The retiring French football captain, Zinedine Zidane, was sent off in yesterday's World Cup Final for head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Zidane today said, through his agent, that words had been exchanged and that Materazzi had made (in paraphrase) "very serious" comments about the Frenchman. Zidane went on to win the Player of the Tournament award from FIFA, football's international governing body.
Surely Zidane should have refused the award on the grounds that violent conduct should not be condoned in this way? It's not that accepting the award would make him a role model for young players; he already carries that status, as shown in the many press conferences before the final. However, it would have been an excellent show of integrity - and an implicit apology - if Zidane had passed the award on to the second-placed player, Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro.
Having said that, Zidane has already ended his career in a mixture of disgrace and celebration, so to deny him an award which he surely deserves, if the red card is ignored, might seem rather unfair. I am very interested to hear people's opinions on this one...
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