Anglophile French footballer Thierry Henry, who plays for London team Arsenal and has a British wife and daughter, says that the British are more tolerant of race and religion than almost every other country
Henry said this week that he will never go to Barcelona and wants to stay at his beloved Arsenal for the rest of his career.
Thierry on tolerant Britain
Tommy Gunner ... Thierry at the Hilfiger launch bash
Pictures: DAVE HOGAN and FRANK COPPI
By DOMINIC MOHAN
December 07, 2006
THIERRY Henry reckons Britain is one of the most tolerant nations on earth and marvels at this country’s attitudes to race and religion.
The Arsenal striker believes that an individual’s right to display religious symbols such as crucifixes, turbans and veils at work here means that we are more accepting of other cultures.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Frenchman Thierry says: “Sometimes you just need to accept other people’s thoughts, desires or religion.
“In France, it is different. I won’t say whether France is more or less racist than England but what I like here is that you see someone coming from India working with a turban on.
“People here accept the religion of others. In France it wouldn’t be possible for someone to work like that. It is a different approach.”
Exclusive interview ... Sun man Dominic with Henry. Henry feels there is much less racism in British football than there is in France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe.
Thierry is one of the most articulate and intelligent footballers you’ll meet. I’ve yet to see him staggering around trolleyed at a showbiz party, exposing his genitalia to all, then depositing them in a glass of white wine while puffing on a large cigar (I have witnessed one Premiership footballer doing exactly this.)
He’s also putting his ample fortune where his mouth is and has undertaken a venture that none of his peers has had the vision — or decency — to do.
Thierry, 29, has set up his One 4 All Foundation (1, 4? Thierry’s shirt number — geddit?) which will raise money for underprivileged children around the world.
He has tied that in with becoming the face of fashionista Tommy Hilfiger’s label and all proceeds from a newly-designed collection will go to the Foundation.
He wants to pump money into neglected areas of London, France and, hopefully, Africa.
As we talk at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, Thierry says another of the Foundation’s aims is to try to stamp out racism.
When I ask if he feels racism still exists in football, he says: “Yes. I didn’t hear about it for a very long time but I think, yes, it’s come back.
“Sometimes I hear stuff about other players and see some things. Not here in particular but away, in other leagues.
“You can’t let yourself feel depressed but you need to try and do something about it.”
Shooting star ... Thierry in action for London Arsenal, the team he loves most of all and where he wants to spend the rest of his career
Thierry’s tough upbringing on a council estate in urban Les Ulis, on the outskirts of Paris, is never far from his thoughts. He says: “Being the first to do this is not important, I just feel the need to do it. It’s inside me.
“At the beginning of your career, you want to make your name, to build yourself.
“But then you need to give back and create a better environment for children — not just my daughter — to grow up. For everybody.”
Les Ulis is 20 miles south west of the Eiffel Tower, a 1970s satellite town, built for immigrant African and Caribbean workers.
They, like Thierry’s own parents — Antoine, from Guadeloupe, and Maryse, from Martinique — came to France seeking a better life.
Half of its 28,000 inhabitants are from ethnic minorities but when some of the rougher parts of Paris recently burned during riots, Les Ulis escaped unscathed.
It’s a long way from the smart home in Hampstead, North London, which he shares with British model wife Nicole, and one-year-old daughter Tea.
He says: “Growing up it didn’t feel poor at the time — it was all I knew. I had the chance to have good education, good parents and some good facilities around me, somewhere where you can play football and basketball.
“To have places like that is important so you don’t go away and do bad stuff.
“Sport is a great way of channelling aggression. You have to follow your head and your heart and if you’re going to explode it’s best to do it on a field somewhere than doing anything bad.
In my neighbourhood, everyone came from everywhere — France, Spain, Africa — so I didn’t notice any racism.
“But when I started to move out of my neighbourhood I noticed people would look at me with an eye, like what are you doing here?
“That’s when you start to notice that maybe people feel you’re not like them. It was a bit weird. In England I haven’t noticed that racism but it is obviously very different when you’re famous.
“If any child is reading this who is being racially abused I would say they should rise above it and not get into an argument about it.
“I know it is not easy. Try to talk to someone about it and make that person look bad. But you can’t go around to people’s houses and re-educate them.
“At home, you don’t know what people say. It’s difficult. You try to make someone understand something and they just go home and hear stuff they shouldn’t be hearing.”
It’s been a strained week for Thierry. He has been sidelined with a sciatic nerve problem that could lead him to face up to six weeks on the sidelines and unfounded speculation of a dispute with manager Arsene Wenger.
Ace ... Henry at 14, ringed, and the pitch in his home town
But he is clearly distraught that he will be missing Sunday’s clash with Chelsea and says: “Don’t talk to me about that game. I so wish I was playing and I can’t go because it’s at Chelsea.
“It’s different at the Emirates because I am with Arsenal fans. But I can’t be sitting in with all the Chelsea fans, can I? I’d get so much stick.”
So what does he see himself doing once he’s hung up the No14 shirt for good?
He says: “I think I’ll always stay around football. But management is different — you’re still under pressure and sometimes you have great managers who never played or they never had a great career.
“But sometimes if you’ve had a great career, being a manager can be tricky.
“I don’t know if I could handle it. Being a manager is so much pressure.”
But I don’t doubt for one moment that he’ll be a success, whatever he ends up doing.
Henry said this week that he will never go to Barcelona and wants to stay at his beloved Arsenal for the rest of his career.
Thierry on tolerant Britain
Tommy Gunner ... Thierry at the Hilfiger launch bash
Pictures: DAVE HOGAN and FRANK COPPI
December 07, 2006
THIERRY Henry reckons Britain is one of the most tolerant nations on earth and marvels at this country’s attitudes to race and religion.
The Arsenal striker believes that an individual’s right to display religious symbols such as crucifixes, turbans and veils at work here means that we are more accepting of other cultures.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Frenchman Thierry says: “Sometimes you just need to accept other people’s thoughts, desires or religion.
“In France, it is different. I won’t say whether France is more or less racist than England but what I like here is that you see someone coming from India working with a turban on.
“People here accept the religion of others. In France it wouldn’t be possible for someone to work like that. It is a different approach.”
Exclusive interview ... Sun man Dominic with Henry. Henry feels there is much less racism in British football than there is in France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere in Europe.
Thierry is one of the most articulate and intelligent footballers you’ll meet. I’ve yet to see him staggering around trolleyed at a showbiz party, exposing his genitalia to all, then depositing them in a glass of white wine while puffing on a large cigar (I have witnessed one Premiership footballer doing exactly this.)
He’s also putting his ample fortune where his mouth is and has undertaken a venture that none of his peers has had the vision — or decency — to do.
Thierry, 29, has set up his One 4 All Foundation (1, 4? Thierry’s shirt number — geddit?) which will raise money for underprivileged children around the world.
He has tied that in with becoming the face of fashionista Tommy Hilfiger’s label and all proceeds from a newly-designed collection will go to the Foundation.
He wants to pump money into neglected areas of London, France and, hopefully, Africa.
As we talk at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, Thierry says another of the Foundation’s aims is to try to stamp out racism.
When I ask if he feels racism still exists in football, he says: “Yes. I didn’t hear about it for a very long time but I think, yes, it’s come back.
“Sometimes I hear stuff about other players and see some things. Not here in particular but away, in other leagues.
“You can’t let yourself feel depressed but you need to try and do something about it.”
Shooting star ... Thierry in action for London Arsenal, the team he loves most of all and where he wants to spend the rest of his career
Thierry’s tough upbringing on a council estate in urban Les Ulis, on the outskirts of Paris, is never far from his thoughts. He says: “Being the first to do this is not important, I just feel the need to do it. It’s inside me.
“At the beginning of your career, you want to make your name, to build yourself.
“But then you need to give back and create a better environment for children — not just my daughter — to grow up. For everybody.”
Les Ulis is 20 miles south west of the Eiffel Tower, a 1970s satellite town, built for immigrant African and Caribbean workers.
They, like Thierry’s own parents — Antoine, from Guadeloupe, and Maryse, from Martinique — came to France seeking a better life.
Half of its 28,000 inhabitants are from ethnic minorities but when some of the rougher parts of Paris recently burned during riots, Les Ulis escaped unscathed.
It’s a long way from the smart home in Hampstead, North London, which he shares with British model wife Nicole, and one-year-old daughter Tea.
He says: “Growing up it didn’t feel poor at the time — it was all I knew. I had the chance to have good education, good parents and some good facilities around me, somewhere where you can play football and basketball.
“To have places like that is important so you don’t go away and do bad stuff.
“Sport is a great way of channelling aggression. You have to follow your head and your heart and if you’re going to explode it’s best to do it on a field somewhere than doing anything bad.
In my neighbourhood, everyone came from everywhere — France, Spain, Africa — so I didn’t notice any racism.
“But when I started to move out of my neighbourhood I noticed people would look at me with an eye, like what are you doing here?
“That’s when you start to notice that maybe people feel you’re not like them. It was a bit weird. In England I haven’t noticed that racism but it is obviously very different when you’re famous.
“If any child is reading this who is being racially abused I would say they should rise above it and not get into an argument about it.
“I know it is not easy. Try to talk to someone about it and make that person look bad. But you can’t go around to people’s houses and re-educate them.
“At home, you don’t know what people say. It’s difficult. You try to make someone understand something and they just go home and hear stuff they shouldn’t be hearing.”
It’s been a strained week for Thierry. He has been sidelined with a sciatic nerve problem that could lead him to face up to six weeks on the sidelines and unfounded speculation of a dispute with manager Arsene Wenger.
Ace ... Henry at 14, ringed, and the pitch in his home town
But he is clearly distraught that he will be missing Sunday’s clash with Chelsea and says: “Don’t talk to me about that game. I so wish I was playing and I can’t go because it’s at Chelsea.
“It’s different at the Emirates because I am with Arsenal fans. But I can’t be sitting in with all the Chelsea fans, can I? I’d get so much stick.”
So what does he see himself doing once he’s hung up the No14 shirt for good?
He says: “I think I’ll always stay around football. But management is different — you’re still under pressure and sometimes you have great managers who never played or they never had a great career.
“But sometimes if you’ve had a great career, being a manager can be tricky.
“I don’t know if I could handle it. Being a manager is so much pressure.”
But I don’t doubt for one moment that he’ll be a success, whatever he ends up doing.
d.mohan@the-sun.co.uk
thesun.co.uk
thesun.co.uk
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