Seriously??

I read on soccernet.com and just watched Around the Horn in which they talked about a possible punishment for Thierry Henry on his hand-ball. Now I know everyone has talked about this for a couple of weeks now but I believe I should put my two cents in here because I like Henry, even though he plays for Barcelona and all. He has always been a cool footballer that I enjoyed watching on the pitch.

I am wondering how FIFA continue to get things wrong. Let's see, Thierry apologized, he was very contrite about what happened in fact he even said that he would be in favor of a replay. And yet FIFA would rather punish him than the people who really got it wrong. Making him a scapegoat because of your refereeing mistake will not make the problem go away. I can understand punishing those who dive, or yeah use their hands to gain an unfair advantage but he's already apologized and done everything that someone who knows they cheated should do. If they throw Henry under the bus then it is just going to make people increase the death threats that he and his family are getting.

I've already started my personal war against protecting footballing referees and I believe that this is a solid reason why. The linesman missed at least two or three players offsides. And you can't forget the double hand-ball that has gain worldwide recognition. How on earth can you miss that? And I still haven't heard any punishment for the referees. They should be banished from the World Cup, you think that it would be devastated for them to miss World Cup games and not Henry. If Henry misses at least one game then it would most definitely hinder France's opportunity of advancing to the World Cup final stages.

I've thought about this and I believe that a video replay would do wonders for Soccer. People would like to say that it would waste time. It would only take about 30 to 45 seconds. You can get the fourth official to see the play in question and flag the referee and tell him that he has made a mistake and give it a second look. That is just me.

FIFA stop your unnecessary protection of referees if they are wrong. I don't just want to hear that they are wrong. I want you guys to do something about it. Ban them for a game or two. If Henry claimed that he did nothing wrong then I would be all for punishing him but leave the guy alone, he's done more in his career than any of you suits have ever done.