierry Henry’s controversial handball. Henry is a friend of Nash who plays in his charity soccer games (he interviewed him once here).Here is Nash’s take on “Le Hand of God,” a take off the Maradona one in 1986:
“I think it was a handball…”“I think it was a handball. It was probably intentional but intentional after it had already hit his hand and he touched it again. My point to people is they act as though he left his house that morning (planning) that he was going to handball and win the game. The ball came over 15 peoples’ heads, skipped on a wet grass and hit his arm. Whether he made a reaction to handball or not, we’re talking about a split second. I don’t think you can hang someone for murder when they just put their hand up. Manslaughter, maybe. It’s a reaction. and anyone in that situation would’ve done that. We could always say, ‘He celebrated after,’ and did all that. When there are 80,000 people in your country that are erupting as you made the World Cup, I’d like to see how many of us would tell everyone to sit down and actually hand him the ball. It’s the referee’s job.”
“It’s hypocritical. It’s a shame that that’s what happened. My family’s English (his parents moved to South Africa two years before he was born). In England and Ireland, you’re taught from a young age not to cheat, not to dive, not to do anything that would gain an unfair advantage. The English, and I’ll say, ‘We English,’ expect everyone to be that way but the truth is the rest of the world is taught to do the opposite. Get any advantage you can. For the English and Irish to turn around and hold everyone up to their standards is unrealistic.
source, image via daylife
I disagree with this part of his statement (the rest is pretty spot-on) “For the English and Irish to turn around and hold everyone up to their standards is unrealistic.”
I think it’s fair to hold everybody up to this light cause as it stands, the game of football isn’t about deciphing or cheating… it’s called FIFA “FAIRPLAY” rather than FIFA “unFAIRPLAY”. I’m hearing more and more people justifying cheating and I’m just mystified, sort of like diving has been institutionalized in the sport and I think that’s bullshit. I think getting fouled and embellishing to get the call isn’t that bad cause it was still a foul (but it gets murky when your intent is to get somebody booked/sent-off)… but diving un-touched is an absolute no-no in my books. I wouldn’t want things to degenerate to the point where it’s about getting away with as much as you can without getting caught.
Thank you steve nash for weighing in on this controversy. I greatly value your opinion of this matter. You have shed new light on Henry’s actions. The soccer world embraces its NBA ambassador. Please ask obama to ask FIFA to reverse their decision.
He is completely spot on. The ref gets paid to make these decisions. Why is everyone on Henry’s ass and not the referees? He is the one that didnt make the call.
FIFA Fairplay? Really? If you could win the World Cup or the FIFA Fairplay award, what would you pick? It’s a no brainer! The Fairplay award is like winning Miss Congeniality…or kissing your sister. Yeah it sucks that Ireland lost that way, but it’s over. I could easily see Mexico doing the same to the U.S. if it meant World Cup qualification. It will now go down in history as the “Other Hand of God” goal.