Zidane's mother was gravely ill on the day of Cup final

[kurth]

Lip-reading experts called in by media outlets including The Times of London, The Daily Mail and The Guardian, along with outlets in Brazil, confirmed that the 34-year-old rammed Materazzi in the chest after the Italian player called him the "son of a terrorist whore", and then told him to "f... off". Other versions included insults to Zidane's sister and references to him as a "dirty Muslim" and one of the "dregs".

Zizou, as he is known in France, is the son of Algerian migrants. He was raised in the gritty suburbs of Marseilles and calls himself a non-practising Muslim. He has played in Italy and speaks Italian fluently.

The alleged insult to his mother was described as especially explosive because she had been taken to hospital gravely ill on the day of the Cup final, and yesterday Zidane rushed back to Marseilles to be at her bedside. Zidane's agent said the star was provoked by Materazzi.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19762820-2703,00.html

[Bushknew]

1. He fell for the oldest trick in the book…

This is the big time baby. A guy of his experience should know better.

Although it is a dirty trick, Kudos to the Italian player for his use of mind games.

[theHandpuppet]

3. Kudos?

So you applaud the use of racial slurs to get an edge in an athletic game? How pathetic.

[Bushknew]

7. No, I don’t applaud the use of racial slurs and …

I don’t applaud how some fans throw bananas at that one goal keeper, FIFA should actually do something about THAT.

But, Zidane is a 34 year old MAN in the most important game of his career, and
he falls for a Yo Mama’s insult? COME ON!

He should have just insulted the Italian player back and left it at that.

But the Italian player got the better of him with the trash taking, that’s
why I said Kudos to him.

Trade insults, but don’t take it to a physical level.

[jakefrep]

24. It's utter horseshit...

..that the Italian guy is getting a free pass in this matter. If FIFA is serious about stamping out racism, then they should throw the book at Materazzi, and ensure that he never sees the inside of a stadium again.

[DelawareValleyDem]

27. There's no proof that it was a racist remark

Zidane's own version of the incident does not mention racism.

[nickgutierrez]

31. The "son of a terrorist whore" version of the story...

...is a reference to Zidane's Algerian heritage, and is absolutely racist.

[DelawareValleyDem]

32. That's one version of many

and again, Zidane has not yet claimed that's what was said.

[TahitiNut]

4. Perhaps people more culturally attuned to shooting off their mouths

... and using their hands should find another 'sport' besides soccer? Spewing vebal sewage doesn't even come close to meeting the minimum requirements of sportsmanship at a world class level. The real-time game commentary (without the benefit of 20-20 hindsight) made ample note of the Italian team's excessive reliance on dirty play and diving. It's a pity they can't interpret "offense" into the idioms of the sport.

When the game came down to PKs, Italy had the clear advantage. Getting it there, a greater facility with their mouths than their feet seemed to be key.

[northzax]

5. the story I heard today

is that he was called harki which would be a grevious insult. Given, of course, that in 98, Le Pin called him acceptable because his father was a harki and the next game he stomped on the Saudi player.

harki by the way, is the Algerian term for those who collaborated with the French during the occupation and war of independence. They are considered as bad, in Algeria, as the Vichy are in France.

[TahitiNut]

6. While FIFA considers taking back Zidane's Golden Ball,

... Zidane's mother calls for removing both of Materazzi's balls. :evilgrin:

Zidane's Mother Wants Materazzi Castrated
Sports: 12 July 2006, Wednesday.

The mother of Zinedine Zidane has praised her son for his disgraceful World Cup headbutt on Marco Materazzi amid claims the Italian branded her a "terrorist whore".

Talking in a fury to British daily Mirror, Malika Zidane warned the Italian defender she wants his "b*lls chopped off" for igniting the ugly spat.

Algeria-born Malika claimed Zidane, 34, was simply protecting her honour when he butted Materazzi in Sunday's final.

She has expressed her utter disgust by what she had heard and praised her son for defending "the family's honour".

<snip>

Zidane's mum has eunuch penalty for Marco
Paul Kent with agencies
13jul06

ITALIAN sledger Marco Materazzi is set to be cleared by FIFA of alleged racist remarks said to have provoked the extraordinary headbutt from Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, but he will get no respite from Zidane's mum.

Zidane's mother has declared she wants Materazzi's "balls on a platter" after he allegedly called Zidane the "son of a terrorist whore" in Monday's World Cup final.

FIFA is investigating the allegations that Materazzi provoked Zidane with racist insults, but sources within FIFA said the chances of proving the claims were fading.

<snip>

Insulting a family's honor is often a cause for swift (and somtimes fatal) retribution in some cultures, among which Algerian Muslims can be counted. When seen in the light of the racism that infects some national teams, Materazzi might be seen by some as even the greater thug and bigot.

[northzax]

8. no doubt.

if the harki comment is trus, Materazzi might want to consider using his 250,000 euro bonus to hire some bodyguards, this shit could get really, really, ugly.

I think he should be sold to Marsailles for a song...

[TahitiNut]

10. Even wikipedia chronicles using the slur against Zidane.

The term continues to be loaded in the French-Algerian community; Zinedine Zidane, the captain of the French national football team, was famously described as acceptable by the far right National Front because, allegedly, his father was a Harki. This led to death threats from extremists of all stripes, and the disruption of a friendly encounter between the French and Algerian football teams in October 2001. In all his career, Zidane has religiously avoided being drawn into the racial politics that has plagued France in general in recent years and tried to draw in Zidane in particular, for his Algerian roots. The only time he made a public statement was when he said, 'I say this once for all time, my father is not a Harki.' Zidane's rare public outburst was in response to posters that said 'Zidane Harki' in the run up to the France-Algeria football match in 2001. Among many rumors following Zidane's final match, the final of the 2006 World Cup against Italy, was a report that Italian defender Marco Materazzi called Zidane a 'harki.' Zidane headbutted Materazzi and consequently was sent off with a red card.

The New Republic weighs in ...

WHAT HE SAID:

Rumor has it 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.

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

I'd be surprised if Zizou ever talks about it. He'll disappear for a while then hopefully reemerge as France's manager for 2010. It's an ignominous end to his playing career - if the header which Buffon brilliantly saved 6 minutes earlier had gone in this would have become probably the greatest retirement in the history of any sport. Instead it's close to the opposite.

<snip>

[northzax]

14. he's appearing on Canal+ tonight

at about 9, Paris time, (according to ESPN) so we'll see what he says...

[TahitiNut]

16. Nostalgia.

Reminds me of the time I was working in France for nearly four months ... and tuning into Canal+ to get steeped in a language 5% of which I could only barely comprehend. It tickled me that there were so many times I could turn on the TV during normal waking hours and get nothing but static.

[BeyondGeography]

19. Here's a summary

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3730392a1823,00.html

Zidane screwed up, but I still love the guy. He's too easily drawn into emotional reactions, but one could argue that his sense of principle is a primary source of his many other strengths. And, as he points out in his statement, it's always the provoked who gets punished, never the provocateur.

He'll be missed.

[HuckleB]

17. The tabloids have gone insane about what was said.

Which has made FIFA's job to investigate it almost impossible. What cracks me up the most are comments by soccer's elite, such Franz Beckenbauer, saying, "Zidane was probably provoked." Umm. Yeah. You think? And then the press leads as if this comment is somehow incredibly enlightening.

[kurth]

28. It's not just Materazzi

The Italian senator and prominent Northern League politician Roberto Calderoli has been quoted as saying that France "sacrificed its identity by fielding a team of blacks, Islamists and communists".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5176156.stm

[KamaAina]

33. Communists?!

How on Earth can that troglodyte tell whether a footballer is a Communist?! (Was he in Berlusconi's now-concluded administration, by any chance?)

Actually, just between you, me, and the, um, lamppost, I'd be watching out for the Portuguese if I were Calderoni. They are, after all, the ones wearing red... :-)

Then again, it's easy to tell which supporters are fascists: those of just-relegated "Nazio". :bounce:

[Bushknew]

9. If you don’t think trash talking / mind games

is a major part in all professional sports, your sadly mistaken.

[TahitiNut]

11. It's always fascinating to me when some people ...

... immediately resort to forming personally-directed sentences, seemingly incapable of forming grammatically objective and neutral observations. I suppose those who laud sledging in sports seem inclined to employ similar tactics in public discussions as well, both failing to rely solely on the core skills of their contextual activity. (I wonder if it's a self-esteem issue?)

:eyes:

BTW - Beware the dreaded Homonym Virus! (There's a difference between "your" and "you're.")
:evilgrin:

[Bushknew]

12. I’m simply stating that trash talking

goes on in * ALL * professional sports. I don’t see how refs could interpret "offense" into games.

What blows my mind is how refs let players beat each other in Hockey. That's F/=/ed up.

[TahitiNut]

15. Yes, you've stated and restated that ... and NOBODY is unaware of it.

Repeating the obvious fact that sledging/trash-talking occurs in both professional and amateur sports (with the possible exception of golf, where it's severely punished) doesn't move the discussion forward.

It's about as enlightened as a "Shit Happens" bumper sticker. The implicit pretense that someone somewhere disagrees doesn't make the observation any more relevant.

While there are certainly some impediments to outlawing such unsportsmanlike behavior, that does not mean something can't be done. While we may disagree on the efficacy or fairness of any steps proposed to deal with it, or even whether it's worthwhile, the notion that it's OK merely because it happens is a ethics-free (amoral) stance - hardly worth acknowledging. The widespread and ages-old recognition of 'fighting words' in common law and culture should be more than sufficient to suggest that it's ethically unacceptable under even less 'elevated' circumstances.

That anyone would defend the use of epithets, up to and including racial slurs, in a world class venue of professional sports and then engage in blame-shifting is hardly a contribution to comprehension or advancement of civil behavior. Most of us learn very early in life that "two wrongs don't make a right."

Rock on. :shrug:

[northzax]

18. right, there is a serious difference between talking smack

"that's not what your momma said when she was sitting on my lap last night" which is just juvenile and kinda funny, in context, and racist baiting "go back to Africa and climb a tree, n***er" doesn't get it.

waving car keys at someone who got a DUI? funny. waving bananas and making monkey noises, not funny.

[Bushknew]

20. I agree with you both that …

There is a difference between talking smack and racial epithets.

But, I don’t know how PC you want sports to get or how one could prove and fine such
an offence.

If you think all the diving and crying wolf in Soccer is bad now, can you imagine
A ref in-between:

He called my Mom a terrorist. Well, he called me a N#$$er first.

[northzax]

22. I don't want sports to be PC

but I do want them to be clean. actually, I don't even care about the clean. At the end of the day, there are certain things you don't say. sport should, at a basic level, reflect the mores of society, and in no modern sociert do we tolerate such racism. it's actually that important. these people are colleagues, at the same level. sure, I trash talk my colleagues, but I don't call them 'fucking wog' just because he's of italian descent. I wouldn't call the girl of mexican descent I work with a 'wetback' any more than I'd expect her to call me a 'gringo' but that doesn't mean we don't throw it down on occaision...

[Bushknew]

13. That’s what I get for typing fast.

: - )

[Mojambo]

2. I would have done a lot worse than head-butt him. n/t

[erpowers]

21. Need To Note

I think it should be noted that Marco Materazzi denies making those statements. We need to question how well the lip readers can read Materazzi's lips in that for the most part Materazzi's lips were not in view of the camera. Also, even if Materazzi was seen on some cameras how could anyone see his lips in that when he made his comments Zidane was walking in front of him and it seems that he was facing Zidane's back. So how could anyone see his lips moving. Does anyone have any video of Materazzi talking at that moment.

[northzax]

23. well of course he denies it

if he admitted using racial slurs, even FIFA would suspend him. Zidane as well isn't talking, so it's a dead issue. Strange, though, that Materazzi seems to be coming out of this with the worse reputation (of course, he has a trophy, and Zidane doesn't from this year, so I gues he wins, but still)

[Hav]

25. .

Materrazi also claimed that he doesn't know about muslim terrorists and that he therefore couldn't have called Zidane a dirty terrorist or his mother a terrorist whore...he is a complete prick, people need to realize that.

[erpowers]

26. Misstatement

He did not say he did not know about muslim terrorists, he said he did not know what a muslim terrorist looked like so he could not have called Zidane a terrorist. He said he would not have said something bad about Zidane's mother in that he lost his mother at 15 and that the mother is scared to him.

In addition, if people want to call Materrazi a prick then maybe they should take a look at Zidane. At first I thought this was the first time Zidane had done something like this; however, I learned that Zidane has a history of doing things like this. Did all of the other players he did things like this to call him a terrorist or the son of a terrorist? Also, maybe people should question whether Zidane is just using the anger toward racism as a way to get himself out of trouble. This World Cup always had the specter of racism. Everyone tried to fight againgst racism and tried to denounce racism. How do we know that Zidane did not realize this and decided that to get himself out of at least some trouble he would just say the opponent made racial slurs? Neither man is talking so I think Materrazi did not call Zidane the son of a terrorist or call his mother a terrorist whore. I think Materrazi made either a yo momma or yo sista (I tend to think it was a yo sista Joke) joke and then Zidane head-butted him.

[northzax]

29. yes, Zindane has done this twice before

(one stomping incident in WC 98 and one head butt in Champions League while playing for Juventus.)

worth noting that the first incident came the day after the racist politician Le Pin said he had no problem with Zindane because his family were harki so we know that commentary can set him off.

[MessiahRp]

34. Maybe Zidane needs to learn some restraint...

Grow up, be a bigger man and deal with name calling...

Sticks and Stones you know...

The whole country of France should be pissed at his ridiculous short fuse.

Rp

[Hav]

30. .

Ok, I obviously misinterpreted Materazzi, mainly because there are so many versions out there by now.
You are misinterpreting Zidane, though, because as far as I know, it wasn't him that claimed Materazzi used racial slurs but lip readers so it would be wrong to accuse him of using the racism card.
In the end, we don't know anything for sure and it would be nice if at least Zidane would have been more concrete. But even Materazzi only denied Zidane's version, yet he never revealed what he really said as well. Why not? Zidane also attempted to let Materazzi's provocation go. You can see how Materazzi keeps talking and talking, Zidane leaves him, Materazzi goes on and suddenly bam.

Also about Zidane, he had several extremely dumb moments. On another thread I already mentioned how strange it is that many fantastic players have these problems to keep their cool.
One should also keep in mind that he is the kind of player that receives the most fouls as he was usually the most important player of his teams. He is always on the receiving end of dirty playing so although one could never excuse his actions, one can somehow understand it.
Yeah, he had to leave the field like 14 times early. He also had around 700 matches. It happens when you get pushed, kicked or fouled out of the game again and again.