Is Cheating Ever Justified?
Is cheating ever justified?
The captain of France Thierry Henry admitted last night that he handled the ball in the build-up to the goal that put the Republic of Ireland out of the World Cup.
Henry handled twice, squared the ball for William Gallas who scored France's extra-time goal. This gave them a 2-1 aggregate win and safe passage to the finals in South Africa next summer.
Matt in Highgate texted us this morning to say while it's very sad for the Irish fans and team, Thierry Henry did what any other player would have done to get his team to the World Cup Finals.
Do you agree? On the phone in from 9 this morning - is cheating ever justified? Have you ever cheated? Do you think you had a good enough reason? Or do you think any dishonesty is a disgrace?
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Comments
Cheating aside or incompetence of officials which this evidently is, what is galling is the soviet nature of the UEFA and FIFA websites which have deleted from history the handball by Henry which he has admitted to.
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Thierry Henry is a professional footballer and professional footballers do their best to influence officials throughout a game. Last night's incident demonstrated results are everything in professional sport. It was very poor sportsmanship by Henry since he handled twice and on the second occasion clearly patted the ball to control it. He cheated and he has to live with that. Was it so bad that he should be banned? Who knows?
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For heavens sake! You've already discussed this same topic several times on phone-in's. Every time a footballer cheats is it going to wipe out far more important economic and social issues that need discussing. For example all the pomp and pageantry accompanying the Queens Speech yesterday fully underlined there's not a bit of difference between any of the mainstream parties today. If anything its cheating by the media not to discuss that political crisis!
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Are you disillusioned by last nights Henry - Handball incident, and also there were two French players clearly offside when the free kick was taken which led to the disputed Goal ? The Assistant Referee on both occasions could not have been in a better position to see these incidents.
Let FIFA know how you feel - The match should be replayed and Henry should be disciplined for cheating.
http://www.fifa.com/contact/validate.htmx
Is there any real difference between taking performance enhancing drugs to gain an unfair advantage in football or deliberately controlling the ball with your hand to gain an unfair advantage in football ?
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL ON - JUSTICE IN FOOTBALL TO A FAIR AND COURAGEUOS IRELAND PERFORMANCE !
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The time has come for "cited events" from any of the participants, to be reviewed by video review boards at Premiership, UEFA and FIFA levels. Retrospective bans and fines from such video review boards would soon limit cheating and unsporting behaviour.
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Sports such as football that don't punish retrospectively will always encourage cheating by its participants.
He cheated and nothing will happen to him.
Tiger Woods (fellow Gillette advert man) knows that his career and reputation would be ruined if he cheated because the culture of honesty and honour are part of the fabric of golf and snooker and still to a large extent cricket...etc
Footballers are in the same position as school bullies, the authorities talk a good game but ultimately do nothing to stop their cheating and bullying...therefore perpetuating the perceived reality that only mugs play by the rules.
Very very Sad. FIFA should be ashamed. I thought that apart from that incident, an offside was also missed, the officials had a very good game.
Dermot Brighton
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I agree with Nick Vinehill.
But on this, Henry has to live with himself. I think personal integrity is almost the most important thing in my life and no amount of money or status or fame would make me feel any different. Henry leaves a putrifying stench of personal corruption and anyone who excuses him and his behaviour is as bad.
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And I thought the famous système D was a specifically French sport! Having lived in France for over thirty years, and taught for fifteen in a French lycée, I'm painfully aware that cheating is not the cover operation that I remember in (long distant) school days in the UK. And, inevitably, I have become accustomed to more flexible attitudes on the subject. A bit sad though to see such flexibility has crossed the Channel. Or is it just British pragmatism?
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Why is it that yellow and red cards can be rescind using cameras, yet cheating still happens and is admitted by Henry. FIFA should analyse the footage for confirmation and remove France from The World Cup next year. There is no need for a replay, by allowing a replay that means you can cheat and get still get another chance.
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Just after hearing henrys excuse for the goal says the :ball hit his arm ?and he told the ref about it. he is pathetic.whatever respect i had for him has gone he has cheated france has cheated the officals have cheated fifa has cheated it is a farce
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I disagree with Graham Poll: Henry, like any other player, should now be subject to retroactive judgement. The ref did his best but missed this key incident. However, ther est of the world did not miss it and UEFA should now have the stones to charge Henry with deliberate hand-ball: his arm made two movements and he bent it to cushion the path of the ball. Whether his first action was initially instinctive or not is irrelevant as he made a second movement.
If UEFA were serious about Fair Play, they would charge him even if it meant that Henry might miss at least some of the World Cup if not all of it. To let him travel to South Africa free of a UEFA sanction means the organisation is tacitly approving what happened last night.
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Cheating is never acceptable to people of integrity but it is often rewarded.
Henry can look forward to a world cup in South Africa and financial gain.
France will not be removed from the World Cup as some of the writers have suggested, as FIFA clearly hoped that the French , as one of the "big" football nations, would be there alomg with Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina etc.
Ireland have been hard done by certainly and I detest what Henry has done, just as I despised Maradona for his cheating. But I witnessed a pub full of Irish people applauding and cheering Maradona when he scored "the hand of god" goal for Argentina that robbed England of possibly winning the Cup in 1986. Perhaps what goes around comes around but I still feel deeply sorry for the Irish team who performed very well and probably deserved to be going to the finals next year.
Unless they bring in the video referee system similar to rugby, this sort of thing will continue; one should perhaps consider the reasons why FIFA doea not wish to do so.
Had such a system existed, France would probably not be at the next World Cup.
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frankobserver - I was thinking about that Hand of God incident earlier and comparing the reaction to that to Henri's double handling.
Most English football fans are aghast at the handball not being seen and feel Ireland have been hard done by.
Yet if it had been England I suspect the reaction would have been slightly different...
I really feel for the Republic and their fans; although, of course, even if Gallas's goal had been disallowed there was still no guarantee that the Republic would have progressed - still a little matter of having to score again or having to go through extra time and winning the penalty shoot-out.
It's a horrible feeling when you feel your team has been cheated; as a Chelsea fan I compare it to the infamous 2nd leg of the CL semi-final against Barcelona last season when three blatant and a 4th probable penalties were not awarded to Chelsea and they went out.
Nick Vinehill - 5 Live is a News and Sports station therefore items like this will be covered and discussed.
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Comment No. 1: Agree with you. Blatter obviously got the seeded team(s) he wanted and UEFA is run by a Frenchman...
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Fair play, integrity, honesty ... the words keep coming up in the comments on air and in the blog. Is this not what we want our children to learn from their parents and the public role models. I listened to a story told by a proud father to Nikki this morning where he stated how proud he was when his 13 year old son owned up to handling the ball into the net. The kid was applauded by both teams and officials for his honesty. The message to our children from last night's incident is that and one must win ... at any cost?
Thierry Henry is one of three Champions being presented by Gillette in their advertising campaign as a clean cut role model. Thierry's own words on the Gillette website of his affinity to the Champions programme:
"As an athlete who depends on my teammates every week, I recognize the importance of working together toward a common goal. Being a champion is much more than holding a trophy or receiving a medal — a champion stands up for what is right and encourages others to do the same. I am a part of the Gillette Champions program because I want to encourage others to be the best they can, not only during the game, but also in life."
Great words Thierry, a pity you couldn't match them last night.
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Why is this even being discussed at all, just how many Irish sympathisers or those with Irish connections work in the BBC or to be more concise in 5 live. We have a small nation of our flanks populated with a race of people and form of government which tacitly supported those killing and blowing us up for 40 and where even now the people seem to despise the English and where to be honest if an English team had been beaten in the same way would be glorying in it, shouting to the rafters in glee. Think back to the Falklands where the Irish stabbed us in the back and the French supported us.
This is matter between to foreign European countries with different languages and cultures, just why is the mighty BBC running a chat show on it, to much Irish influence in the BBC methinks, so they lost, hard luck, move on, lets concentrate on our home team not a foreign one.
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So on the day after the Queen's Speech, 5 live have decreed that the phone in should be about a dispute between two foreign football teams. No wonder they closed the 5 live messageboards - at least there we could discuss the real issues of the day.
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Yes Sarnia I know 5 Live is a News and Sports station. My point was why this issue on the main Phone-in programme AGAIN!
It was covered again for a good thirty minutes on Victoria Derbyshire's programme. That was all that was needed in the first place along with the occasional caller throughout.
On the subject: Cheating is endemic in all walks of life particularly in a society conditioned by money and greed. If politicians, industrialists, bankers etc cheat their own system and not held to account then its hardly surprising when footballers cheat!
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Ref 18: Exactly Stirling. Perhaps another issue that should be discussed yet unfortunately hasn't is the issue of the recently disclosed salary details of top BBC executives. A mere £20 million at the last count according to today's 'elated' Daily Torygraph which will obviously exploit the figures to fling more dirt at the BBC.
Maybe the discussion could then extend to examining the salaries of the editors and presenters etc.
Unless the embattled BBC 'faithfull' are allowed to ask real questions that bring the BBC to account then the likes of the Torygraph will do a better job!
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Maybe Nick it was on the phone-in again (do you mean repeated on VD's show?) because they're different programmes?
It's not a one-off by the way. Quite often the same topic is covered on the Breakfast phone-in and then in a shorter slot on VD's programme. Political 'stories' and Sports 'stories'.
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Cheating in sports should never be justified. For one if you're a professional athlete you play in front of millions of people and if you cheat your pretty much showing the young people that look up to you that its ok to break the rules in order to win.
If you have to break the rules to win then you have no place in sports.
If you cant compete in a sport against similar players of your size and skill then you should leave the game. Cheating is no way acceptable in my opinion.
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