Top five sports controversies of the ‘00s

By Kyle Benning [Contributor]

5.  The Hand of Henry- November 2009

Even though this event is the most recent, it is arguably one of the most controversial moments in sporting history.  France and Republic of Ireland were set to play each other in a play-off match with the winner going to this summer’s World Cup.  The first leg in Ireland ended with France winning 1-0, so Ireland needed to win this match in order for survival.  And it happened, after 90 minutes of soccer in Paris, the Irish were up 1-0 and the match went into extra time.  But just before the first period of extra time was over, France scored a goal which was smothered with controversy.

First of all, France’s goal started from a free kick and when the ball was played into the box, there were a few players offside.  Second, the ball clearly was handled by Thierry Henry twice before he passed it to William Gallas.  It was dissapointing for Ireland who played an amazing match and probably deserved to go to the World Cup.

4. Patriotism in the Olympics – February 2002

We all know that the 2002 Winter Olympics were huge for Canadian hockey as both the mens and womens teams won gold.  Funny enough, both teams had to beat the US in order to get the gold.  But the woman had it a little tougher than the men did.  The referee for this game was American, which was a little wierd, but no one thought anything of it as the games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah.  But the Canadian women were accused of committing 13 penalties throughout the game, which is ridiculous.  This includes having to kill two five-on-threes in the first period.  However, the Canadian women got the job done even if there was a little bit of cheating happening.

3. The NHL Lockout- July 2003

One of the quietest years in Canadian sports was during the NHL Lockout of the 2003-2004 season.  Canadian sports fans were forced to watch the CFL or the Toronto Raptors and Blue Jays.  Yes it was a very sad year indeed.  I can’t speak for the rest of you, but personally, the Lockout made me lose interest in watching hockey on TV.  Since it came to an end, I have only watched hockey during the post-season when the games start getting a little more interesting.  But I have to thank Gary Bettman because if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have watched as many sports as I do now, but there’s no hockey for me.

02 How Much for the Call? – May 2006

The Italian Series A has always been known for players diving and trying to convince the referees of very light fouls.  But they didn’t really have much convincing to do in the first half of this decade.  Five of the major Italian teams were caught in match-fixing scandals.  This included the champions that year Juventus and other top teams like AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina.  All of theses teams were relegated to Serie B and some were even given point deductions to start the following season.  I still can’t understand why teams that finished so high in the standings needed to cheat.

01 Rigged Super Bowl- February 2006

One of the best quotes in sports history was said after this championship match between the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburg Steelers.  Seattle’s head coach Mike Holmgren said “I didn’t know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well.” Some of the calls included a Darrell Jackson touchdown being disallowed because his hand grazed the defenders chest and a Ben Rothlisburger touchdown when he clearly didn’t break the plain.  A Seattle radio station was so upset by the officiating that they made a large poster and put it up in downtown Seattle.  It had a picture of the referee and said, “Mr. Referee, next time please kiss us before you $#@! us.”