Let’s take a moment to revisit to the recent FIFA World Cup and the infamous head-butt incident that got French star Zinedine Zidane kicked out of the championship match against Italy in the overtime period.
There’s no question that Zidane momentarily lost his mind when he head-butted Italy’s Marco Materazzi, who allegedly insulted Zidane members of Zidane’s family, particularly his mother and sister.
Not only did Zidane show poor judgement, because he was lost for the penalty-kicks phase that ultimately decided the match in favor of Italy. But, he showed poor leadership and remarkably thin skin for the captain of a team that has a dozen black players.
Having several black teammates, Zidane has seen first-hand the over-the-top, old-school racism they have to endure in Europe on a daily basis. It is commonplace for legions of skinheads and neo-Nazis to show up at these games to openly shower players with racial epithets. Such behavior is as commonplace in Europe as signing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is at baseball stadiums across the United States. There was a reason why before every World Cup match, each team captain would read a statement to the crowd speaking out against racism.
Yet, during the worst of times, black players such as French star Thierry Henry and others endure and continue to perform brilliantly despite all of the rage and pain that they must be feeling inside.
Zidane is fully aware of his teammates plight and the remarkable restraint that they must display, yet when an Italian rival decides to play a little “dozens,” he goes off the deep end and cost his country a shot a soccer’s biggest prize.
Africa’s team
The American’s editorial director, Chris King, spent the past two weeks in the West African nation of Ghana, which was still on fire with love for football (as the rest of the world, of course, calls soccer), its national team and the nation itself, in the wake of The Ghana Black Stars’ surprising appearance and gutsy performance in the 2006 World Cup. The Black Stars lost to eventual champion Italy 2-0 in their first match, then beat Czech Republic 2-0 and USA 2-1 to advance to the elimination round, where powerhouse Brazil beat them 3-0.
While King was in Ghana, the Black Stars were being serenaded on local radio by Ghanaian pop star Reggie Rockstone, who wrote and recorded an impromptu consolation anthem for the returning heroes. The Stars were omnipresent in the local media. They also emerged as pan-African power symbols, as the Stars’ camp in Germany was visited by football legends from all over the continent, including Roger Milla, Samuel Eto’Fil of Cameroon, Kalusha Bwalya of Zambia and Ghana’s own Abedi Ayaw Pele and Anthony Yeboah.
Ghana is a relatively prosperous African democracy with an emergent middle class and many handsome and elite neighborhoods and suburbs in the capital city of Accra. But not everyone in Ghana has their own television set, and in general the social environment of Ghana and other West African nations tends toward community. So throughout Greater Accra, during his visit, King saw large groups of people huddled around television sets in the outdoor taverns known as “spots” (and titled amazing things like Thing Big Spot or Jesus Is My Life Spot), watching every move on the field as World Cup 2006 came to a close, with their beloved Black Stars watching with them on the sidelines back home.
