Sense of fair play often lost in the heat of battle, admits Simpson
Nov 20 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
DANNY Simpson shared the sense of injustice felt by fellow Old Trafford graduates Darron Gibson and Paul McShane after Ireland’s heartbreaking World Cup exit – but he still reckons most footballers would follow Thierry Henry’s lead.
The on-loan Newcastle United defender sent his commiserations to Gibson after witnessing Henry knock the brave Irish out with a “blatant” handball, and admits that France’s victory was tainted by the striker’s unsavoury gamesmanship.
But he stopped short of saying that he would never replicate Henry’s act, admitting that sportsmen can lose their sense of fair play in the heat of the moment.
Faced with the prospect of a nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out and even an unthinkable elimination in the qualifying stages, Henry’s decision to manipulate the ball with his hand before deftly chipping into the path of William Gallas has attracted howls of condemnation from those still clinging to football’s Corinthian ideals. Simpson understands the outcry, but feels that when the stakes are as high as a place at the World Cup, it is impossible to predict how you would react when faced with a similar situation.
