Day: October 8, 2012

This post was first published in my private blog on Thursday, July 13, 2006.  I had to dig it up and publish it here again in light of the little news item I came across in this week’s Time magazine that reported a commemoration of this incident by way of a 16-ft.-tall bronze statue in Paris, France.  The picture all the way below this post is the picture from the magazine.  The piece was initially titled, ‘Provocations and Retaliations.’

So when is a physically violent act justified on the basis of a provocation of words? Zidane has offered an explanation and even an apology to the “children of the world” but without much of a shadow of regret.

Does it make it alright now to go about headbutting your opponent the next time there’s some trash-talking on the court? Not to make little of the ugliness of trash-talking (which has been around since time immemorial), but could anything offensive said about one’s immediate family in a sports arena really justify such unsportsmanlike behavior? And given the scale of this event that claimed to have a world-wide viewership of 1 billion, not to mention the fact that Zidane was the captain of the team, were even these two factors not compelling enough for Zidane to exercise restraint and keep walking??

If all’s fair in love and war (and a sporting event is a form of war where the object of the engagement is to crush your opponent), how can this disgraceful display of boorish behavior ever be justified, no matter what the provocation? I would expect a sportsman to be so focused in the pursuit of that goal/run/basket that no such petty trash talk would deter him from achieving that objective. And whatever happened to taking the high road in such circumstances?

And the circumstances really do matter in this context– when the eyes of half of the world are on you at that moment, is it right, reasonable and responsible to strike out with a violent act of the kind that sends your opponent crashing to the ground? Zidane had the option of ignoring the comment, or responding in kind rightaway, or even taking it up with Matarazzi after the match, but no, he chose to TURN BACK and deliver a blow of the meanest kind in the stomach of his opponent. Had Zidane been behind Matarazzi on the field when the provocative insult was hurled at him, it might have been somewhat understandable that Zidane couldn’t help but lunge forward to retaliate, but the fact remains that he physically turned back to conduct violence. This shows a complete and utter lack of control, restraint and unsportsmanlike behavior!

I say to Zidane, granted, turning the other cheek is easier said than done, but if that’s absolutely not possible, then you should have just kept walking away! And if this level of maturity did not exist, then you had no business to be a leader of your team and certainly not a leader on moral values such as upholding your mother’s honor in the face of insults.

Your mother, by the way, might have been prouder had you led your team to victory rather than headbutting your opponent to protect her honor. And if you believe that Matrazzi’s trash-talking would really affect your mother’s honor, then I would question the nature of your opinion of your mother’s honor. But that’s besides the point, really. The point is, you have abused your position and privilege to justify a disgraceful act in the name of your mother. No provocation justifies this.

Let the children of the world be told that this type of behavior will not be tolerated on the playing field, no matter what your opponent may say to provoke you. The game must go on, and you must do your part to play it well, no matter what the provocation.

The best retaliation or revenge if you are a victim of trash-talk is to win the game, not to be kicked out of it! And afterwards maybe, you can take it up with your offending opponent in private– after you’ve let the referees and FIFA and even the world know what you put up with on the field. And then you could’ve said with a smile, “GRBR!” — that’s “Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish!”