Secondhand Sun

Via World Cup Blog, Horatio Elizondo, the referee who sent Zidane off in the World Cup final, has gifted the red card he used to Argentine president Nestor Kirchner. That's got to be one of the odder gifts I've heard about, although I suppose if you are summoned before your country's president to be congratulated, and you want to mark the occasion with a gift, you've got to come up with something good in order to impress. I'm a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of send-off related memorabilia, but... well. I can see why someone might want that particular card, and it seems to have pleased Kirchner.

Another interesting thing is that if you look at the comments to that post on the World Cup Blog, you notice that a number of people still aren't finished arguing about The Headbutt. A lot of the discussion died off after the FIFA disciplinary committee released its decision about the incident, but the amount and intensity of the discussion through most of July and the fact that it's so easily set off again says that The Headbutt, for whatever reasons, resonated with a lot of people. I know it resonated with me. But that will have to be left for another post.

Posted by Joanna at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Zinedine Zidane spoke on French TV station Canal+ last night to explain why he headbutted Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final. He was quiet and dignified. He said there was a grave insult to his mother and sister, but did not specify what it was.

The Guardian: His repeated apologies were clearly heartfelt but they were carefully limited in scope. "My action was unforgiveable," he said. "It wasn't the right gesture to make. I say this aloud because two or three billion people saw it, and millions of children. I apologise to them, and to their teachers, the people who have to tell them about good behaviour. I have children myself, and I know what it's like. I will always tell them not to be taken advantage of, and to avoid this kind of situation."

But when asked if he regretted his decision to turn and butt Materazzi in the chest, he was adamant. "I can't regret it, because that would mean he was right to have said what he did."

"It's always the reaction that people talk about. Of course the reaction has to be punished. But if there had been no provocation, there would have been no reaction. If I reacted, it was because something occurred. Do you think that in a World Cup final, 10 minutes away from the end of my career, I would do a thing like that because it pleased me? Never. My action was unforgiveable, but I'm saying to you that the person who committed the provocation should also be punished."

FIFA apparently agrees - they will be investigating Materazzi's comments as well and based on the outcome, he could face a suspension and fine. Materazzi has also stated he believes Zidane should keep the Golden Ball award.

I spent several hours last night trying to find a full transcript of Zidane's remarks, but was unsuccessful. Here's another partial transcript from the BBC. (follow the link for more than I've excerpted here)

Interviewer: Everyone wants to know exactly what he said...

Zinedine Zidane: They were very serious things, very personal things.

Interviewer: About your mother and your sister?

Zinedine Zidane: Yes. They were very hard words. You hear them once and you try to move away.

But then you hear them twice, and then a third time... I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that.

There's a lot to chew on here, but it's no surprise that Zidane has refused to repeat the insult. One columnist seems to be saying it's unique to Berber culture to refuse to repeat insults about other people, but I don't know about that - would many Americans repeat vile insults about their mothers and sisters on national television? My guess is that they would not.

As for the racism issue, it's still very unclear. Some English language papers have claimed that Zidane denied he or his family was called terrorists, but I've not seen that backed up in any interview excerpts so far, either in English or in French. In general, in the English language news coverage of this incident and the rumors flying around, there appears to be a great deal of confusion between "didn't confirm" and "denied" and "confirmed" and "didn't deny" - for example, Materazzi has denied insulting Zidane's mother, but he didn't mention his sister; I just saw a headline claiming Materazzi had confirmed he insulted Zidane's sister. My guess would be that at least some of it stems from translation problems. Bottom line: I can't tell if he said anything one way or the other on the racism issue.

Above all, I am a man.

I have to say that I understand and respect this. He regrets the effects of his action on his team and his country and on everyone who saw the match - he's sorry we had to see that - but he did what he had to do, in that moment, to preserve his essential human dignity. And he's paid a price. But those headlines on July 10th about Zizou walking off the field in shame? They were wrong. Zinedine Zidane did what he had to do; he paid his price; he made his apologies, but he's made no apology for who he is. In a 2004 interview, he said:

'It's hard to explain but I have a need to play intensely every day, to fight every match hard,' he told me. 'And this desire never to stop fighting is something else I learnt in the place where I grew up. And, for me, the most important thing is that I still know who I am. Every day I think about where I come from and I am still proud to be who I am: first, a Kabyle from La Castellane, then an Algerian from Marseille, and then a Frenchman.'

Walked off the field in shame? Never. Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit.

Posted by Joanna at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is aptly named, as many have commented during this year's World Cup, but today really takes the cake. He's threatening to take the Golden Ball award away from Zinedine Zidane.

"I have ordered our disciplinary committee to open an enquiry regarding that episode," said Blatter. "We will await the result before taking action. The presumption of innocence until proven otherwise is and remains a sacred principle."

He added in an interview to Italian national newspaper La Repubblica: "The winner of the award is not decided by Fifa but by an international commission of journalists. Having said that, Fifa's executive committee has the right and the duty to intervene when faced with behaviours that are against the ethic of sport."

Indeed they do. If the lip readers are correct and Materazzi made race-based insults to Zidane, FIFA must sanction him severely. In these circumstances if Zidane is stripped of his prize, it's nothing more than an endorsement of racism.

FIFA has not said whether they are investigating the content of the remarks that provoked Zidane. He is scheduled to do an interview on French television in a few hours, so if he decides to share what was said, we will know soon enough.

Of course FIFA cannot have people, deciding on the basis of Zidane's example, to headbutt others. No doubt this is a very serious concern. I'm curious how many people might actually make this decision, so let's have a little poll:

Posted by Joanna at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Should Zidane have headbutted Marco Materazzi? Duh, of course not. But in the face of vile racist comments of this nature, what Zidane “should have” done is completely and utterly beside the point. If people who love soccer are serious about dealing with the problem of racism, they will recognize this, that it’s completely unjust and morally bankrupt to insist that players withstand racial abuse with grace and a smile and never... ever... crack. It gives free license to the racists. That is a much greater wrong than a headbutt.

Zizou shouldn’t have retaliated with violence; we know this; he knows this; he was sanctioned for it during the match and will likely be fined and receive a ban, or perhaps some other creative penalty given his impending retirement. He has received his punishment. He took it like the man and the player he is.

Now the question is: what we will do with players who call other players the sons of terrorist whores based on their heritage? And it looks like that question is going to be much harder to answer than it should. In discussions across the internet (see the Pandagon link in my previous post for but one example) those who would defend Zidane are being accused of saying that violence is an acceptable response to verbal abuse.

This is an interesting claim to make. It's very interesting. Because you see, I have yet to see anyone, anywhere say that Zidane should not have been sent off. No one is saying that because if you have even a minimal knowledge of the laws of the game, not to mention basic sports customs and human decency, it's impossible to make that argument.

Yet somehow, over and over again, statements like "Racist slurs are equally as unacceptable as headbutts" are being rebutted as though they were "It's okay to beat the shit out of people." So, excuse me, but what the fuck? For those confused at home, let's have a brief review.

1. Headbutting and other physical violence is not okay.
2. Racist slurs against other players are not okay.
3. Insults in general against other players are not okay.
4. Headbutts or other physical violence in response to 2. or 3. above is STILL not okay.

Now that we've got that cleared up, I will say this. What it all comes down to is that unless we are willing to enforce a vision, not just of the game of soccer, but of a world where hurling a racial insult is equally as unacceptable as a headbutt, there is little reason for any of us - you, me, or Zizou - to respect the structure of rules and social mores that exist. If headbutts are punished and racist insults are not, that gives the racists free license to say what they like, and "the rules," be it the Laws of the Game of soccer or the social mores by which we all live our lives, are nothing more than excuses for people with privilege and power to shit on those who don't have it.

Put another way: if racial abuse is condoned either explicitly or implicitly by the rules, why should those on the receiving end of the abuse respect or follow the rules? What have they - or we - to gain by doing so? Nothing at all, only the perpetuation of a system that abuses minorities.

And that is 100% NOT OKAY.

In case you haven't read it already, I'm going to link to Dave Zirin's column Why Today I Wear My Zidane Jersey and quote its hard-hitting conclusion, which he states better than I could:

We don't know with iron certainty what Materazzi said, but if it turns out to be more of the anti-Black, anti-Muslim, garbage that has infected soccer like a virus, the Italian team should forfeit the cup. They should voluntarily give the greatest trophy of them all back to FIFA as a statement that some things in this world are more important than sports. Racism will be the death of soccer if things don't change. Italy can set the sport back on course, with one simple, stunning gesture. Give the damn thing back.

Amen.

Posted by Joanna at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Multiple newspapers have hired lip readers to try to determine exactly what Materazzi said to Zidane before getting his ass knocked to the turf. Here are some of the conclusions:

The Daily Mail and the Times agree with one another that it was something along the lines of "son of a terrorist whore" accompanied by "fuck off." And here is a summary of some of the other wordings mentioned, including "dirty terrorist," various insults against Zidane's sister or mother, and "Harki." Harki is a pejorative word for an Algerian who supported France in Algeria's independence war; it's an extreme insult. Materazzi has admitted to insulting Zidane and pulling his shirt, but has denied calling him a terrorist.

Here are some other must-reads:

Dave Zim: Why Today I Wear My Zidane Jersey
Pandagon: Threats Aren't Loudly Announced, They Are Usually Whispered
Abbas Raza of 3quarksdaily: Monday Musing: Zidane and Racism

My thoughts will follow.

Posted by Joanna at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am so very sad for Zinedine Zidane. By rights the story should have been that he won the World Cup for France. By rights the Italian goalkeeper should not have made that spectacular save in extra time: Zizou's header should have blasted into the goal and kissed the back of the net, instead of being tipped over the crossbar. A wonderful save for which Buffon deserves full credit, but it ruined the narrative. By rights a final should never be decided on penalties. No, by rights this should have been Zinedine Zidane's night, his trophy, his tournament, a final sendoff in grand fashion.

Instead we got a sendoff of another kind, for violent conduct. In the second period of extra time, Italian defender Marco Materazzi twisted Zidane's nipple while they were jockeying for position. The two players had words, and then, trotting round to the front of his opponent, Zidane sent him to the turf with a headbutt to the chest.

I don't know what could have been said to Zidane to make him lose his temper so. There's much speculation it was something racist. Of course when he headbutted Materazzi he had to be sent off. There was no question as to that, and from him no argument - he gave up his captain's armband and walked off the field toward the dressing rooms, right past the trophy, peeling the sweat bands off his wrists and looking at the ground.

There are many who are angry with him, so very angry for what must be meant by the words "bringing the game into disrepute" - they are angry with him for depriving France of his skill on the field in those last minutes, and of his skill at the penalty mark in the shootout to come. They are angry with him for depriving us all of his greatness for those last ten minutes, because we will never know what he might have been able to achieve. He cheated us, shorted us those last precious minutes, even as he shorted himself. They are angry. And they say he will not be remembered for his greatness, but for this moment of weakness, of petty thuggish violence.

It's not true. It has been 20 years since Diego Maradona was at his prime, and 12 years since he was sent home from the World Cup in ignominy for doping, yet people still remember the greatness of Maradona. They remember him as a controversial and colorful character, a cheater, and yet they remember him for his greatness. They will remember Zidane for his greatness too. They will remember him as being something more than Maradona ever was, belonging to the world at large in a way that Maradona never could. Our Zizou never had to punch a ball into a goal with his fist to give France their first World Cup trophy in 1998. He did it with his feet and head and heart, and he gave us the jogo bonito as it should be once again in 2006 - he thought he was finished, but he found he was still needed and he could not walk away. Though we regret the asterisk that marks the end of his career, his courage and his skill and his beauty and his greatness will be the things we remember of him. Vive Zizou! Vive Zizou, our Zizou.

Posted by Joanna at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

If you'd asked me when I was twelve what I wanted to be when I grew up, I'd have told you that I wanted to be a professional soccer player. I'd have waxed rhapsodic about Diego Maradona, and if you really drew me out, I'd have confessed I didn't plan to play in any old women's league. No - I was going to be the first woman to break into the men's leagues.

It didn't happen, of course. My ambitions were halted early on when I was eased out of my youth soccer league by old men who didn't believe girls could or should compete with boys, even at twelve and thirteen. And no, in my small town there weren't enough girls for us to have our own league. It's small comfort that if sexism hadn't stopped me, my asthma would have.

Still, I have fond memories of being glued to the television during summer 1990. I watched almost every game of the 1990 World Cup, and those that I couldn't watch because they were on in the middle of the night or because my parents dragged me out of the house for a few hours, I recorded with our VCR to watch later. The best games, I watched over and over again, until (to my fury) my father finally taped over them.

Because of summer camps and college classes and lack of cable and so on and so forth, I haven't been able to watch so many World Cup matches from one tournament ever again. But now, thanks to the wonders of TiVo, I have the opportunity to try! So I'm going to be watching a lot of games. I don't know if I'll manage all 64 - probably not - but one can dream!

I may not ever have gotten the chance to play in the pro leagues with these men, but I can now celebrate the World Cup in my own way by choosing an Imaginary Boyfriend for each match. Selections for today's two matches will be posted either tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy!

Posted by Joanna at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)