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.
The 1990 World Cup was supposed to have been the most boring yet, with the lowest ever number of goals scored, but I never noticed. I devoured each game I could get hold of, and ignored my father's growing irritation with the number of blank VHS tapes I was using up - I couldn't bear to erase any of the games even after watching them. "Are you really going to watch these again?" he'd grouse; "Yes," I'd snap back, and the argument would be suspended til the next day when I discovered he'd taped over Ireland-Romania or something.
was having steroid injections, already battling against his body's betrayal. I felt sick inside when Argentina lost 0-1 on a penalty kick by Brehme in the last minutes. I felt empty when the World Cup went away and there were no more games with which to fill my hours. I consoled myself by using heat transfer paper and special markers to make myself a Maradona t-shirt with a number 10 on the back.