The ultimate insult… the story of Zinedin Zidane
The ultimate insult… the story of Zinedin Zidane
Zinédine Zidane's ignominious exit from World Cup football and the world
stage happened in the final match. The world’s most beloved football player
for almost two decades, Zinédin Zidane (which ironically in Arabic means the
jowl of religion) unceremoniously head butted the Italian defender Marco
Materazzi in the world cup final. This head butting business ignites a huge
debate among experts stretching their heads trying to understand the
sociological and psychological reasons behind the French Algerian player’s
outrageous behavior. Was it a reaction to a vicious insult? The Italian
player admitted on Tuesday that he insulted Zinédine Zidanne because he had
been "super arrogant," according to La Gazetta dello Sport. To explain the
reason that may contribute to Zidanne outburst, first the conspiracy
theorists went for the reflexive insult to any Arab these days, claiming
that the Italian player called Zidanne a “dirty terrorist,” which Mr.
Materazzi denies. “What's sure is that I never called him a terrorist: I am
not cultured and I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is.” Implies
that only cultured people can recognize Islamic terrorists, which to me - as
an Arab desperately gasping for any positive coming out of this - is a
compliment. After a laborious analysis of the video by German lip-reader
experts and Italian interpreters, it was declared that the words uttered
from Mr. Materazzi lips has something to do with calling Zidane's Mother a
whore, which again the Italian player denied. “Mothers are sacred,” he
explained. Tonight, Zidanne however, and under pressure from the press,
stated that the Italian player had in fact used swear words and had
mentioned Zidane's mother and sister.
“I tried not to listen to him but he repeated them several times,” Zidanne
said without any specifics. “Sometimes words are harder than blows. When he
said it for the third time, I reacted.” Reported the New Your Times.
Declaring a benchmark for the maxim number of family insults tolerated by
the French player is roughly two. We all agree that Zidane's despicable
behavior is unfit for professional football, especially for someone with an
illustrative career like Zidanne, nationally and internationally. One could
argue that he single handedly earned the only world cup for France in 1998.
But what makes a veteran player like Zidanne snap out like this in his final
game where everything was on the line for himself and his country? Could it
be that Zidane's outpours was an act of Chivalry, a form of social suicide
as he exhausted all his resources; career and personal glory in attempt to
change an impossible situation and save his family honor. Or the superstar’s
misbehavior was simply a product of his own personal experience? A son of an
Algerian immigrant’s tough life in the French projects, the kind of
background that produces the source of an inner rage especially as he once
acknowledged, saying that his "desire never to stop fighting is something I
learnt in the place where I grew up.” Putting his family honor above of his
country honor, or in his quite gentle way, he was trying to shed his doubt
about the French Multi-cultureism and diversity claim. When Zidane was
asked if this incident will change his mind about retiring from professional
football. “ I will only play amateur games for fun with my friends back at
the project” he softly answered. Viva project.
Ahmed Tharwat, Host of the Arab American TV show BelAhdan
www.belahdan.com