[News] Why I Wear My Zidane Jersey - Confronting Racism, Head On

[Anti-Imperialist News]

July11, 2006


Confronting Racism, Head On


Why I Wear My Zidane Jersey

By DAVE ZIRIN

Imagine Michael Jordan in his last game, with the score tied in 
overtime, knocking out his defender with a punch to the throat. 
Imagine Derek Jeter in game seven of the World Series, at bat with 
the bases loaded, thrashing the opposing team's catcher over the head 
with his bat. Our collective shock would only be exceeded by 
disappointment. No one, fan or foe, would want to a see a great 
player end their career in an act that speaks to the worst impulses 
of sports: when hard competition spills over into violence.

Now imagine if Jordan and Jeter claimed they were provoked with a 
racial slur. Does their violence become understandable? Even 
excusable? Herein lies the case of French National team captain, the 
great Zinedine Zidane. Zidane, competing in his last professional 
match, was kicked out of the World Cup final in overtime for 
flattening Italian player Marco Materazzi with the head-butt heard 
around the world. Zidane, or Zissou as he is known, became the first 
captain ever ejected from a World Cup championship match. The 
announcers denounced Zissou for committing a "classless act and the 
French team withered, eventually losing to a demonstrably inferior 
Italian squad in overtime. The following morning the international 
tabloids with their typical grace, gave Zissou a new nickname: 
"butt-head. Less examined was the fact that Zissou was literally 
carrying a lightly regarded French team to the finals. Less examined 
was the fact that Zissou had been grabbed, kicked, and fouled all 
game by the vaunted Italian defense. Less examined was the fact that 
Zissou had almost left minutes earlier due to injury, his arm wilting 
off his shoulder like a wet leaf of spinach. This unholy amount of 
pressure is the primary reason the 34-year-old veteran snapped and 
planted Materazzi into the pitch.

Now the great mystery is what set Zissou off. What could Materazzi 
have possibly said to send him over the edge? Answers are beginning 
to filter out. According to a FIFA employee transcribing what was 
said during the match, Materazzi,s called Zissou a "big Algerian 
shit. A Brazilian television program that claims to have used a 
lip-reader said Materazzi called Zissou,s sister "a whore. The highly 
respected French anti-racist coalition SOS Racisme issued a press 
release stating, "According to several very well informed sources 
from the world of football, it would seem [Materazzi] called Zissou a 
'dirty terrorist'."

Materazzi, in an answer that can only be called Clintonian, said, "It 
is absolutely not true. I didn't call him a terrorist. Of course he 
didn,t comment on what he did call him. Zissou himself has only said 
cryptically that he would reveal what Materazzi said "in the coming days."

Right now, we do not know beyond a shadow of a doubt what was said 
but all the circumstantial evidence points at least toward a variant 
of SOS Racisme's claim. Zissou is the son of Algerian immigrants who 
has sparred verbally with Europe's far-right political machine for 
more than a decade. He is an outspoken anti-racist on a team that has 
defined itself by its multiculturalism and stubborn insistence to 
stand up against bigotry both inside and outside the sport. Materazzi 
on the other hand, will be playing this year for the Italian team 
Lazio, where his father was the former coach. Lazio's fan club, The 
Ultras, are notorious for their Fascist-friendly politics. Lazio's 
hardcore Ultras, known as the "Irriducibili," have members in Italy's 
extra-parliamentary far right and try to use the club to recruit. The 
group has frequently uses racist and anti-Semitic banners, one time 
hanging a 50-foot banner that said their opponents were a "team of niggers."

It,s wrong to taint Materazzi for the actions of Lazio,s fans, but 
there is more. Earlier this season in a match that pitted Messina 
against Inter in Sicily, Messina's star African player Marc Zoro 
famously picked up the ball and walked off the pitch in protest of 
the monkey chants rained upon him by Inter supporters. In a stirring 
act of solidarity, many of the Inter players immediately showed 
support for Zoro's actions. But one opponent yelled, "Stop that, 
Zoro, you're just trying to make a name for yourself." That 
opponent's name was Marco Materazzi.

At the start of this tournament I wrote a soccer column with my 
colleague John Cox, called Racism Stalks the Cup. We expressed our 
concern that the monkey chants, banana peels, and peanuts raining 
down on African players this year would continue on the sport's 
grandest stage. This largely did not occur. But then in the final 
act, at the moment of most exquisite tension, it seems racism may 
have actually emerged from the shadows. I, for one, am damn glad that 
when it did, it ran smack into Zissou's beautiful head.

We don,t know with iron certainty what Materazzi said, but if it 
turns out to be more of the anti-Black, anti-Muslim, garbage that has 
infected soccer like a virus, the Italian team should forfeit the 
cup. They should voluntarily give the greatest trophy of them all 
back to FIFA as a statement that some things in this world are more 
important than sports. Racism will be the death of soccer if things 
don,t change. Italy can set the sport back on course, with one 
simple, stunning gesture. Give the damn thing back.

Dave Zirin is the author of "'What's My name Fool?': Sports and 
Resistance in the United States." Contact him at 
<mailto:whatsmynamefool2005 at yahoo.com>whatsmynamefool2005 at yahoo.com.


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20060711/4f3aef62/attachment.htm>