「挑発はゲームの一部」 英紙、FIFA処分を批判 2006年07月21日14時19分
国際サッカー連盟（FIFA）が、ワールドカップ（Ｗ杯）ドイツ大会決勝でジダン（フランス）の頭突きを誘う侮辱的発言をしたマテラッツィ（イタリア）を処分したことに対し、２１日付の英紙は「プロのゲームの一部として、挑発的発言は受け入れられてきた」（デーリー・メール紙）と批判的に報じた。タイムズ紙は、両者の罰金の差額を挙げ「頭突きは、姉への侮辱より１０９０ポンド（約２０万円）分だけしか悪くない」と指摘。今回のマテラッツィの処分は「英国のさらに気性の激しい選手のためになる動き」と皮肉を交えて伝えた。
「FIFAは、太古からサッカーの一部だった基準や慣習を窓から投げ捨てた」。ガーディアン紙（電子版）は、マテラッツィの発言が明らかになっていない中、どのような発言が今後処分の対象となるのか不明確だと批判した。（共同）
（asahi.com 2006年7月21日）
The Timesのかなり皮肉った記事。
Zidane and Materazzi share guilt in clumsy end to saga By Rick Broadbent
IN A move that will be of interest to Britain’s more volatile footballers, Fifa ruled yesterday that a head-butt is only £1,090 worse than insulting an opponent’s sister. As the sport’s governing body attempted to draw a line under the Zinédine Zidane saga, it also invited allegations of incompetence by banning a player who has retired and then signing him up to work for it.
A disciplinary commission in Zurich heard Zidane and Marco Materazzi, the player he assaulted in the World Cup final in Berlin on July 9, deny that the Italy defender’s verbal provocation had been of a racist nature. However, Materazzi admitted making defamatory remarks and was banned for two matches and fined £2,170.
Zidane, the France captain, who was sent off after the incident in the second half of extra time, was banned for three matches and fined £3,260. Having ended his playing career after the final, which Italy won 5-3 on penalties, he has agreed to do three days’ community work with children on one of Fifa’s humanitarian projects. Both players apologised for their behaviour.
In issuing the verdict, there is a danger that Fifa has made a rod for its own back, with cynical players having the option of pleading the Zidane defence if found guilty of any act of violence. Materazzi, who appeared in front of a Fifa panel last week, has said that he had abused Zidane with “one of those insults you hear dozens of times and that often slips out on the pitch”.
Zidane countered that the defender had insulted his mother and his sister, while Materazzi further reduced the debate to the level of the playground by saying that Zidane’s mother had been spared. It was widely speculated that Materazzi must have said something racist to have driven Zidane to such an act, but such discussion ignored the former Real Madrid player’s disciplinary record, which includes 14 red cards.
With Zidane refusing to state publicly what had been said, the aftermath of the World Cup final descended into a guessing game that spawned wildly contradictory explanations. Britain’s leading lipreader said that Materazzi had called Zidane the “son of a terrorist whore”, while the BBC claimed that he had wished “an ugly death” to the Frenchman and his family.
Materazzi claimed that he was too ignorant to know what “terrorist” meant, while a cousin of Zidane added to the confusion by saying that the insult had been “son of Harkis”, a reference to the Algerians who fought on the French side in the war of independence.
Last week, Zidane appeared on French TV to apologise to the children who watched the World Cup final, but he added a few ifs and buts. “They were very hard words,” he said. “I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that.”
With Fifa’s authority increasingly a matter of debate, Sepp Blatter, the president, scarcely helped matters by suggesting that Zidane could be stripped of the Golden Ball, the trophy awarded to the World Cup’s best player. Journalists had until midnight after the final to vote but still gave the award to Zidane. Yesterday, Andreas Herren, a Fifa spokesman, dismissed that idea out of hand. “This question was not raised by the commission,” he said.
Fifa also dismissed the lingering suspicion that the fourth official from Spain, Luis Medina Cantalejo, had seen Zidane’s head-butt only on a television monitor. The commission heard from Cantalejo and Horacio Elizondo, the Argentine referee, yesterday.
“I would like to reiterate that the fourth official saw the incident with his own eyes and did not see it on the monitor,” Herren said. “The fourth officials are trained to see off-the-ball incidents and not just concentrate on the action where the referee is involved. The regulations state they are to report any violent incident to the referee.”
The Italian football federation, which is dealing with the domestic match-fixing scandal at present, can appeal against Materazzi’s ban. If it does not, he will miss the Euro 2008 qualifying fixture against France in September, when Fifa’s zero tolerance on name-calling is likely to be tested to the limit.
HOW TO PUNISH RETIRING TYPE
The world waits with bated breath to see what Zinédine Zidane’s community service entails. Fifa’s humanitarian projects include the SOS Children’s Villages and the Red Card To Child Labour campaign, but here are three other possibilities.
#Coaching: David Trezeguet, for one, could do with some help on shooting.
#Crash-test dummy: The most impressive aspect to Zidane’s head-butt was the way he did not injure his neck. This could be of use working in a developmental role in the car industry.
#Children’s entertainer: As such a naturally ebullient person, Zidane could be a dab hand at parties. A bit of magic, a scary clown and a unique way of dealing with naughty boys who pull their sister’s pigtails.
(Times Online July 21, 2006)
