Henry handball debate rages on 

Source: ReutersFrance's Thierry Henry

It isn't the first, and it surely won't be the last - but Thierry Henry's doubly deliberate 'Hand of Frog' has stirred up heated debate in the sporting world.

Ireland rightly feel aggrieved and have launched an official appeal to replay the match, apparently citing the Uzbekistan Bahrain 2005 World Cup qualifier as a precedent. That game was replayed, but solely because the referee had made a technical error. In other words, he didn't know the rules. Much as I wanted the French out, a replay is not going to happen on this occasion - and nor should it.

The referee in question Martin Hanssen of Sweden has been banned for six months, and so hopefully has his accomplice assistant in this debacle. Not only did Henry handle the ball twice blatantly, but two French players were clearly offside in the pass leading up to the incident. The flag man has firstly overlooked this and then, with a better angle than the ref, missed Henry's antics, too. Mr Hanssen's view was probably obscured by the massed bodies in the box - but one has to wonder just what the assistant referee was doing for those few important seconds. Didn't he see anything wrong?

Truly, it is a horrible injustice, but FIFA won't ever sanction a replay as this would be a most dangerous example to set. If it were to happen, then, in the extreme, couldn't England retrospectively demand a replay of the 1986 'Hand of God' match. Couldn't Spain rightly ask for their fiasco of a match versus South Korea in 2002 to be rescheduled? There are countless matches that were decided in controversial circumstances and replaying them is not an option. Nonetheless, does that mean we just have to accept blatant acts of gamesmanship as a pervasive part of the modern game?

Of course, in the usual knee jerk reaction, the clamour for video evidence to be used has started again, but my first thought was that if Platini's extra officials behind the goal experiment had been extended to the play-offs by FIFA, then surely this extra pair of eyes, so close to the action, would have spotted the handball offence. Only the Europa League utilises the system at the moment and early feedback is positive.

In the meantime, what happens to Ireland and France? With passions running high any number of outcomes have been mooted. Is Henry a cheat? Would other players do it? Damn right they would for such big stakes - it was good to hear Ireland's Damien Duff put some perspective on it by saying as much himself. As a professional you try what you can, it is up to the officials to do their job. I'm sure Henry fully expected to be pulled up for it and receive a caution, but when it didn't come, he just went with the flow.

However, that doesn't mean FIFA should turn a blind eye to the offender. The watching world must be given a sign that fair play is being not only promoted but also excessed, so it is FIFA's right to punish Henry and the French. Obviously, the whole French team can't be withdrawn from the World Cup, or can they? Wouldn't that send a magnificent loud message to all would be tricksters and cheats that they risk an overturning of the result if proven to be gaining an unfair victory. For me, that would be the clearest message to all that FIFA do truly believe in 'fair play'.

Back in the real world, much more likely, is some kind of match ban for Thierry Henry. Whatever the powers that be decide, it must be seen to address the ill that mars the spectacle and clearly demonstrate to all that 'cheats never prosper'. The sad truth in modern football is that all too often they do!

As a footnote, credit should go to the Irish contingent on the pitch for making their case, but for also getting on with the game once it was clear that the ref was unmoved to change his mind. I envisage that at some point in the near future such a similar injustice will occur against a far more volatile nation, and those players will flatly refuse to restart the game. In such circumstances they will delay, and delay, until some helpful outside agent with access to 'unofficial' video footage lets the man with the whistle know he has made a faux pas. The ball is in FIFA's court now.

Will justice be done?