NY Coed Soccer

'Family Guy' Does Take On Zidane

US comedy 'Family Guy' illustrates the power of Zidane's World Cup Final headbutt by referencing it on the show:  Family Guy

How Zidane Fooled Anti-Italian FIFA

The Guardian says:

"If he'd simply apologised for losing and misusing his head and accepted his punishment, Zinédine Zidane could have been forgiven. But instead he decided to play the victim and, in doing so, has cheapened the legacy of one of the game's greatest ever players: himself."

The Guardian questions:

"Is Zidane simply too proud to admit that the pressure and emotion of the World Cup final and his last ever game led him to make a big drama out of the most humdrum of happenings?"

Read the full article:  Zidane

Meanwhile it's all going off in Italy.

A cardiologist says Materazzi risked heart attack due to Zidane's assault and FIFA's decision has led to Italian politicians to claim that the world's governing body displays a "discriminatory attitude towards Italy", has just given a "head-butt to Italian sport", and - of course, never forget the kids - has delivered "a terrible message to, above all, the young people of the world".

Full Italian reaction:  Boo, Hiss

FIFA Ban and Fine Zidane and Materazzi

Zinedine Zidane has been banned for three games and fined £3,260 for his assault on Italy's Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final.

Following an investigation by world governing body FIFA, Materazzi was suspended for two games and fined £2,170 for provoking Zidane.

A Fifa statement said: "Both players stressed Materazzi's comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature."

Zidane's ban is academic as he retired from football after the finals. However the 34-year-old will instead work with FIFA for three days.

"Zinedine Zidane has agreed to do community service work with children and youngsters. During the course of their hearings both players also apologised to FIFA for their inappropriate behaviour and expressed their regret at the incident."

Why Iran & Philosophers Love Zidane

The head of the external relations committee of the Iranian parliament, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, has sent a letter to Zinédine Zidane, congratulating him for his "logical" reaction and "timely" defence against insult to his "humane and Islamic" identity.

The radical hardline newspaper Kayhan followed suit with Zidane on its frontpage with the headline: "Zidane's proud farewell - The best player of the World Cup defended his Islamic identity."

The Iranian MP and Kayhan probably don't know that Zidane calls himself a non-practising Muslim and is married to a scarfless, non-Muslim dancer from Spain...

For the full article:  Iran

Meanwhile, in France, Zidane is still a hero to philosophers and fans following his actions on Sunday and his appearance on television :  Reaction In France

Zidane Apologies, Mom Wants Materazzi's Balls On A Platter

Today Zinedine Zidane made an apology for his actions during Sunday's World Cup Final but failed to specify exactly the insult that was directed at him by Italy's Marco Materazzi.

In a television interview, the French legend stated, ""I want to ask for forgiveness from all the children who watched that. There was no excuse for it. I want to be open and honest about it.

"I do apologise but I don't regret my behaviour because regretting it would mean he was right to say what he said."

Zidane went on the confirm that the words spoken to him were "very personal and concerned his mother and his sister. I tried not to listen to him but he kept repeating them.

"I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would have rather been knocked down than hear that."

This, naturally, contradicts Materazzi's version, in which the Italian admitted making an insulting remark to the midfielder, but denied he made reference to Zidane's mother.

Materazzi said: "I did not bring up Zidane's mother; for me a mother is sacred."

The now retired Frenchman, however, denied speculation in many newspaper reports that Materazzi had called him a "terrorist"…

Meanwhile the English Daily Mirror runs a story that has Zidane's mom Malika praising her son for his behaviour:

"I praise my son for defending his family's honour. I am utterly disgusted by what I have heard. I praise my son for defending his family's honour. No one should be subjected to such foul insults on or off the football pitch and I don't care if it was a World Cup Final.

"I have nothing but contempt for Materazzi and, if what he said is true, then I want his balls on a platter.

"Our whole family is deeply saddened that Zinedine's career should end with a red card but at least he has his honour. Some things are bigger than football."

Zidane To Talk

Insult Watch: Day 3 and it appears that in the next few hours we will discover the insult that took Zinedine Zidane’s head to Marco Materazzi’s chest.

Zidane is set to appear on French television at 2pm Eastern Time. We will, of course, have a full report on what is said.

One report in the New York Times quoted a family member as claiming there had been racial aggravation. "We think he either called him a terrorist or a son of Harkis," said Mokhtar Haddad, a cousin of Zidane, referring to the Algerian Muslims who fought for the French imperialist power during their country's war of independence.

In the meantime, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has hinted that Zidane could be stripped of his World Cup best player award.

"It's not FIFA that decides who wins this award but an international committee of journalists," he told Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper.

“All the same, the FIFA executive committee has the responsibility of intervening when it is a matter of conduct which goes against the ethics of the sport.

"That is why I gave the orders to our disciplinary commission to investigate what happened. To see him (Zidane) acting like that leaves me vexed, both for himself and for all sense of fair play."

Nice one, Sepp: “the responsibility of intervening when it is a matter of conduct which goes against the ethics of the sport.”

Just like always, huh…

Materazzi Talks, Everyone Speculates, FIFA (yawn) Investigates

Insult Watch: Day 2 and the speculation continues to grow as to what Marco Materazzi said to Zinedine Zidane that made the Frenchman charge the Italian defender like an enraged bull to a matador.

As you’ll notice from the postings below, NY Coed is not shy about repeating rumours, regardless of their source. And we’re happy to pass on a couple more, even though they come from the same institution and differ.

BBC Radio Five Live asked for help from a deaf lip reader, Jessica Rees, who read the words phonetically to an Italian translator.

She deciphered the insult as being "you're the son of a terrorist whore" - a translation also carried by many national newspapers in Britain on Tuesday.

The BBC's Ten O'Clock News, it’s flagship news television broadcast, also called in experts to study the television footage of the incident and determined the following:

Materazzi's first word to Zidane was "no" before he then told him to "calm down".

He then accused him of being a "liar" and wished "an ugly death to you and your family" on the day the Frenchman's mother had been taken to hospital ill. For good measure, this was followed by "Go fuck yourself".

Whatever was said, it’s doubtful we’ll ever find out. It’s one man’s word against another. But while Zidane remains silent, Materazzi spoke with Italian newspaper La Gazetta dello Sport and admitted he had insulted the Frenchman.

“[However] it was the kind of insult you will hear dozens of times and just slips out of the ground,” Materazzi said.

"I didn't call Zidane a terrorist and certainly didn't mention his mother.

“I am ignorant, I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is [!?]; my only terrorist is her," he said pointing to his 10-month-old daughter."I did not bring up Zidane's mother; for me a mother is sacred."

Materazzi then went on to explain what had happened:

"I held his shirt, for only a few seconds. He turned towards me and scoffed at me, looking at me with super arrogance, up and down.

"He said 'if you really want my shirt, you can have it later.'

"It's true, I shot back with an insult."

Unfortunately Materazzi fails to confirm what that insult was, while a Paris-based anti-racism group, SOS-Racism, repeated its claim that "several very well informed sources" had suggested Zidane was called a "dirty terrorist".

In the meantime, FIFA have trundled into action declaring that they will launch an investigation into Zidane's conduct in order to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Expect fudging, paltry fines and the usual strongly-worded directive that even FIFA will ignore.

Remember, among many, many other things, this is the organization whose leader Sepp Blatter deliberately failed to condemn Spanish coach Luis Aragonés's continued refusal to apologise for calling Thierry Henry “a black shit”.

Blatter and Aragonés sat together during a FIFA press conference, the entire purpose of which was to outlaw racism! When the Spaniard was asked about his Henry remark, Blatter lost his voice, shrunk back in his chair and allowed Aragonés to ramble:

"No, no, don't go down that road. I won't talk about it for another second. It's a topic that isn't worth talking about. Why? Because it's not like that. I have black, Gypsy and Japanese friends, including one whose job is to determine the sex of poultry..."

Even More Speculation & A Video Game

While the official agencies are understandably reluctant to say anything more than "a very grave insult", we're happy to stoke the fires and reprint as much of the speculation as possible. It is, after all, about being informed.

In the postings below, we've stated:

1) Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother
2) Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother, who is suffering from a terminal illness
3) Materazzi suggested Zidane was a "dirty terrorist"

Now we have 4) & 5).

4) We've been emailed by a reader who says that Materazzi called Zidane's father a 'harki' - the
Arabic term for Algerians who fought for France against Algeria during the occupation. It's beyond all insults, the ultimate traitor, apparently.

If this is true it means that they did their research - French right-wing politican Jean-Marie Le Pen suggested the same thing 9 years ago and in the next game Zidane stomped on a Saudi player who repeated it...

5) From the very same reader, the show Fantástico on Globo -- Brazil's largest television network - used lip reading to reach a different conclusion. They had it as Materazzi calling Zidande's sister a prostitute twice, and then called him some "very strong curse word" before Zidane turned around. Perhaps that last instult was "harki"...

At the very least Zidane's final game will not be forgotten. And look forward to the beginning of September when the European Championship qualifiers start - It's France vs. Italy...

JOIN THE FRENCH RESISTANCE... and ward off marauding Materazzi's. With Zidane's head:  Take That!

Mais Porquoi?

Here it is, on French television, highlighting Materazzi's tweak on Zidane, complete with commentator asking, but why... :  Zidane Header

Zidane Branded "Dirty Terrorist" And No Italian Sympathy

We'll have to wait for Zinedane Zidane to break his silence to fully know why he headbutted Marco Materazzi. Speculation is rife with many "sources" believing it to have been a comment about his mother - who some have said has a terminal illness - that led to Zidane to turn around and go for the Italian defender.

But Reuters UK are now reporting that Zidane was called a "dirty terrorist". Their report:

PARIS, July 10 (Reuters) - France captain Zinedine Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants", was apparently called a "dirty terrorist" by Marco Materazzi before he head-butted the Italy defender in Sunday's World Cup final, the anti-racism group SOS Racism said on Monday.

"According to several very well informed sources from the world of football, it would seem that the Italian player Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a 'dirty terrorist'," SOS Racism said in a statement.

The Paris-based group called for an inquiry and said world soccer's governing body FIFA had recently toughened sanctions against racism.

"It's for this reason that SOS Racism asks in a determined fashion for FIFA to shed light on this altercation and that sanctions laid out in the official rules be applied should this be the case," SOS Racism said.

Neither Zidane nor Materazzi have spoken in public about what had passed between them before the incident. French television reported that Zidane would talk about the incident "in the coming days".

Meanwhile, sympathy is not forthcoming from some of the Italian players, who insisted the headbutt was not out of character for a man who collected 14 red cards during his career.

Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said: "I saw the incident afterwards on TV. It was an ugly reaction but in football sometimes these things can happen. However, this is not the first time Zidane has done something like this."

And he is right. There was, for example, an expulsion during the 1998 World Cup when Zidane stamped on a Saudi Arabian defender in response to an alleged racist comment. And ZZ has used his head previously, when playing for Juventus against Hamburg in the Champions League, when he provided Jochen Kientz with a fractured cheekbone and concussion.

Zidane then told French paper L’Equipe, "What can I say? I am supposed to set an example to young players. So Tuesday's incident sits badly with that. I should never have been aggressive towards the player - I do not have the right to act like that or to give this image of myself. I committed a dreadful foul. Anyone can lose their cool, it's human - but that's no excuse.”

But it might have been more politic for Buffon to have remained quiet. After all, he is a player not without controversy in his career as he was recently interviewed in the investigation currently being held into Italian football.

Buffon also has rather suspect political beliefs, as he has worn a T-shirt sporting the fascist slogan, 'Death to those who surrender'.

The Italian 'keeper also raised a few eyebrows when he picked 88 as his shirt number a few seasons ago. The decision upset Italy's Jewish community, which pointed out that the figure is sometimes used as a neo-Nazi symbol - 'H' is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 equates to HH, or Heil Hitler.

Buffon denied any knowledge of the link, claiming: "I have chosen 88 because it reminds me of four balls and in Italy we all know what it means to have balls: strength and determination."

Sure.

And Buffon is not the only high-profile fascist in Italian football. If you'll recall late 2005, and Paolo Di Canio being banned for one game and fined 10,000 euros for making a raised-arm, fascist-style salute in a Serie A match.

His gesture was widely condemned by politicians, players, fans and Jewish groups, but Silvio Berlusconi, then Italian Prime Minister, leapt to his defence by saying that the player was simply misunderstood.

"Di Canio is an exhibitionist. His salute didn't have any significance," Berlusconi, who owns Serie A team AC Milan, told a group of foreign reporters. "He's a good lad."

A good lad, alright. This was the third time in the space of a year that Di Canio had given the Lazio fans this salute. Lazio ultras, the so-called Irriducibili, are notorious for their right-wing skinhead element, and Di Canio himself has never been shy to express his nostalgia for the good old days under Mussolini:

His left arm is tattooed with the word "dux," the Latin word from which Mussolini was known as Il Duce: the leader.

Nor can he claim to be an innocent concerning the history of Mussolini, because, in an autobiography, Di Canio wrote that he was "fascinated" by Mussolini and believed that the Fascist leader was "deeply misunderstood" and "basically a very principled, ethical individual."

In addition to Berlusconi, who once claimed that "Benito Mussolini's regime hadn't killed a single person" and that Mussolini "just used to send opposers on holiday", Di Canio also found support from politician... Alessandra Mussolini: "How nice that Roman salute was. It delighted me so much, I shall write him a thank you note."

Racism, hatred, violence and corruption, however, is nothing new to the Italian game. It has ben present for years. In the spring of 2001, The Observer newspaper published a terrific two-part article exposing the Italian game. And it makes for frightening reading:

"Sometimes there is even a quasi-official tone to Italy's racism. During a 1997 trip to Poland, the Italian national squad refused to accompany federation officials on a visit to Auschwitz."

"Bari's coach, Eugenio Fascetti, shouted: 'The nigger Diawara spat in Garzya's face! And the spit might even be infected! Why don't they just stay home, these niggers?' Fascetti later said he had missed his player's elbowing of Diawara and withdrew his statement."

For the full article:  Italian Football