In the early hours of Thursday morning, basking in the afterglow of the 1-0 win over Italy, a familiar image flashed up on the television.
It was tuned to L’Equipe 21, the sports newspaper’s TV channel, and the studio full of pundits and journalists were discussing France’s next opponents.
The topic was the Republic of Ireland and the only place to start was Thierry Henry’s handball in Stade de France, back in 2009.
France are playing Ireland in Lyon because of a rather fantastic and dominant performance against Italy in Lille. However, the image that flashed up on the screen was that iconic photo of Henry using his hand to control the ball near the endline as Paul McShane looks for all the world like he is about to put a consoling arm around the then Barcelona forward’s shoulder.
It is no surprise that it was the only place for the French build-up to France-Ireland to start. But it hasn’t moved on.
Friday’s L’Equipe had three pages on the incident that occurred in the second leg of the play-off for the 2010 World Cup. That is more even than they dedicated to the darling Francais, Dmitri Payet, who seems to be the subject of a daily feature in the sports bible.
At Friday’s press conference in the Irish training base in Stade de Montbauron, the only question put to Roy Keane about Henry’s handball was asked by a French journalist.
It came at the end of a 26-minute press conference, just as the Ireland assistant manager was standing to leave. This reporter was not to be denied, shouting out, “One question in French”. He desperately wanted to get Keane’s opinion on the notion that most French people view this as a ‘Game of Revenge’ for Irish fans and players.
He might have expected short shrift from Keane, whose own views on the affair are very well known – his quote regarding Ireland’s dubious penalty against Georgia featuring in one of the four Henry stories in the paper.
Roy Keane deadbats question about Thierry Henry handball. "Revenge not in #IRL mentality". But wait for the eyebrows pic.twitter.com/kf9i26d25S
— Mikey Stafford (@me_stafford) June 24, 2016
While Alf Inge Haaland may be interested to hear Keane say that revenge is not in the Irish mentality, it does seem like the rest of Ireland now shares his indifference to the whole farrago.
Shane Long was asked the only other question about Henry at Friday’s press conference and that came from a UK-based journalist, who nodded at the handball sign on the wall of the converted gym as if to suggest it was impossible to escape the scandal.
Only because they are being asked about it by foreign journalists and Keane and Long now join Martin O’Neill and Robbie Keane in dismissing that November night as an irrelevance.
Fair play to @SkySportsNewsHQ who use this sign in press conference room to ask another Q about Henry handball #irl pic.twitter.com/7qM0goWFXQ
— Mikey Stafford (@me_stafford) June 24, 2016
“I will not think about that for one second. How long ago was it? Seven years. F—ing hell, move on,” said squad captain Keane in wake of Italy win.
The €5 million received from Fifa as compensation/hush money may have helped the healing process. On an article headlined “The price of silence: €5m”, L’Equipe describe the payment as another suspect act in the course of Sepp Blatter’s long and controversial tenure as Fifa president.
But the French do not want to be silent on Henry’s Handball as they consider silence the bedfellow of complicity and France, as a nation, has always tried to distance itself from what their most famous footballer of the post-Zidane era did that night in Saint-Denis.
From the moment French president Nicolas Sarkozy apologised to Brian Cowen and his finance minister Christine Lagarde called on Fifa to consider replays in such situations, it was clear official France was washing its hands of the handballer.
That France has always had a difficult relationship with Henry only magnified their shame. Their greatest exponent of le foot since Zidane, a World Cup and European Championship winner with Les Bleus, the former Arsenal man retired to London and now works for Sky Sports.
He could be doing punditry for TF1 or BeIn Sports this month but instead he is appearing on BBC.
The French and Henry never clicked, this was not a relationship that foundered on the rocks of 17th November 2009 but, rather, never left the port.
He never behaved like a quintessential Frenchman and preferred to spend his time in New York and London. The French fans disliked the fact he did not show great emotion when he scored – something he addressed when his statue was unveiled at the Emirates:
“I know some of the press used to kill me for not showing emotion – well, there you go, I am showing emotion for the club I love. Whatever I do, I do it with my heart, that is the way I am.”
However the French do not honour their footballers with statues. Apart from one notable exception, Adel Abdessemed’s portrayal of Zidane’s final act as a footballer, his headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final. That stood for a time outside the Centre George Pompidou in Paris before being bought by the Qatari Museum Authority.
Henry’s former Arsenal and France team-mate Emmanuel Petit was forced to apologise for stating that “hypocritical and cowardly” France might have been better run if the Germans had been successful in WWII. A massive overreaction to a friend not having the standing you would like in his native land, but an indicator of French attitudes to their sportsmen, and specifically their footballers.
They are rarely beloved public figures and, if they do not conform to the standards deemed acceptable, then they are never going to be celebrated.
Henry’s handball was far less heinous than the crimes Karim Benzema is accused of being complicit in. Ireland’s chances on Sunday are greatly increased by the Real Madrid man’s absence, enforced by his alleged involvement in a sex tape blackmail.
A French journalist told SportsJOE that Henry’s handball marked the beginning of the end of Henry’s relationship with the French public.
Their record goalscorer retired in the wake of the disastrous World Cup final appearance that was earned by his handball. Nicolas Anelka was sent home after a bust-up with manager Raynond Domenech that saw the then Chelsea striker shout, “Go f**k yourself, you son of a whore” at half-time of defeat to Mexico. Subsequently, Patrice Evra rowed with a coach and the team refused to leave their bus.
They went home disgraced, bottom of Group A with a single point.
Afterwards Henry sought a private audience with Sarkosy, which was seen by an already hostile public as a selfish and manipulative attempt to clear himself of any wrongdoing.
Not even presence of @conandoherty on today's paper review can lift the pallor of Brexit and French Henry obsessionhttps://t.co/RpVhmpiAO9
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 24, 2016
This attitude of hostility towards their footballers is still evident in Ireland’s opponents. It can be seen when Paul Pogba raises a defiant fist to the press box after a goal was scored against Albania – France’s most naturally gifted player railing against what he sees as unfair treatment in the media.
The pressure of hosting a first major tournament since a teenage Henry helped France win the 1998 World Cup could be a factor in Stade Olympique Lyonnais.
A gifted squad, respected manager, expectant media and demanding public all know what is at stake. Focusing on an incident from over six years ago helps deflect from the potential for disaster on French soil.
But most of all it allows the nation to distance themselves from the actions of one man the last time these two teams met.
Ireland have moved on, the price of their acquiescence €5m. But France continues to hold this priceless shame close like a comfort blanket. It separates them from the crime. It separates them from Henry.
