Henry Winter

Wayne Rooney, the war buff

[Getty Images] 
issue 27 April 2024

I blame Thierry Henry and I never blame Thierry for anything. He’s funny, charming and was a majestic footballer. But it was his outrageous handball assist for a France goal against the Republic of Ireland in 2009 that ushered in VAR – Video Assistant Referee – technology to rescue on-field refs from ‘clear and obvious’ errors. VAR was meant to end debates over refereeing decisions. Yet this form of VAR, usually a man in a ref’s outfit sitting behind a bank of screens in an industrial unit near Heathrow, has caused carnage in the Premier League. Some decisions take five minutes while fans chant obscenities. Football’s many Luddites blame the technology but it’s really human incompetence. We need to improve the operatives, not scrap the machinery.

My daughter lives in Paris, Henry’s home city, where headlines are full of foreboding about the forthcoming Olympics. Roadworks everywhere. Metro fares almost doubling. The French have a particular issue with the official mascot based on the famous triangular Phrygian cap and the slogan – ‘Let’s drive a revolution through sport!’ Yet there’s a rhythm with tournaments: delight at winning the hosting rights, dismay at the costs and congestion.

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