Swedish ref considered quitting

Hansson: In the eye of the storm

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The referee at the centre of the Thierry Henry handball controversy says he considered a career change following a storm of criticism.

Swede Martin Hansson failed to spot Henry's now infamous handball as France secured their spot at the 2010 World Cup at the expense of Republic of Ireland.

Henry twice handled the ball before laying on William Gallas' leveller in Paris, which secured France a 2-1 aggregate success.

The incident has dominated the back pages over the past week and Hansson, who has been widely criticised despite an otherwise excellent performance on the night, admits he weighed up whether to hang up his whistle.

"I thought: Is the job really worth all this degradation that I have to hear?" he told Swedish newspaper Sydostran. "Maybe this is not my thing."

Nonsense

Sweden Football Association chairman Ake Lagrell has backed his compatriot and rubbished talk of a possible replay; a notion championed by Henry.

"That's nonsense and total bulls*** and Henry knows it," he told Aftonbladet.

"It would be devastating for football if the game was to be replayed due to a wrong ruling.

"It would be total chaos. As soon as something controversial happens there would be a discussion.

"A football match cannot be replayed due to a wrong decision by the referee."

Lagrell feels Henry's offer to play the game again was nothing but a cheap attempt to curry favour after having his previously unblemished reputation sullied by the incident.

"All that has been said is in order to score cheap points and it was probably not a bad way of gaining sympathy."