1. transcript
  2. Zidane's Interview

Zidane's Interview

By apalazzo on July 12, 2006.

This will be my last entry on this topic (i.e. the World Cup) ... c'est fini après ça. Here is Zidane's interview:

For all those of you that don't understand le français, I'll translate a couple of things ...

He was first asked if there was bad blood between the two teams, any insults being thrown about. Zidane says that there wasn't anything too bad, there's always a lot of tension but nothing that doesn't usually go on in a big game. He never had any problems with anyone of the Italian players, not even Materazzi. Then they switch to the incident, Zidane says, that nothing had happened between the two players until this point, Materazzi grabbed his shirt, Zidane told him to stop, that if he really wanted his shirt they could swap them at the end of the game. Then Materazzi says some harsh words (des mots qui sont tres dur) and repeats them several times. Zidane explains that these words are harder then any action, and offended him very deeply. He then reacted. The interviewer asks him for the exact words, Zidane refuses to tell, it's very personal, things to do with his mother his sister. Very harsh words,

you hear them once, you just leave, like I was doing, you hear them twice and ... you hear it three times and I am un homme avant tout (hard to translate without changing connotations, along the lines of a man after all but not so macho). There are words that are so harsh that I'd rather take a punch to the face. And so I reacted.
...
This is not an action that anyone should ever do, I want to say this very forcefully. It was seen by 2 to 3 billion spectators and millions of kids, and to them, their parents, and teachers I say that I'm sorry.

Then Zidane is asked if he regrets what he did. Zidane answers that he can't regret his actions because it means that Materazzi was right. (I don't get that) He again excuses himself to everyone especially all the kids and their parents, because his actions are not actions that anyone should tolerate. But not reacting would be the equivalent of agreeing that Materazzi had the right to say what he said. When asked if he would have performed the same actions again, Zidane answers that he's already explained himself.

Then ref stuff, FIFA blah blah blah. Zidane interrupts the interviewer and says

We always talk of actions. Only the action, or in this case the reaction, is punished. But without a provocation there cannot be a reaction. The one who provokes is guilty, I feel very strongly about this, and I will defend this position, becuse we should end this practice of only giving sanctions to those who react. Do you think that at the end of the World Cup, with 10 minutes left in my career, I wanted to do something like this? Do you think that it gives me any pleasure? No I was provoked, with harsh words. Now I tell you that my actions can't be forgiven, all I am saying is that we should be punishing those that provoke.

Zidane recounts what happened with the ref ... he then ends it by saying that the most important point is that his own actions are not forgivable, and that to all the kids out there, he's sorry. He has kids of his own and he would never want them to be exposed to that. It's important that kids stick up for themselves, but it's more important for them to try to avoid such situations. He thanks all of football and all the French supporters.

OK enough soccer. After all, there are more important things going on, like the tragedy in Mumbai (but I'll refrain from writing about that as I'm not an expert). Tomorrow we tackle the Golgi and some aspects of mRNA metabolism.

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World Cup 2006

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Here is another article onr BBC's website: How rife is taunting in football?

According to former England and AC Milan striker Mark Hateley, they are seen as a fundamental and legitimate way of gaining an advantage.
"In Italy, it's part and parcel of the game and a basic way of trying to get one over your opposite number," Hateley told BBC Sport.
...
Former England star Chris Waddle agrees that winding up opponents was common in the game when he played.
But he says, in his experience, it always stopped short of personal insults.
Waddle said: "It was never an issue when I played, either here in England, playing abroad for England or playing in France for Marseille.
"Every team in England has its wind-up merchants, some teams have three or four.
"The stuff dished out was mainly mickey-taking stuff, a bit of banter which you shrugged off and accepted as part and parcel of the game.
"It was mostly along the lines of 'I've won this or that, what have you won?'
"I've also heard some really funny stuff which had you in stitches.
"But I don't think I never heard anything really nasty or personal in all my years of playing, and I can only think that the episode with Zidane and Materazzi was a one-off."

An interesting article in Time Magazine: Three Cheers for Butthead.

If you watch the penalty box on any corner kick in a game in Italy's Serie A, or England's Premiership, you see defenders grabbing strikers in full nelsons, yanking their shirts, throwing elbows, pushing, kicking--and that's before the ball is put in play. In response, players such as Portugal's young sensation Cristiano Ronaldo have learned to dive and writhe on the ground the instant an opponent is within spitting range. Throw in trash talk, some of it outright racist in a Europe where African and Brazilian players flourish, and you can see why a player like Zidane might erupt.

But instead of dealing with these problems, as other sports have, FIFA, soccer's governing body, is a world leader in bloviation over action. The NBA outlawed trash talk and instituted a flagrant-foul rule to deal with dirty players. The National Hockey League, hardly a sport for wimps, also cracked down on thugs. The NHL decided to enforce the rules on hooking, holding and interfering when it became apparent that the chippy play was ruining the game by preventing players from using their talents--you can't skate with a stick up your behind. The result: when the refs cracked down, there was a lot of whining about the loss of "old school" hockey, but once everyone got used to the fact that the rules would be enforced, the game improved. Scoring increased because the game's stars, such as the Czech Republic's Jaromir Jagr and Russia's Alexander Ovechkin, were free to fly.

Not so in soccer.

...

Soccer needs better policing, both on the field and in the stands. Even in my amateur league, you sometimes hear a team captain pleading with the referee to take control of a game, to protect the players. Perhaps Zidane, after absorbing 18 years of verbal and physical abuse from lesser soccer mortals, decided to make a stand in front of a billion people. Yes, he said he was sorry for blowing his stack when the game's outcome was still in doubt, and sorry he let his teammates and his country down.

But he didn't apologize for not taking any more guff because soccer's ruling power won't protect its best players. "My act is not forgivable," Zidane said in an interview on French television. "But they must also punish the true guilty party, and the guilty party is the one who provokes." Maybe Zizou struck a blow for justice.