An Apology for Materazzi (but not from Zidane)

By: Laurie | April 9th, 2008

Over on my France page, I have a commenter who stops by every month or so to ask, “Has Zidane apologized to Materazzi yet?”

I used to respond, but now I just kind of ignore it. Because the answer will never change. And that answer is: “Not in this lifetime.” Love him or hate him, Zidane is who he is, and he responded to circumstances in the only way he was capable of, and that apology ain’t gonna happen.

But Materazzi has at last received not just an apology, but “substantial damages and his legal costs.” Not from Zidane. (Oh, please.) But from the Daily Star, which has offered a settlement and a public apology for alleging that the headbutt was the result of Materazzi’s racial abuse.

Materazzi’s counsel Jane Phillips told the hearing: “In (post-match) articles the defendant (Daily Star) stated, quite wrongly, that the claimant (Materazzi) had used vile racist abuse during the World Cup final, including calling the mother of his opponent, Zinedine Zidane, a ‘terrorist whore’, thus goading Zidane into losing his temper and causing Zidane to head-butt the claimant.

“The defendant accepts these allegations are wholly untrue and that there is no question of the claimant having said anything of a racist nature to Zidane whatsoever…”

We can debate forever on what happened that day and why. (My opinion? It wasn’t the sister insult that caused it. It was the purple nurple.) If you’re a Matrix fan, you and I will never see eye to eye. But I never, ever believed the “son of a terrorist whore” rumors. It’s not in his personality. Materazzi deserves a lot of things, but he didn’t deserve that. The settlement is just.

But Marco? By the way? I think Shevchenko’s jewels are still waiting for their own apology.

(Hat tip to Molto Calcio.)

***********

And by the way, I am rather thrilled by this news, because it gives me the opportunity to post one of my favorite videos of all time, the Coup de Boule (headbutt) Song. (Just a teeny bit PG-13, so don’t watch with your boss looking over your shoulder.) Link to French lyrics and English translation here.

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Category: Europe, World Football

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talia

Wow. Laurie, you are a better person than I can ever hope to be because I despise that Sasquatch so much that I don't think he should have gotten a red cent or an apology. He deserves every bad thing that happens to him. Knowing what a thug and a bully Materazzi is and then having to endure almost 2 years of him playing the victim all the while shamelessly cashing in on the incident is almost too much to bear. Zidane was too gentle with him. I'd like to get out my whip from my fetish days and flog his flea bitten carcass until he cries "uncle" and really give him a reason to cry out in pain or better yet, admit to everything that he said and did (I agree with you about the nipple thing) to provoke Zizou. This court decision was a joke.
finnegan

the headbutt was a long time coming. materazzi has been terrorizing the italian serie A for years now, making attacking players afraid to confront him - not because they're afraid he'll shut down their attack but because they're afraid he'll injure them. materazzi doesn't simply tackle hard, he literally goes in to hurt people. in my opinion, zidane aiming to rupture his heart is just the treatment a delinquent like materazzi deserved.