New Delhi: If anyone doubted the Beautiful Game's ability to conjure up ugly moments, they will be forced to change their mind after one reared its ugly head at the Stade de France. French captain Thierry Henry's double handball teed up the ticket to the 2010 World Cup for France, but left Ireland nursing bitter feelings of regret and recrimination.
So is Henry an insincere cheat?
This is what happened: The ball drops tantalisingly close, but just out of range of Henry's feet, so he stuck his hand out to get it back in his control. And then he smuggled it back for William Gallas to bang it in and send France to the World Cup finals - leaving the Irish manager - Giovanni Trapattoni - livid.
Trapattoni said, "It's not easy to accept this, especially for the fair play because we speak many times about fair play. It's not like fair play just came in two-three months ago and so the rules were changed. I think about me going to schools to speak about fair play in sports. Many times I speak with young children about sports. This is an important lesson for their life."
Meanwhile, Henry pleaded his reputation saying: "I will be honest, it was a handball. But I am not the ref. I played it. The ref allowed it. That's a question you should ask him."
But it isn't only the devious Frenchman who has brought shame on the game. Diego Maradona earned scorn from the entire sporting world when he foxed England and Peter Shilton to score with what he called was the "Hand of God".
Like Maradona, Henry is a legend by himself, but for all his magic on the field, he will surely feel tainted by his "Hand of Gaul" act.
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