More on Zidane

Thanks for the piece on yesterday's blog on Zidane in the last world cup where he hit an opponent for making a racist remark. I was in a friends house when this happened. I was so excited. It was almost as good as when the worlds greatest sprinters held up their clenched fists on the podium at the 1968 olympics to oppose racism and poverty. They took a stand which resulted in them being sent home from the Olympics and drummed out of their sport for years to come. These were principled men.

Zedane too is a principled man. He took a stand which ended his participation in the world cup and brought down a mountain of criticism on his head. My friend with whom I saw this was part of this criticism. He said that is sport, they call each other all sorts of racist and other terms to try and disorient them. The players just have to learn to take it. I got very angry. Why should players learn to take racist insults? Zidane should have been made a world hero rather than being attacked. He took a stand against racism which cost him big, instead he should have been made a world hero. The world of sport should have rose up against the racist and he should have been sent off and not Zidane.

If more people took Zidanes position the sports authorities would have to take action. They would have to move against racism and other forms of abuse and division in sports. If they did not they would come into conflict with their best players.

I like what Zidane said after he was sent off. He said; "First of all I am a man." He did not mean he was not a woman. He meant that first of all he had principles and lived by those and would not bow his knee to the racist atmosphere of the world cup authorities of the demands of any team. He meant that he was not going to live his life according to the racist norms of the world soccer authorities but he was going to live his life according to the principles in which he believed. And one of these was to oppose racism. I admire Zidane.

By the way on the 1968 Olympics the Olympic bureaucrat who forced the US team to send the sprinters home was a top bureaucrat at the 1936 Olympics , the nazi Olympics, where German athletes gave the nazi salute. He took no action against this. He did not send the nazi saluting athletes home. Instead he smoozed with Hitler.

Sean.