The France vs. Italy final

[Brewman_Jax]

I was sorry to see that it had to go to penalty kicks. Too bad the days are over when there's a tie after 90 mins, they came back 2-3 days later to do it again. Congrats to Italy for redemption for WC 1994.

[Kire]

1. Materazzi totally tweaked Zidane's nipple

He still deserved the red card, though

[Brewman_Jax]

2. Gotta be more

to the story. Zidane is going to end his career and get ejected (all here know that a head-butt is an automatic red card) in overtime over a purple nurple? Hurts like hell, yes, but worthy of a head-butt with all eyes watching? I'm waiting for the rest of the story.

[truebrit71]

3. .."You son of a terrorist whore...."

...is what reportedly set Zidane off...

Me personally, I think matarazzi was bloody fortunate not to have the ever-loving shit kicked out of him right then and there....

[Brewman_Jax]

4. I can see that

would set him off. Too bad that no one else could have heard that also. It's Zidane's word against Materazzi's, and of course, Materazzi is going to deny he said anything.

[Kire]

5. where did you hear this?

where is this "reportedly" business?

Zidane's not only an asshole, but he's a crybaby?

Which language was Materazzi speaking, French or Italian?

[Matilda]

6. Claim made by a lip-reader.

This was posted in today's Sydney Morning Herald:


http://www.smh.com.au/news/world-cup-2006/son-of-a-terrorist-whore-zz-jibe/2006/07/11/1152383744670.html


My understanding is that the ref didn't see the incident, and gave the red card after repeated
calls from Buffon, and that's not legal as far as I know. The refereee has to be a witness to
any incident. The Italians could, and would, say or do anything to win - how could the ref
make a spot judgment on whether he was telling the truth? And it certainly appears it wasn't
the whole truth.

Still, the onus was on Zidane to keep a cool head - it would have been terribly demoralising to
his team for the captain to be sent off in such an important match.

[Kire]

7. Zidane is a son of Algerian immigrants

People riot for days in France over shit like that. They burn cars. They destroy buildings. This has very serious consequences.

Looking forward to how Zidane handles his statement.

BTW, did he say it in English? The lip reader was from the UK.

[Matilda]

8. That's an interesting question,

given that they don't speak the same native tongue.

I also read on a thread in LBN that a Bazilian lip-reader had come up with a similar deduction.

Maybe they all speak Esperanto.

[truebrit71]

9. The lip reader sounded the words out phonetically for translation...

..as reported by the Daily Mail and the BBC.

[truebrit71]

10. The only asshole is the italian player...

..and the ref....

[Kire]

11. I know that now

[Kire]

12. Zidane's statement

Zidane Says Insults About Family Prompted World Cup Head-Butt
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601089&sid=aACcCMMZ1cxY&refer=home

I'm sorry but no regrets - Zidane
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5169342.stm

Materazzi won't tell what he said, but he will sing a White Stripes song with the Rolling Stones
http://www.unison.ie/breakingnews/index.php3?ca=42&si=94921 (use BugMeNot)

[Matilda]

13. I've read that FIFA is talking about stripping Zidane's Best Player award

from him. That is so wrong - he's been disciplined for what he did and that's enough. It was a
really stupid thing for him to do, but he paid the price already.

It's wrong that Materazzi should get away with what he said, whatever it was, but it's in keeping
with the attitude of officials towards Italy throughout the whole tournament.

[ozone_man]

14. I don't think that will happen.

Zidane deserves it. It's Materazzi's turn to pay the piper now. Since he violated FIFA's new rules in regards to racism and player repect, he should be severely reprimanded. He really should have been red carded along with Zidane, since it was his steady harrassment that led to the situation. Zidane said the right thing today, an apology, but no regrets to defending his family's honor in the presence of racial slurs. Materazzi's lucky to have any teeth left.

[brentspeak]

15. Since when did Materazzi violate FIFA rules in regards to racism?

Zidane today said that Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother and sister, but he made no mention of any alleged racial comments.

[Matilda]

16. I've been trying to search the FIFA rules in regard to verbal abuse

and so far I've only found that there are rules against verbal abuse of the referee, but not against
another player, except for racial slurs. You might be right, that whatever Materazzi said was not
illegal, as long as it wasn't racial.

[ozone_man]

17. Materazzi violated FIFA fair play code

in regards to player respect and racism toward a player.

BTW, do you retract this statement yet?

"As scummy a player as Materazzi is, he's allowed to say whatever he wants"

Regarding the rules of fair play as indicated in the FIFA Fair Play Code, it is made clear that respect of players is required.

4. Respect opponents, team-mates, referees, officials and spectators

Fair Play means respect. Respect is part of our game. Without opponents there can be no game. Everyone has the same rights, including the right to be respected. Team-mates are colleagues. Form a team in which all members are equal. Referees are there to maintain discipline and Fair Play. Always accept their decisions without arguing, and help them to enable all participants to have a more enjoyable game. Officials are also part of the game and must be respected accordingly. Spectators give the game atmosphere. They want to see the game played fairly, but must also behave fairly and with respect themselves.

7. Reject corruption, drugs, racism, violence, gambling and other dangers to our sport

Football’s huge popularity sometimes makes it vulnerable to negative outside interests. Watch out for attempts to tempt you into cheating or using drugs. Drugs have no place in football, in any other sport or in society as a whole. Say no to drugs. Help to kick racism and bigotry out of football. Treat all players and everyone else equally, regardless of their religion, race, sex or national origin. Show zero tolerance for gambling on games in which you participate. It negatively affects your ability to perform and creates the appearance of a conflict of interests. Show that football does not want violence, even from your own fans. Football is sport, and sport is peace.

http://www.fifa.com/en/fairplay/fairplay/0,1256,12,00.html

I think there is no one who disputes that Materazzi did not repect Zidane and steadily harassed him to the point of intolerance. Also, nipple twisting would definitely be considered disrespect.

In regards to racism, since Zidane is not yet saying exactly what was said, we must consider the translations of lip readers experienced in Italian, which Zidane understands of course.

As reported by ABC news, BBC's lip reader translation"

"An ugly death to you and all of your family"

and an expletive that cannot be said on TV.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2178137

And from French paper Le Monde.

"the son of a terrorist whore"

which you can decipher from the translation (babel fish).

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3242,36-794882@51-734920,0.html

"Terrorist" is a racist comment considering Zidane's Algerian roots. Calling a player's mother a "whore" is probably the word that could not be mentioned by ABC news. If FIFA is actually serious about cleaning up soccer, they should throw this bum out of World Cup soccer.

But if there are any doubts about the integrity of Materazi, check this video out. This is the style of soccer he plays.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WJPKM5aJGW8&mode=related&search=materazzi

[Kire]

18. self delete

this deserved its own thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=343&topic_id=348&mesg_id=348

[medeak]

19. It's all about the manlove for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUiE-npWqEk&feature=Discussed&page=2&t=t&f=b