Now Repeat After Me. Zizou Is A Goonda — A Rowdy

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"He (Materazzi) pronounced very tough words about my mother and my sister. I tried not to listen to him but he kept repeating them," Zidane said in a live interview on French television channel Canal Plus.
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-- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5552389

The incident proves that Zidane is only a human being who made a mistake of biting back a dog who had bit him. I have seen his latest interview in Canal Plus. He has apologized to all for his behavior but he said that he can't regret what he did because it would mean that he (Materazzi) was right to say what he said.

Another view:
"Non-European (read non-white) players have a very rough time on European soccer pitches as is clearly illustrated by this ESPN special from just before the World Cup dealing with racism on and off the pitch. The European media and governments loath to deal with racial issues head on meaning that the onus of dealing with racism on the pitch has fallen on the players themselves. They have taken up the challenge and are tackling the problem head on and are asking the fans to help take down this monster that threatens to tear the sport apart."

Well Zidane is a human being and some people get angry when they are abused. if you were a great football player and had an adrenalin rush going through your body, then you might have done the same thing too. Its easy writing an article and being politically correct abt the whole thing.

Remember this happened in the extra time and we are talking abt the World Cup final.

I guess that ITALIAN got what he deserved.I dont want to take his name as he probably might get famous in the internet and i dont want to contribute to that. They (Italy) were among the boring teams in the World cup. The only teams who deserved to win were Argentina, Germany and France.

Hey if Zidane gets to know the meaning of goonda then you will probably get a head butt too. :-)

well to put things in perspective. German players are routinely called Nazis and babykillers on the pitch. just google it up. so how should they react? How many have reacted? This is very common in sport. it happens even in cricket.sledging is common there. aren't things sorted out?

Zidane is a professional player. he should have behaved professionally. there is no excuse for that kind of behaviour.

And still he is not coming clean like materazzi did. even though materazzi has specifically denied he insulted zidane's mother(see above) now zizou is saying just that so that the rest of the world is "verbally terrorised" into silence and don't ask him to repeat the exact words.

and excuse me i think this incident "proves" that Zizou is a Rowdy and not that he is "only a human being".

Update: Zizou's interview : "He (Materazzi) pronounced very tough words about my mother and my sister. I tried not to listen to him but he kept repeating them," Zidane said in a live interview.

Question: How many times did Materazzi "repeat" them in 3 seconds? proves this man Zizou is no better than the palestinian terrorists or our own Pakis blaming everyone else but himself for his own faults.

"There is no reason to disbelieve him. He has said it as it is."

Why is there no reason to disbelieve him? Were you present to hear what he said?

If you hate Zidane, just come out and say it!

why should i hate zidane? did he headbutt me? ;)

1. Perhaps the television cameras caught only three seconds of what transpired between the two. Who's to say that nothing happened when TV cameras were not trained on them?

2. The Golden Ball award decision had been made prior to the final game of the World Cup.

3. If we are to believe what Materazzi said about the episode, why should we not believe what Zidane said?

4. Materazzi is not denying he insulted Zidane.

5. Materazzi said something, Zidane got insulted, head-butted Materazzi and got a red card (apparently it is debatable when he should have recieved a red card given that the referee did not see the foul but only came to know about it after watching replays on the TV screens).

Why is this such a big issue? Zidane responded to whatever Materrazi said in the manner he saw fit. The referee dealt with it in the appropriate manner (pending FIFA investigation as mentioned above). End of story. No one has the locus standi to say whether Zidane should have done it or not, was Materazzi right or wrong, whether Zidane's mother is right or wrong. Not a single one of us was in Zidane's shoes. We all react differently to the same stimuli.

Let him be. He says he has no regrets. Good for him!

Also, I second Rezwan's comment. Just see how Thierry Henry was treated a few months ago. This blatant racism on the field is one of the reasons there was the anti-racism pledge-taking ceremony prior to the start of every match.

Rezwan -- whatever Materazzi did was verbal. You can't justify physical violence in response to a verbal insult. It shows what your ethics you have -- or rather lack.

...Then why this one-sided post?

Also you say about his mother -- "In a interview to a newspaper she has supposedly said..."

What exactly does 'supposedly said' mean -- did she say it or did she not say it?

I don't think it's wise to base your conclusion on material from unreliable sources.

and quite frankly, I don't see why this incident deserves to be the subject of so much scrutiny.

@swb

read what his mother said in that link. I said "supposedly" because i don't trust everything the Al-Media says.

But she should be arraigned and fined for making indecent comments in public.

@sujatha.

pls did u watch the match? u did not. i did. so stop pontificating.

now if ur still in doubt. go to my blog and watch the video. also follow that wiki link u will get two more videos from different angles. watch all three videos and satisfy yourself.

btw, Materazzi is a hero. he hit 2 goals to win italy the world cup. and all zidane did is hit one penalty spot kick. even a nursery kid can score that way. LOL!!

Now both will never say the truth, the microphones set all over the ground would have caught the conversation verbatim and thats the only way to confirm. Whatever had been said, its unfortunate that Zidane chose to retaliate physically- but you can't judge a person with your values, may be the culture from which Zidane is from requires one to react this way. So while you may call him Goonda, his mom will call him a good son.

People of Arabic descent can comment on how they would react to an insult to the family, I guess they won't be less harsh. Often the opponent utilises this weakness in the other to paint him black.

Now would u call his mother a "good" mother

she has said "I wants his balls on a platter"

is this what she thought her children. no wonder her son grew up to be a goonda. if he did not have football talent. he would have been a terrorist or gangster.

Apparently some mother's don't mind ordering that, when someone says "son of a terrorist whore" to her son!. But these are hearsays at best.

hahaha :). zizou himself has "admitted" that matrix did not call him that.read his news interview today. so matrix is innocent and now repeat after me zizou is a goonda.......a rowdy......a terrorist ;)

#11 Well Sanjay I am surprised with your presumption that I have justified Zidane's actions (no where written)! Perhaps the translation of a Bengali poem (which was on my mind) would clear my statements more.

"The dog has done his work by biting you, but should you as a human being bite it back in revenge?"

I was going to write here 'Perhaps it shows your lack of judgement.' But I really should not. Mistakes can happen.

Rezwan wrote:
"Well Sanjay I am surprised with your presumption that I have justified Zidane's actions (no where written)!"

Please check again what you wrote:
"The incident proves that Zidane is only a human being who made a mistake of biting back a dog who had bit him."

Let's be clear here -- Materazzi had not bitten Zidane, nor had he head-butted him. A verbal insult does not compare to a head-butt. So it's not a case of tit-for-tat, or of bite-for-bite. It's a head-butt in response to a verbalism.

That big baby couldn't take an insult? He needs to run to the bathroom and have a good cry then.