Officials in football have been known to make mistakes, and have been known to miss calls. Very rarely will a moment occur in which an official misses a case of blatant cheating during as high stakes of a game that occurred between the Republic of Ireland and France on 18 November 2009. Such was the fate of Swedish official Martin Hansson when he missed French forward Thierry Henry’s blatant double handball in the build-up to France’s decisive goal which knocked Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup.
Hansson
“After the game, we were sitting in the dressing room and I cried. I realized what a mistake it was.”
Henry
“Obviously I would have preferred that things panned out differently but I am not the official.”
Press reaction to Henry was scorching.
For qualification into the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Republic of Ireland and France played a two-legged play-off to determine who would advance. The first match occured in Dublin on 14 November 2009 and finished with France ahead 1-0. Thanks to a Robbie Keane goal for Ireland, it looked like the Irish were to force penalty kicks in the second leg on 18 November 2009 Paris at the Stade de France.
That changed in the 103rd minute of extra time. Florent Malouda lofted a free kick towards Henry who was making a run into the penalty area. As the ball bounced to Henry, he hanlded it once with his left hand to stop it from going out of play, and a second time to bring it under control. He then passed it to William Gallas who headed the winning goal past Irish keeper Shay Given.
The Irish were outraged, with cries of “cheat” hurled from all directions of the football world at Henry. The player himself admitted to his cheat.
Henry
“I will be honest, it was a handball. But I’m not the ref. I played it, the ref allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.”
For match official Hansson he learned only after the game what both he and his sideline officials had missed, as later forensic investigation would show that there was no possible way for any of the on field officials to see Henry act of cheating.
Hansson
“For me, it was a goal. Afterwards I realised it was a bad situation.”
Hansson would find his entire life under siege in the aftermath, while Henry would feel the affects as well.
Hansson
“The media was in my small village at home. They took photos of my parents’ house, they were knocking on my neighbours’ doors in the middle of the night…Football is very, very emotional. It should be very emotional, but there must always be a limit.”
Henry
“Naturally I feel embarrassed at the way that we won and feel extremely sorry for the Irish who definitely deserve to be in South Africa.”
Hansson
“I asked myself if this job is worth all the humiliation I had to face. Thoughts like, ‘Is this really what I want?’ also came up in my head.”
Henry
“[I contemplated retirement because] After the game, and even for the next two days, I felt alone, truly alone.
Hansson
“I now realise after all the support I’ve got, that it wasn’t my fault. It was an unlucky situation with big consequences for Ireland. But it wasn’t our referee team’s fault.”
Henry
“I shouldn’t have done that, but quite honestly it was just out of my control,”
FIFA also found itself under intense worldwide pressure, and even possible legal action by the Irish as FIFA chief Sepp Blatter had been found laughing at the Irish’s situation. All action by the Football Association of Ireland was forgone, however, when FIFA paid the FAI roughly €5m in a move some have associated with a bribe.
For Hansson, he would find himself in the FIFA doghouse as while he was called up to officiate at the 2010 World Cup in South America, he and his team were never used. It was suggested this was punishment for the blown call.
Hansson
“I don’t know. It’s up to others to answer than question.”
Hansson would retire from being a match official in 2009 to his native Sweden. Henry would continue to win titles with both Barcelona and the New York Red Bulls before retiring in December of 2014.
Henry
[On if the incident blemish his career] “Quite honestly no. I don’t think that all I have achieved in my career up until now will be bespoiled by this.”
For a great read on the history of Irish football, check out Green Is the Colour: The Story of Irish Football by Peter Byrne.