FIFA President Sepp Blatter has finally broken his silence on the Thierry Henry handball incident by admitting he called the French striker in the aftermath of the controversy and then blamed the referee for missing Henry's actions.
Blatter has been deathly silent since the World Cup play-off between France and the Republic of Ireland erupted in controversy almost two weeks ago, when Barcelona striker Henry controlled the ball with his hand before squaring for William Gallas to score and give the French a 2-1 aggregate win.
However, speaking to French newspaper L'Equipe, the Swiss admitted: 'I called Thierry, because he tried to get in touch with me. He was honest by admitting that he did use his hand, but it wasn't his responsibility to tell the referee.'
Henry has been criticised worldwide for his apparent cheating and lack of Fair Play, but Blatter showed some solidarity with Henry and refused to hold him accountable for his actions, instead choosing to blame Swedish referee Martin Hansson for not taking more 'time to reflect'.
He continued: 'When I was a centre forward in my junior team, I definitely gained an advantage by pulling a defender's jersey in order to score a goal. And I didn't go and see the referee to tell him about it.
'In the specific case of the Henry handball, the referee should have taken the time to reflect rather than immediately awarding the goal.'
Blatter's comments and failure to condemn Henry for his part in the incident will surely give John Delaney and the FAI food for thought ahead of the extraordinary meeting of FIFA's executive committee, which will take place in Cape Town on Wednesday.
