à la défense de Zidane
“Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee”
- Hamlet, Act III Scene, 2
Not enough people have supported Zinedine Zidane after his head-butting of Marco Materazzi. Zidane deserves respect for his actions on three counts: standing up to bullying, existential freedom and morality.
He is a player that has achieved everything and won everything that matters – the World Cup, World Player of the Year and the Champions League; the latter with a miraculous volleyed winner that was described as “like ballet”. Having this ballast, and the admiration of millions of kids, he stood up and was counted, in front of one billion people for the things he believed in.
On bullying: Zidane stood up to an ignorant Italian. Sometimes words do hurt more than sticks and stones. Bullies only understand force, and Zidane should be applauded at a time when we wonder what to do with school bullies. It is interesting that most people I spoke to assumed Materazzi’s remark “must have been racist”. This assumption was jumped to because Italians have “previous” on this matter.
On freedom: The head-butting incident reminded me of Albert Camus’ character Meursault in The Outsider. Meursault kills an Arab in a beach brawl and refuses to apologise to society, and is finally imprisoned, tried and executed. To the last he refuses to conform to society’s expectations, and rejects demands for remorse, preferring to die a “free” man. Zidane the Algerian reminded me of Meursault the Algerian, unbound by society’s rules, and saying no to lies. He is the ultimate existential hero, and expresses freedom through aggression. The fact is that most days I feel like doing to someone what Zidane did to Materazzi. The difference is the man of action actually did it. “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice”, said the poet. Materazzi, the bore, repeated his inanity three times; Zidane's ear had been tolerant enough the second time.
On morality: in front of one billion people, he expressed his love for what he believed in and for those close to him. Stay close to the things to you love, and take a baseball bat to the rest. Tradition, family values, the ties that bind us and earthy, real affection. In the words, again, of Shakespeare: “Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel”. Family and friends are sacred.
In a football world obsessed with the thin, cracked, vacuous veneer of celebrity culture, where sportsmen have becomes slaves to corporate branded mammon – Ronaldo and Nike; Beckham and Pepsi; Sven Goran Erikssen’s absurd and sordid seduction by money, fame, sex and the next big move; the risible English WAG’s; and the thieving, dishonest, corrupt, crooked, con-artist world known as Italian football – Zidane basically said two things: “Va te faire foutre tout”, and “Adieu”.
And then his only apology was to the kids who watched, as he considered that he had let them down. And that was good enough for me.
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee”
- Hamlet, Act III Scene, 2
Not enough people have supported Zinedine Zidane after his head-butting of Marco Materazzi. Zidane deserves respect for his actions on three counts: standing up to bullying, existential freedom and morality.
He is a player that has achieved everything and won everything that matters – the World Cup, World Player of the Year and the Champions League; the latter with a miraculous volleyed winner that was described as “like ballet”. Having this ballast, and the admiration of millions of kids, he stood up and was counted, in front of one billion people for the things he believed in.
On bullying: Zidane stood up to an ignorant Italian. Sometimes words do hurt more than sticks and stones. Bullies only understand force, and Zidane should be applauded at a time when we wonder what to do with school bullies. It is interesting that most people I spoke to assumed Materazzi’s remark “must have been racist”. This assumption was jumped to because Italians have “previous” on this matter.
On freedom: The head-butting incident reminded me of Albert Camus’ character Meursault in The Outsider. Meursault kills an Arab in a beach brawl and refuses to apologise to society, and is finally imprisoned, tried and executed. To the last he refuses to conform to society’s expectations, and rejects demands for remorse, preferring to die a “free” man. Zidane the Algerian reminded me of Meursault the Algerian, unbound by society’s rules, and saying no to lies. He is the ultimate existential hero, and expresses freedom through aggression. The fact is that most days I feel like doing to someone what Zidane did to Materazzi. The difference is the man of action actually did it. “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice”, said the poet. Materazzi, the bore, repeated his inanity three times; Zidane's ear had been tolerant enough the second time.
On morality: in front of one billion people, he expressed his love for what he believed in and for those close to him. Stay close to the things to you love, and take a baseball bat to the rest. Tradition, family values, the ties that bind us and earthy, real affection. In the words, again, of Shakespeare: “Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel”. Family and friends are sacred.
In a football world obsessed with the thin, cracked, vacuous veneer of celebrity culture, where sportsmen have becomes slaves to corporate branded mammon – Ronaldo and Nike; Beckham and Pepsi; Sven Goran Erikssen’s absurd and sordid seduction by money, fame, sex and the next big move; the risible English WAG’s; and the thieving, dishonest, corrupt, crooked, con-artist world known as Italian football – Zidane basically said two things: “Va te faire foutre tout”, and “Adieu”.
And then his only apology was to the kids who watched, as he considered that he had let them down. And that was good enough for me.
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