Thierry Henry unplugged

Thierry Henry, it's an honour to meet you.
Thank you.
You are one of the world's most popular footballers. Are you aware that in India, there are kids on the streets wearing your No.14 jersey? What do you know about India and Indian football?
Wow, what do I know about Indian football? Let's see. But first of all, I always get a bit embarrassed when people say I'm the most whatever famous football player.Okay. I'm actually surprised about the football in India, even though it is not the No.1 sport; cricket is the number one sport there.
You know that?
Oh yeah, that's for sure. Trust me. And I know a lot of other sports are in front of football in India. Unfortunately, I always wonder why some Indian players, you know, why they never come to the Premiership. Maybe, it's because it's not the No.1 sport. I don't know. What I know about India is the food. I like the food.
You like Indian food?
Oh yeah, I like the food. I'm sure it's not the proper one, you know not authentic, yeah, but I love the one we have in London. I'm sure, if you try it, you'll go, ‘It's not that great', because your one is local. But I really love the food.
So what's your favourite dish?
Ahhh, let's see I like the baingan? (pronounced baay-gun).
Oh, the baingan?
So, yeah, see, I know. I like the baingan, the naan, garlic naan bread, chicken tikka, everything chicken tandoori, naan curry. Hey, I won't tell you the whole menu, it's rather long.
Do you know of any Indian player?
No I don't, actually. That's what I said to you, I actually don't know why an Indian player hasn't emerged. I actually don't. It's weird. Do you have any answer to that? It's really weird why you guys don't have, like, a guy playing somewhere, in some big league somewhere.
Indian football needs sponsor support. A lot of people still watch football though.
Yeah, that's the thing. Maybe you need an Indian football player to inspire you and all the kids to do it, because if they watch it, they will appreciate it I'm sure. But they are more inspired by the Indian cricket team because it is the No.1 sport and they see that it is do-able.
Do you watch any cricket? Are you able to follow or understand what's happening on the field?
I do understand it. I do understand it now, yeah. I've seen some games, but the game's too long to watch it all (chuckles). But I saw some part of some games of the World Cup and obviously, when England won the Ashes against Australia, the press went crazy. So, that's when I started tuning into it. I said to myself, 'I didn't know cricket was that huge!'
You and Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have made Arsenal the thinking fan's club to follow in India. What message do you have for India?
It's pretty weird, I must say, because I never thought that kids were wearing my jersey there. Pretty weird, but as a message I can say: 'I would love to see an Indian player being successful, and see him come overseas to England and perform. Because you have a big Indian community in England and I am sure they will love that. So I would like to encourage all kids, if they love football, to maybe, be that guy'.
Whose shirt did you wear as a kid?
I will not do that cliched thing, but I did not have any money to buy any shirt when I was growing up so I wasn't carrying any shirts.
But who was your idol when growing up?
(Without hesitation) (Marco) Van Basten.
You just said you don't understand the 'famous player' tag. But Time magazine has just listed among the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Does it bring an added sense of pressure or does it allow Thierry Henry to stay like he is?
Actually (pauses), it's a lot to do, if I can say, with my way of saying or not saying things. When I saw I was listed by Time magazine, I actually thought it was a joke, in the beginning. Because what I did and I am in for, I just did because it had to be done. I did not do anything clever there. But it is actually something great, you know.
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal goalkeeper), when he saw it, he congratulated me. I actually realised at that point that it was actually something big, because Jens is pretty, you know, German (emphasis) and everything... and even if he does say anything to you, after the game, he goes 'well done!' (imitates serious, rough manner). And when he said 'well done', and he then stood up and said, 'Congratulations', I really asked, 'For what?' He said, 'The magazine' and I was like,
'Is it really that big?' But you know, I live. I just wait. I live. I hope you understand.
Once you get to know that it's big, does that put more pressure on you? Or more responsibility, to use a better word?
I don't know what responsibility — R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y (repeats slowly) — adds up to. I think a politician has responsibility. Because they are guys ruling the country. Not me, I am not ruling nobody. Therefore I have no responsibility. I have some yeah, on the pitch, when I play, because people expect me to do that. After that, I don't know. For me, that's how I see it. For me, I have no responsibility, because I'm not controlling nothing. I just live. That's how I am.
You are a very active campaigner against racism in the sport. Still, Samuel Eto'o gets abused in parts of Spain, Marc Zoro plans to leave Italy. Why does this still happen?
Why? I'd like to know why. That would be the question since there have been human beings on earth and nobody has been able to answer that properly. I would like to think that first of all, people should learn to live with each other. I know that's a cliche but it's true. And how can you do that? Sometimes it's all down to education. Parents can explain to their kids and tell that people don't look the same, that people don't believe in the same things but we can all live together.
You don't have to judge people by the colour of their skin or what they do or what they believe and you know that can always be a plus. But then you never know what people are doing when they close the doors of their homes and that's when all the trouble starts.
This brings us to your country, France, which is very ethnically diverse and has been going difficult times. How do you balance your ethnic roots and your French-ness?
I think the way you see it right now is that there aren't any frontiers any more. I think the world is open. For example, our national team, if you want to go deep into it, talks about being French 100 per cent. You have nobody who is French 100 per cent. But you have to understand that is how France is right now, what you see in the national team. That is the representation of your country and I'm proud to be French and I am French. But I also have roots. And you can never forget them. That's how it is right now. It's strange to find a right balance. It's in your heart and the West Indies have always been French anyway.
Right now, the way it is, London has opened my eyes a bit more on this kind of thing. When I was in France it was not always that open, but when I arrived in England I discovered that you could work with what you wore, with what religion you followed.
Is France getting more conservative over time? You have a right wing President now and there were riots in the suburbs of Paris not long ago? You too hail from a suburb. Did it affect you?
Yes, yes. Of course I was affected. Somehow, it was always going to happen because I always said and it's true that all the people from the colonies who were housed there in the '70s, from Algeria, from Morocco, Senegal, the West Indies were made to feel 'unwanted'. Sometimes you want to get a job in Paris and you say the name of the town or neighbourhood you are from and sometimes you say your name is Mohammed or some name like that, people go, 'Oh? Ah. umm, no sorry. we're full'.
It is true and sometimes it is difficult to take. Sometimes a lot of people who came out of the neighbourhood can be a good way of showing that this is the way to succeed, but sometimes when no body gives you a hand, you cannot. At the moment, you don't know. He (Sarkozy) is the President. At that moment (of the riots) people were very mad at him when he said the 'car-washer' thing. He said, 'We have to car-washer-ize the neighbourhood', and that didn't go down well. That's what started the riots. I think it's the first time we have a President on whom people were already commenting before he was more famous than actually being President. So, let's see.
In this context, what is Zinedine Zidane to you? He is Algerian, he is your senior colleague. What is he to you?
What has been great is that the team that won the World Cup in 1998, we had that saying, you know: “Black, Blanc, Beur” — Black, White and Arab — because it was a representation of our team. Therefore, it envelops the country. It was not only a sport thing, it became a society thing. And obviously, Zizou being the main point of the team and him being Arabian and having Muslim parents. It did help a lot for the Muslim community to get recognised even more by him. Zizou was great example of that, he helped a lot of France to advance with him and also the team to advance with him.
You maintain that Dennis Bergkamp is your favourite player to have played alongside you. Put for us in perspective both Bergkamp and Zizou with respect to your role in Arsenal and France. Set the record straight for us. A phenomenal scorer for Arsenal, so little for France — only one assist from Zidane for a Henry goal.
(Gravely) The one thing I'd like to say is this. So funny, really. Ten years in the national team. We won the World Cup, the European championship. Nobody, nobody in all these victories cared or came up to say that Zidane didn't give me the ball. Never was the point raised. Everybody was happy. 'Ah, the team is amazing, Henry and Zidane are amazing'.
We don't score, all of a sudden: Oh, they didn't win because Zidane never gave a ball to Thierry Henry. Suddenly, it becomes a problem. You know what I mean? If you as a journalist and want to raise a problem, raise it when you win: 'You win, but how come, you never scored from his pass?' But if you lose I've had to fight with that (blows low whistle) I don't know how many times.
What happened is that Zidane loves to take the left hand side of the field a bit more. You see how I play, I also like the left side more. Dennis was more different. Only when he was around the box, he would bend the ball like he would always do, but he was always kind of on the right hand side. And that was just more perfect, more balanced for me. That's it.
But would that still explain the huge difference in your scoring records?
Thirty nine goals scored for France, only failed to beat Platini's record. It is a tremendous record and remember, for six years I played as a winger. So I was on the wings. But it's true, you know. At Arsenal it's an everyday thing. You play with the guys at Arsenal everyday. I'm with them. I see them everyday. I train everyday, and weekend, we play together.
Relive the episode of the headbutt from the final for us. You've spoken of 'a surreal moment of confusion'.
I was substituted and I turned and had my back to the action. Okay, yes, first of all I was dead. So I remember I went to the ground and one of the masseurs came to stretch me and the next thing I knew was David Trezeguet coming in, so I went off. When I went off, and was about to sit on the bench and as I turned, I saw Materazzi on the ground and I saw the Italian guys, everybody running and I'm like, 'What happened, 'coz I didn't see anything'.
In the very beginning, I think it was Trezguet, because at that moment he wasright in front talking to Materazzi. I was like, 'Did David do something?' It could have been anything. As far as I am concerned, I thought, the game's been affected. At that time, I thought it was an Italian trick, right? Then later, when we returned to the hotel, I saw it was a headbutt. And then the stories happened.
What's your relationship with Reebok been like?
Basically I've taken the campaign to another level. At Arsenal we have an anti-racism foundation and I'd like to carry on and am sure other people will come on board. Right now, they make me feel like part of the family, instead of being kind of used sometimes. Earlier, it wasn't a proper relationship and I wasn't feeling like useful in a way.
They gave me an opportunity to be what I am. I am proud to be part of the 'I am what I am' campaign because that's what I always say. I'm particularly looking forward to wearing the new Sprintfit boots from next season.
There's a huge market for sportswear in India. Do you have any plans of coming down there?
Ah, the market's due to the cricket, I know. But yes, if I my schedule is open, I would like to come down to India, try a new thing. Why not?
You have another Indian connection in Vikash Dhorasoo. Has he ever spoken about India to you?
It's good of you to remind me, I had forgotten about this. He is originally from India, but is Mauritiian. Is he popular in India?
Only since he made the French team.
Oh, only that recently. Not before that?
And maybe when he was voted the best player in the French league for Lyon some seasons ago. But now he's gone too, especially after his tell-all film about the French dressing room.
(Throws his head back and guffaws uncontrollably).
Thierry Henry, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you.
Same here, Thank you very much.