The World Cup is important, but refusing to let a racist get away with racism is even more important.
I love Zidane for choosing his anger against racism and respect for himself and his people (and all of us who suffer from racism) over victory and glory! On 7/10/06, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
FWIW, isn't it normal for pro athletes to launch "trash talk" against opponents -- including racial epithets and worse -- in order to evoke irresponsible behavior? On 7/10/06, Yoshie Furuhashi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Via Ra Ravishankar offlist, I received this info: > > World-Zidane apparently called "dirty terrorist" > Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:38 PM BST10 > <http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldFootballNews&storyID=2006-07-10T163843Z_01_L10406204_RTRIDST_0_SPORT-SOCCER-WORLD-FRANCE-ZIDANE.XML> > > PARIS, July 10 (Reuters) - France captain Zinedine Zidane was > apparently called a "dirty terrorist" by Marco Materazzi before he > head-butted the Italy defender in Sunday's World Cup final, the > anti-racism group SOS Racism said on Monday. > > "According to several very well informed sources from the world of > football, it would seem that the Italian player Marco Materazzi called > Zinedine Zidane a 'dirty terrorist'," SOS Racism said in a statement. > > Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was shown a red card after the > incident and Italy went on to win on penalties after the match was > tied 1-1 following extra time. > > The Paris-based group called for an inquiry and said world soccer's > governing body FIFA had recently toughened sanctions against racism. > > "It's for this reason that SOS Racism asks in a determined fashion for > FIFA to shed light on this altercation and that sanctions laid out in > the official rules be applied should this be the case," SOS Racism > said. > > Neither Zidane nor Materazzi have spoken in public about what had > passed between them before the incident. French television reported > that Zidane would talk about the incident "in the coming days". > > -- > Yoshie > <http://montages.blogspot.com/> > <http://mrzine.org> > <http://monthlyreview.org/> > -- Jim Devine / "Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." -- Pat Robertson
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
