The World Cup finals of the year 2006 .. France vs Italy , did not end with a bang like many would have hoped for, instead it ended with a whimper. Weighed down by the loss of their captain, Zinedine Zidane, in the 110th minute France lost whatever semblance of a possible victory by goals and instead had to settle for a penalty shootout instead. The loss of Zidane due to a red card earned by him headbutting the Italian defender Marco Materazzi must have come as a surprise to everyone. The loss of the "Zidane Effect" characterised by the beautiful and tricky play made possible due to his presence in the field hit the Les Blues hard as they just couldn't get another goal agains their defensive Italian rivals. But to the question that is nagging you now ...
 
Why would he do it ? Why a head-butt ? Anything wrong with his fists ? Why didn't he just pee on Materazzi ?
Let me explain . Ever since time immemorial , head butting has been a treasured method of settling argument. " Use your head " we hear sometimes, this alludes to the usage of your head to 'solve' problems. Even dinosaurs did it. They head-butted each other for dominance over the pack .. probably these traits remain in our genetic memory through some shared distant genetic ancestor of the dinosaurs. Even the word itself is wonderful, fully explaining the nuances of head-butting. "Head" obviously from the part of the body used to instigate this wonderful social behaviour , whereas "Butt" from the word that refers to the posterior region which implies that the head takes up the role of the butt to cushion us from impact .. also " butt " can also mean to violently shove a part of the body towards an object , similar to ramming.
In fact the act of head butting Materazzi was an act of social bonding brought on by the stong brotherly feelings conveyed by the world cup. As players playfully pat each other's rump and enjoy close physical contact , strong feelings develop and the need to bond with each other arises. This in turn lead to Zidane head-butt. Unfortunately the referee being more closely related to the simian branch of the evolutionary pathway was unable to understand the "dinosaur gesture" and mistook it for an offense. Sadly Zidane was flagged with a red card and had to end his final appearance in the World Cup in shame.
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If you had the endurance to read this far you deserve to know that everything I wrote above was pure absolute crap (as are most of my opinion). If you have an opinion , you should write it down too. Don't worry if it seems weird, cause it probably is. If you don't agree with someones opinion , don't bother going for more than the standard " I don't agree " cause you'll just be wasting your breath. Opinions are like assholes , everyone has one and it's all full of shit.
Zinedine Zidane is a great football player. He played well and he has very good sportsmanship spirit. If his act of head butting Materazzi and consequently getting a red card seems like such a terrible evil it is only because of the respect and adoration most fans of the game has for him. Like a white cloth which is stained , the offence seems more pronounced and terrible then if a black cloth was stained. Zidane was a man, he went agains Materazzi who is infamous for his dirty tactics and rough method of play. Materazzi is knows for his absolute defence , one in which either the ball gets past him or a player gets past him but not both together. Playing with a person like that, it is only inevitable that you would get your shirt pulled and your legs kicked , you would probably be pushed and cursed and such. We still don't know what he said to anger Zidane but put yourself in his shoes .... you just might just do the same.
Zidane was only a human being . I am not defending him for what he did in the match but instead I just want to say that I understand what he did and in his position I might have done the same also. Probably a bigger man than me and Zidane would have ignored whatever jape that was tossed at them but we probably won't ever know who he is cause such a big man would be above admiting his superiority.
Goodbye Zinedine Zidane , you have played well ! We will remember you for your great moments and forgive your lapses in judgement because everyone makes mistakes.
Pic : Zidane walks past the World Cup as he heads towards the locker room after being red carded. This was the closest he got to the World Cup that night. So close , yet so far.
p.s : Sorry if the post weirded you out. I've been a bit down since France lost .. still in shock .. |
