Legend to Villain?
During France’s friendly against Spain yesterday, the home crowd was booing Henry at every touch of the ball. According to many sources, this was in light of his obvious cheat-like behavior (shown below) against Ireland some months ago that caused an international buzz around the legendary gunner. As someone very perplexed by this truly bizarre situation, I must ask French fans – Why?? Why are the French, the one contingent who profited from his handball, mad at him? His act of cheating got them into the World Cup! Were it not for his handball, France would have not qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 30 years. I know that Henry’s handball was despicable, but the fact of the matter is, that handball resulted in the France’s qualification, as well as the press turning all their attention to him rather than criticising the deficiencies of Les Bleus. As far as I’m concerned, they owe him a lot at this point for 1) getting them in the world cup 2)enduring the crap that they would have had to deal with. At the very least, he doesn’t deserve boos from his own fans. I simply can’t understand fans who boo their all-time top scorer for doing something that saved their asses. Talk about biting the hand.
The Beautiful Game 
Mehul Roghanjesh
March 5, 2010 at 7:00 am
100% percent agreed. yes, that is really, really stupid. If an England striker handballed into a goal to put us through to s. africa, we wouldn’t respect his decision, but we would still defend him. those are some mindless fairies that..but no surprises there lads eh??? its the french after all.
Christophe
March 5, 2010 at 7:31 am
@mehul, don;t be like that, maybe the french care more about the morality of the game than the english who knows
@darreno, i believe many were booeing henry’s performance. His sitting at Barcalona has clearly been a waste of form and fitness. yes, many others did boo him for that reason that you wrote of, and as for that, i cannot say much. i dont agree with it, and clearly you do not either. such is football
ALLEZ FRANCE
March 5, 2010 at 7:53 am
I disagree with both of you. Mehul – it is up to us whether we decided to boo him or not. Like Christophe says, many were critical of Henry’s performance rather than his handballing incident. BUT, nonetheless, I have a right to boo him, as he is seasoned professional supposed to have a very clean image, and he is a role model to many children. How can someone who calls himself as a fair footballer do that, in a France shirt? Yes I’m relieved that we are in the world cup, but that does not make me proud of HOW we got into it. There IS a difference. Therfore, I have every right to make my mind about Theirry Henry known.
Darius
March 5, 2010 at 10:19 am
lol mehul rogan whatever not sure what the french did to your ppl. did france beat india in something? cricket? i agreee that there is no reason for french ppl to heckle henry. like the bloggmans said, he did you a big favor. bow to him france. bow low. i bet the irish wish robbie keane took the ball and hurled it into the back of the net.
Herve
March 6, 2010 at 2:01 am
I’m confused because having read many French sources, they said that Henry was cheered during the game, not booed. There was a poll done recently that showed Henry is the most popular French footballer in France.
Jeraldine Connaughton
March 9, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Wild Card for the World Cup is Portugal – You just never know. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for England
Alber Ahmad
March 10, 2010 at 6:07 am
im going to relate this to MJ…..michael jordan str8 up pushed bryon russel off for his game winning series winning chmpionship clinching jump shot in 1998….u dont see his home fans booing him….the thing is henry did wat anyone would do in the position….he was trying to win a game, and on top of that win a game that meant a lot….ny of us would take ANY MEANS neccasary to win a game….he didnt get caught he played on….as brad pitt would say in inglorious bastards…..we got a man here who wants to win for country…..OBLIGE HIM REFS….lol…