Zidane, Materazzi disciplined; World Cup comment "defamatory, not racist"

[DeepModem Mom]

WP/AP: Zidane Banned for 3 Matches for Head-Butt
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 20, 2006

ZURICH, Switzerland -- Zinedine Zidane was banned by FIFA for three games Thursday for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final. Materazzi was suspended for two matches.

World soccer's governing body also fined Zidane $6,000 and Materazzi $4,000 after a disciplinary committee heard the former France captain's account of what led to the incident.

Because Zidane has retired, he agreed to do three days of community service with children as part of FIFA's humanitarian projects.

Zidane has said he attacked Materazzi because he insulted his mother and sister, while Materazzi denied insulting Zidane's mother.

"Both players stressed that Materazzi's comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature," FIFA said in a statement....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/20/AR2006072000177.html?sub=AR

[Kajsa]

1. What I've heard is that Materazzi called

Zidane's mother and sister whores.

I wish I could find a link to this.

If it's true, I fully understand ( not condone) why Zidane
head butted him. Materazzi had been taunting him for
quite a while, too.

[Kajsa]

4. Here's a link to

the story in
Huffington Post


http://tinyurl.com/pmqtv

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Thanks for the link, Kajsa!

[Kajsa]

8. You're welcome, DeepModem Mom.

:hi:

[tocqueville]

2. so Materazzi won't play in the next France-Italy

for Euro qualifications. Wise decision regarding his health.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. That just made me look up the fixture schedule

and I see he misses a game in France - yes, probably good for his health. Then I looked up who England plays to qualify:

Andorra
FYR Macedonia
Croatia
Israel
Estonia
Russia

Bloody hell - it's "tour Europe's war zones" - including the one that technically isn't in Europe.

And I see Greece and Turkey are in the same group - with Bosnia. That should be a bundle of laughs too.

[suffragette]

6. I was thinking the same thing as soon as I heard this news

Especially since September is not far away and emotions will still be high.

[Crankie Avalon]

5. As it happened, my first thought was that Materazzi MUST have...

...made some racist remark to get a reaction from Zidane like that. I kept thinking for sure it was a racist remark till today. Guess I was wrong.