woman holding yellow and red cards

Thierry Henry


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Well I said when I started this blog that it would be updated once a week, possibly with two subjects, one topical and one in depth but I doubt theres an Irishman on the planet who doesnt have a word to say about Thierry Henry. Let me start by adding some good words about Thierry Henry. I think hes one of the coolest mofos on the planet, not a title I give out willy nilly, just watching him play for Arsenal was watching poetry in motion, lots of Va Va Voom and Je Ne Sais Quoi.Of course that was before last Wednesday and now hes just a dirty cheating .
Now as with most people I would like to think what I would do in the same situation but I do realise that what we do do when faced with a certain set of circumstances aint necessarily what we would like to do or should do. I’ve played football (mainly as a goalkeeper) and I’ve told the ref when I’ve tipped the ball over the bar for a corner when hes asked, then again I’ve also threw myself on top of a ball as its crossed the line so as to hide it from the ref and then stand up as if I’ve stopped it on the line. Problem with me though is that Im pretty much an honest sod and if asked I wouldve told the truth. Its because of no sense of goodness or maybe it is but if I lie my face goes red and I could never be sure the ref didnt see it and was asking to send me off for unsportsmanslike conduct! 😉

The France Ireland game is over, France are going to the world cup, noone in their right mind is going to jeopardise the financial windfall a place in the World Cup will bring to a nation particularly in the middle of a recession. Its time to suck it up, take it on the chin, boycott Gillette until they dump Henry and dont buy any Renault Clios in Ireland. Of course I’ve never had any intention of buying a Renault Clio and indeed would not like to see the Renault company or any car dealership in Ireland suffer financially (particularly as I was a photo tutor for their Renault Experiences programme ;-)) but in this day in age of Mega sponsorship, any player should be clean cut (if you excuse the expression). This is where Thierry Henry will and should be hit hard. Hes a cheat. End of. I know I’ve bought my last Gillette razor and shaving gel and I know others who feel the same.
I cant really tell anyone to ‘get over it’ without mentioning the other clown of the week, Roy Keane. I agreed with a lot of what Roy Keane said but can I just say that I spent every last penny I had in 2002, after having had a horrendous year, to go to the World Cup in Japan. People have called Keane a judas and a traitor but who am I to argue, theres the old saying about the name on the front being more important than the name on the back and Keane should have remembered this. How many kids out there dream of pulling on their nations jersey and stepping out onto the turf at a World Cup. Now how many actually get the chance?
Of course before the tournament in 2002 I’d made arrangements with a major tv company to follow me and my mate Des around Japan and when the Keane thing blew up they disappeared off to Japan to cover that instead. Ah who needs the loan of an expenses account anyway 😉
Sorry Roy, you had a fight with the FAI 7 years ago, build a bridge and get over it.

So what on earth has any of this to do with photography?
Well about 6 years ago I did a craft fair to help out raise money for my nephews school. Its the one and only of these that I’ve ever done because it was for charity and at my own cost. I did out a few framed photos, footballers, ice hockey players, scenery, that sort of thing and put them up for reasonable prices. One young lad came up to me and had a look through all the primarily Northern and Republic of Ireland footballers then stood around with that ‘talk to me’ look that only 10 year old boys have when they are too scared to talk to the scary man behind the desk.
‘Can I help you’
‘Yes Mister, is that all the football photos you have?’
‘No, I have other players, who are you looking for?’
‘Thierry Henry.’
‘Sorry son, I dont have a premiership license so I dont have any photos of Arsenal.’
‘Ahh ok, hes brilliant, Ive posters of him all around my room, if you get any let me know.’
‘Ok I will’.
I wonder if he thinks the same now?

On another photography related note when I do training courses or just in general people ask various photography questions. Different audiences ask different things, can you photoshop a third eye into the middle of my head (nursery and primary school photo training) – yes, who is most famous person you have photographed – Russell Crowe? Mel Gibson? and whats the most you have got for one picture -10,000 dollars.
All of the answers above usually get a wow from the respective audiences and people ask what type of photo gets the most money. I usually answer that if I knew that I wouldnt be talking to them, writing a blog on a cold wet rainy night in Northern Ireland but I would be buying all my new friends a drink on a beach in the Carribean.
I’ll tell you one thing though, if youd got a clean frame of that handball incident by Henry you would be eagerly awaiting your monthly agency statement.

Oh and I’ll take which photo earned 10k to my grave with me 😉


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