Why such strong reaction? Have you ever played soccer and handled the ball, accidentally or purposely? Have you ever dived to win a penalty? Have you ever over-simulated an injury to try and get a player sent off? If not, I doubt you have played soccer (or any other type of ball game) competitively before. IMHO, a reflex action to handle the ball (especially when the ball is coming in so fast) is far less severe than the other forms of cheating in football I have described. If you deem Henry to be a cheat...than what about someone who handles the ball to avoid a guaranteed goal? Off the top of my head, I can recall Kolo Toure and John Terry who have done this before in the BPL...are they also cheats? Rooney, Ronaldo, Torres, Pires....too many egs to list, have at one point or another dived to win penalties. These are not reflexes, but rather calculated efforts to fool the referee....aren't they more severe than what Henry did? Yes what Henry did is cheating...but why the over-reaction and the convenient ignorance of other many more examples of cheating in football?
