Handball will haunt you: Bruce

Nov 22 2009 by James Hunter, Sunday Sun

He said: “Possibly all of us would have done it. Is it cheating or is it fair game? It’s really hard to call.

“If one of our players had done it and stuck the ball in the net and it had earned us a European place, what would we be saying? ‘You naughty boy - you’re a cheat?’ Or would we be patting him on the back and saying ‘well done son’. It’s so hard.”

Henry’s handball was clearly seen on TV replays within seconds of the incident, and that has led to renewed calls for technology to be made available to referees in such cases.

Bruce agrees, saying: “For me, surely it is time for us to bring in technology now.

“That would have cleared the incident up in 10 seconds and we would all have known what had happened.

“It would have been a free-kick for handball and we could all have got on with the game.

“These big decisions that we all dispute – was it a goal; was it over the line; was it a penalty - we could make sure they are right and stop the mistakes.

“We’ve changed the rules before, why not now?”