An act of sheer....

[kryszcztov]

No need to give links, you'll find that by yourself, since it's all over the news...

Zidane tonight said that Materazzi threw away insults about his mother (in particular). Materazzi today (earlier) said that he didn't throw away insults about Zidane's mother. Word to word.

Interesting.

Also, Materazzi said : "Zidane was always my hero. I admire him greatly." That explains for the nice words on the pitch, uh ?

 

[C~G]

Tell you the truth for me it doesn't matter which one is telling the truth about the words said in the pitch.

Materazzi didn't throw a headbutt to Zidane's chest in order to get thrown out of WC final while being captain of his team in his last game of his career.

Materazzi is well known bullhead but the act that was shown by once best of the world was like said act of sheer Zidanity. It was nothing short from being monumentally stupid.

Zidane would have shown more courage, respect and honour by scoring from the penalty spot and raising the cup over his head rather than leaving the scene with such show of violence.

And he did it "without loosing his cool"?
Zidane's "coolness" was long gone at the moment when he turned back to face Materazzi IMHO.

 

[azzaman333]

Your saying that sportsmen should act like robots, and never react to anything? And what Materazzi did is perfectly okay? I'm sorry, but Materazzi was just as much in the wrong as Zidane.

If it was in a school yard, and 1 kid is saying "Your mum is a stupid *****," and the other kid punches him, its all the fault of the kid who punched?

 

[col]

Yes it is.

Revenge is a dish best eaten cold

 

[ThERat]

actually I am a little puzzled. Zidane said he apologises for his headbutt, but doesn't regret it.
Err, I thought first you regret something you did and then apologise. if you do not regret something, why should you apologise?

Take it to the extreme: I kill someone and then apologise, but don't regret it? Does that make sense? It's like, hey sorry that I killed your brother, but I don't regret what I did. Very weird kind of thinking.

Or did I get something wrong here?

 

[Mega Tsunami]

Is it a French thing? This assault by ZZ reminds me of the Cantona karate kick in 1995 and all because someone in the crowd said something to him.

But at least I can understand (if not condone) Cantona’s assault a bit more – he had just been sent off and so his emotions were high as he was forced to walk past the baying crowd.
With ZZ I cannot see where all that emotion could come from – How could he react so badly in a World Cup Final to just a few words – words he has probably heard many times before in his career. What Materazzi did was wrong but what ZZ did was 100 times worse.

While looking up the date of the Cantona kick, I came across this list of 10 most spectacular dismissals. It’s a couple of years old but is a bit of a laugh.

Where would the ZZ Headbutt come in that list? As it was The Final of the World Cup it must be at the very top surely.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1009645,00.html


Edit – A point of interest – Cantona went to court for his kick and was initially given a two week prison sentence. This was reduced to 100 hours community service on appeal. Will ZZ be taken to court?

 

[Akka]

it's funny how people that dive get slammed, whereas someone that headbutts gets excused for in great lengths. A bit scewed views here, isn't it?

No.
I find the calculated provocation much graver than punctual anger-caused reaction.
One is premeditated (spelling ?) to cause grief, the other is, well, a REaction to agression.
Sorry, but I see two very different things.

I still think that any physical abuse deserve the red card, because the football field isn't a battle field.
But I judge Materazzi's actions far worse than Zidane's on a personnal and moral point of view.

 

[kryszcztov]

actually I am a little puzzled. Zidane said he apologises for his headbutt, but doesn't regret it.
Err, I thought first you regret something you did and then apologise. if you do not regret something, why should you apologise?

Take it to the extreme: I kill someone and then apologise, but don't regret it? Does that make sense? It's like, hey sorry that I killed your brother, but I don't regret what I did. Very weird kind of thinking.

Or did I get something wrong here?

See it that way. Zidane apologizes to people because he knows this isn't something to do. He says he doesn't regret it because then it would mean Materazzi was right, and he (Zidane) can't let it happen (especially as Materazzi repeated the insults several times !!). So all in all, Zidane apologizes to people for being what he is, ie. "a man with a high sense of honour", and he can't help it. See ? Fortunately, Zidane isn't a criminal, and he wouldn't harm a fly unless the fly was so damn annoying or insulting. Zidane can be my neighbour anytime, I'll sleep well (not really, because of the fans ).

The bad thing is that, if the FIFA doesn't do anything to prevent that (even if it's part of football, hahaha), then Materazzi-like players have a bright future. To all of them I say : continue to insult your opponent and act dirty, you might even be world champion someday !

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Do you really think Zidane never insulted an opponet on the pitch?

 

[kryszcztov]

Do you really think Zidane never insulted an opponet on the pitch?

Not sure. Probably not at the level and the insistence of Materazzi though.

 

[Dell19]

Not sure. Probably not at the level and the insistence of Materazzi though.

Materazzi now spent the entire game shouting taunts?

 

[kryszcztov]

Materazzi now spent the entire game shouting taunts?

We don't know. But Zidane said that, just before the headbutt, that Materazzi said insults about his family, and that this was repeated several times -> insistence. On the video you can see the 2 guys speaking as they are close to each other. Materazzi is speaking as Zidane starts to replace himself towards the midfield. He still continues, to a point that Zidane can't stand it anymore, and that's when he turns around.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

Have you ever played sports Krys?

 

[ThERat]

So all in all, Zidane apologizes to people for being what he is, ie. "a man with a high sense of honour", and he can't help it.

lucky he got sent off and will never be on a pitch again. How I hate this honor $%^&. I have heard enough of honor killings and how people can't help it. We don't need this nonsense and luckily in our societies, the monopoly for violence is with the state, otherwise we would end up in chaos if everyone would start to take things in their own hand due to hurt honor...

as Hitro said, this is a especially a problem of migrants from certain countries and westerners usually don't like it.

 

[Panda]

If it was in a school yard, and 1 kid is saying "Your mum is a stupid *****," and the other kid punches him, its all the fault of the kid who punched?

That's what I did.

When I was 13, in recess.

Not 34, reperesenting my country, at the World Cup final.