Serious question about Materazzi / Zidane.?

Question

Doesn't anyone find it a bit unjust that Zidane who assaulted another player, and could have sent him to the hospital with a broken sternum or worse is being treated like a victim
While Materazzi who argueably used some harsh insult is being taken to trial by Fifa?

This reward for bad behavior is exactly what makes terrorism thrive. A terrorist blows himself up in a market and instead of being condemned, people wonder "why". You hear them whine on every talk show and newscast "What is making these poor people do these terrible things" instead of focusing on the evil act itself.
BTW, I'm not calling Z a terrorist, I'm using an examples so don't get your panties all bunched up.

In all likelyhood, M probably said "figlio di putana". Which, is the English equivelant of Son of a b***. A very common (although uncalled for) comment that is probably used thousands of times on the field of every game imaginable. Not even close to Zidane's attempt to hospitalize another player.

I'm comparing it to terrorism because a terrorist is able to successfully draw attention away from his violence and onto the cause. That is EXACTLY what happened here. I'm not calling Z a terrorist, only that he had the same success. BTW, I am not even saying it is his fault, I'm blaming the media. My comment pertains to MEDIA. They are the ones who wrongly shift blame as far as terrorism goes and are doing THE EXACT SAME THING here. If you cannot see this or don't understand what I'm saying, you need to take a few psychology courses. It is the psychology of victimization I'm talking about - actually nothing to do with terrorism. Please read a bit deeper and don't just skim words before you reply. Thanks for your patience.

Ok, if you don't like the terrorism analogy, here's another. Blaming Materazzi is like blaming a woman that is raped. Asking "what did you do to provoke it?" "What were you wearing". That is taking the blame from the perp and putting it on the victim. Hope that makes it clear.

Answer 1

You know what I think the headbutt is a little more serious than what Materazzi said. They(words) are just words...Zidane reacted violently. So what he was egged on...he's not a man as he claims he is...SORRY! Or am I?

Answer 2

When I saw it happen on TV the "Figlio di Putana" was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I saw it happen. It is the one of the most common insults, in the Italian language.
When Zidane offered his shirt, my guess was that Materazzi said he would be busy after the game with Zidane's sister.

I have also heard that Zidane's sexual preference has been rumoured and questioned for some time in inner circles, and that Materazzi probably mentioned that as well. That is why Zidane does not want to bring up exactly what was said, because it is very embarassing for him and he does not want the questions raised again.

Insults are used by players in all forms of professional sport, and it always goes un-punished unless directed towards an official.

Why does no one here but me seem to rembember the Totti incident at the last Euro when he spit at an opponent, Pousen? That was a complete set-up. The Danish film crew were tipped off and had a camera following Totti's every move for the entire game until he finally retaliated. The strange thing was that it was not even brought up durring the game, and this private film surfaced the day later and was sent in to the officials,
This film was used as evidence to suspend Totti in that tournament as well, yet no one ever questioned what was said to Totti to get him to react this way.

The Italinas did not complain, about it even though this form of using a private video after the fact to suspend a player was unheard of.

It just goes to show that the French are a bunch of sore loosers!!

Now some French lawyer wants to go to court to have the game re-played. Why not just start the tournament all over again? No wait , I am sure that some countries missed qualifying because of some type of incident, so lets start qualifying all over again.
We could play again in 4 years and call it World cup 2006/2010.

Answer 3

You know what, if it had been an anonymous player headbutting another anonymous player, nobody would be talking about it anymore. But it was Zinedine Zidane, a legend, the greatest player of his generation. That's why the whole incident was blown out of proportion, I think, and everybody is wondering why, or trying to justify him, or bashing Materazzi (who is not a legend and has a pretty dirty record in club games, which doesn't help him at all). When Totti spit at the Eurocup, very few people were wondering why or cared if he had been provoked or not. But again, he's not a champion like Zidane.

Because it's Zidane, everybody is trying to understand, justify, forgive. But let's face it. He may be a great player, but his record never was the cleanest. He will still be a legend though. Just like Maradona who intentionally scored a goal with his hand, or Pele who intentionally broke another player's leg (I just found this out).

Answer 4

due here`s the deal. I have been playing soccer since i was 2 and watching it since i was one. Italians are the ludacris thing to come to fifa because that is thier strategy (congrats to pople who "guessed" right). They don`t care about any sportsmanship and their coach is an asshole. I know that the coach and italians themselves have been screaming since they came into fifa, curse him!, or insult him!, or etc...... They ticked me off and whenevr there was an italian game, i hoped they lost.
Thing is, in this world cup, they didnt lose at all. I bet most of u dont no this but there`s no more zidane in fifa...he`s retiring. And just 4 his goodbye present, the Italians insult his race, his mom,dad,and family, and everything else in france. I would get so ticked off. If u still dont believe that he should of kepot his temp. down, then this might help u.
Imagine if u were play street soccer in a poor neighborhood(especially here in colombia;phew!, theres a lot of street futbol here, theres lines of teams to play) these peole call u a f***ing soccer player who doesn`t know soccer at all and ur whole family sucks his a**, and everyone would say, Mierda!... or damn!.... he dissed u and u r standing there being laughed at what wood u do... would just cry walk away or would u stand up and fight phisically or with words..... that was the situation for zidane.... italian teamates were laughing at him after materazzi told him that and zidane got pissed; pissed because it was his last game and that some1 would try to hurt him. And now if u still dont care for zidane, then this might help u.
U HAVE NO CONCIONCE OR SOUL IN U OR U R A GOODY 2 SHOES!!!!!!!! There`s my answer... and if u want to be sure and everything i said is true, search it up and it will say practically what i have said...

Answer 5

Zidane is a great player, but that of course does not make him great in every department. Actually both of them are punks. Materazzi a victim??? How about when the guy played against AC Milan and kicked Shevchenko in the groin (on purpose) or sent his knee into Inzaghi's ribs (on purpose)?? Simply put, if you act like a savage on the pitch, chances are one day somebody is going to give it to you. Of course, he probably did it on purpose in order to get Zidane ejected. That was quite smart on his behalf, though he added a bit too much theatrics...I mean look at McBride when he got elbowed in the face. With blood oozing down his face, he got up and walked to the sidelines to get fixed up, before returning to the game. Materazzi on the other hand acted it out, pretending that he was dying. I don't even think Zidane hit him that hard...Materazzi is just a coward and a wimp.

Answer 6

Have you not read the news? Mattarazi called Zidane's mom a whore. Not just once, but three times. Zidane reacted just as any other human would under circumstance. Mattarazi knew that Zidane would physically hurt him. In fact, that was his dirty little plan! He wanted Zidane to get violent so he would get a red card. Zidane is a victim, and I sympathize with him.

Mattarazi should be punished for dirty mouth. I hope he never gets to play on field again for rest of his life.

And what does terrorism have anything to do with soccer? Are you seriously a retard? And of course people always ask for the cause of action. You can't just look at the result. There is always a cause. And in this instance, the cause was Mattarazi's dirty mouth and his dirty mind.

Answer 7

Have any of you seen how dirty and ridiculous this crazy Materazzi is as a player? Check out some videos of this "man" playing in his league, he is dangerous time after time. I love Zidane, I love how he was patient in dealing with this psycho over and over. I love how he defended what he thought to be right. Does that make the head-butting alright? No. But Materazzi had it coming, if not in that game, in another. Well done Zidane, well done.

Answer 8

D3vine_brown and msianmania both have very good points. Not condoning physical actions at all but whilst everyone thinks that actions are worse than words, effects of verbal/emotional abuse linger for a long long time and can be equally and sometimes more damaging. Never should the power of words be underestimated either. They can cut deeper than a knife at times. We will now have to wait and see what FIFA do. It will be interesting. Personally I do not think FIFA are always reliable. Politics play a huge part in their decision making processes. Ah the drama. But I still believe that Zidane is one of the most gifted footballers I have had the pleasure to watch. No angel of course, but one I will not forget. And for the right reasons.

Answer 9

Oh come on - do you honestly believe Matterazzi would be hospitalised. This idiot is one tough nut & can take it, he was doing the stereotypical thing italians are expected to do as they have done it so many times over the years ie wind up an opponent, then dive once tackled/hit whilst clutching onto your face and then staying down for good measure.

I really can't see how you can link Zidane's head butt to a terrorist attack seeing as Zidane has denied that Matterazzi used the word "terrorist". He has said (as many of others have pointed out already) that his Matterazzi said some hard words about his mother (who is alive & recovering by the sounds of it as she is reported as saying she would like Matterazzi's balls on a platter, nice!) and his sister. Not only that he went on to repeat it (three times) so if thats not provocation I don't know what is!

Initally, Zidane was seen as the bad guy as no-one had any idea what Matterazzi had said to him for him to react in such a violent way but as I suspected when seeing it first time round he had to be personal, racist or something to do with his religion for him to do that, not that I am condoning it but like Zidane said he is a man first, footballer second & reacted after provocation.

Personally, I am neither French, French-Algerian or Muslim but wanted France to win - Why? Because they deserve to, they have put in some fine performances before the match & were certainly better on the day. Zidane is much loved around the world and has gave us many years of great entertainment, he stands for so much in football & in France and its such a shame for him to bow out of football like this. I wanted him to win the world cup in style and that stupid Matterazzi ruined it for him - he ain't no victim, he has won the world cup & by cheating, Zidane has tarnished his ending of his career but rightly has been forgiven by the French public. Violence is not right but understandable in this case.

Answer 10

Hello I am Italian and I am proud of the way materazzi brought out the "terrorist" inside Zidane! (notice that I use that word ironically because the french SOS racism group brought it up, while in fact later we learned it wasn't true... pathetic)

AH AH AH!

No really, I am (sort of) kidding in a way but Materazzi who is one of the toughest defender Italy has ever seen (and Italy is the coutry of defenders) - From his 2 meters of height and muscles the world champion could have just kicked the living hell out of Zidane but managed instead to morally destroy him for the rest of his days by making him disgrace his country with an unjustifiable act, while at the same time neutralizing him forever an thus winning the world cup! What a cool move! I would have got up and destroy the guy but he just told him something as banal and silly that all players hear all the times "son of a b..." - ; UNBELIEVABLE!!

Did Zidane fall for that because he is muslim, and muslim are particularly sensitive to bull-poop like that? DId he fall for it just beacuse he is dumb and under stress ? Or did he fall for it because he was doped and lost control? Who knows! Point is he went stupid!! Com'on What intelligent person would react like that ten minutes before the end of a world cup final while his own team is dominating? Truth is Zidane now is angry at himself not at Materazzi!!

I heard the explanation Zidane gave of his act on a French channel, believe me he showed the intelligence of a eight year old!! "there are words one cannot take without reacting..." What kind of excuse is that for an adult? You freaking assaulted a men because you lost your temper over a silly insult!!! Just admit you lost your temper but most of all don't insist that you were right that is really not going to work in your favour !!!

Materazzi is a genious! Funny I always thouught he was a cold blooded murderer but now I am proud of him for the simple but genial psychological war he won - WHAT AN INCREDIBLE PSYCHOLOGIST!!! He knew the real nature of Zidane and brilliantly brought it to light!! .Who is in the mode for a racist comment will speak about Zidane origins, who wants to avoid that, wiill still find hard to remember "Zizou" as an intelligent person! In any case the provocation was not something unusual, the reaction was and Zidane fell for it like an idiot!Because Zidane IS NOT NEW TO ACTS LIKE THAT! that is a fact!

PS for "Simply Put" you forget a third regret of yours: the World cup is in Rome now!

VAE VICTIS

Answer 11

Materazzi should indeed be put on trial by FIFA just as Zidane.

Figato, you stress that you are "not calling Z a terrorist" but the mere fact that you used "terrorism" as a sustained metaphor betrays your purpose (as in your other post further in this forum); comparing the mechanics of soccer to the motivational patterns behind terrorism reveals a lot about your ignorance of the specifics of ideology and geo-politics and sheds light on the shadowy terrain of your baised mind to say the least. Materazzi didn't just call Zidane "figlio di putana"; if you had watched the live interview he gave on Canal+, you would have seen that the interviewer asked Zidane if it was more than just this and Zidane said "yes, of course". (Btw, my 1st language is French, but no worries, I'm not being biased, as I'm not from France, and I was in fact rooting for Brasil.)

Rest assured, however, that you are not so dumb as the pseudo-bright, but in fact idiotic, Black Knight in his (or her) post above, whose stupidity is only surpassed by his (or her) nationalistic chauvinism : how can Materazzi's "2 metres of height and muscles" eject and dive 5 feet away from Zidane on receiving the blow and remain floored with "apparent" excruciating pain? Moreover, how can Materazzi be such a fine "psychologist" if he suddenly professes, upon international media focussing on his coniving ambush of Zidane, to be so ignorant as to even be oblivious of what the term "terrorist" means?! Pardon me, but I've never seen or met an ignorant psychologist...

No.. this was a well planned ambush, part of a probably wider "contigency" paraphernalia of disgraceful tactics in order to win the World Cup at all cost. They knew Zidane had a history of red cards and limited tolerance on the soccer field. And who else than defender Materazzi (called "the Butcher" by his own Italian press) to implement the diabolical plan? Figato, as you said, Materazzi did use harsh language, but not the type that players yell to each other when the play gets though, and he didn't just say it once. The video and the Zidane interview on Canal+ attests this : the deeply humiliating and - probably carefully pre-meditated - insult was repeated three times before Zidane reacted. Zidane is not an idot. While playing in Juventus, he's probably been yelled "figlio di putana" ad nauseam by other Italian adversaries. This time it was intentional provocation of a different magnitude. He knows French President Jacques Chirac is watching a few metres away, he knows there are only 10 mins left to his carreer and that coach Domenech and players have planned for a standing ovation for Zidane's exit (regardless of winning or losing), he knows that 30 cameras from all main international TV channels are filming and he know he's being watched by more than 1.5 billion people, including children for whom he is an idol, yet, he chooses to punish Materazzi, unknowingly and unwittingly falling into the well-crafted Italian ambush to win the World Cup, ambush triggered at a very tactical time when both teams were heading towards penalty shots. No wonder the Italian coach has already resigned and a team of French lawyers are building an international lawsuit for a World Cup re-match.

Beyond the philosophical debates of the need to resort to law to seek vindication after been wronged instead of taking the law into one's own hands, Zidane, while apologizing to children who saw him make this violent act, has climbed out of the ambush as a king, more dignified, more courageous and more human than he ever was and has unleashed a formidable renaissance that will probably end up tightening the laws of respect in soccer and the ethics of this truely planetary sport.

He has also reminded the world what he teaches to his children as he said on the Canal+ interview : "You must pay utmost respect to others, but you must also demand to be respected."