I’ve made no secret of where my sympathies lie in the incident involving Zinadine Zidane and Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final and all its consequences. So you can imagine how I feel about the following.
In the days after the match, one big question began to appear in the press, like some Great White shark rising in the surf-zone looking for prey. Would Zidane’s sponsors continue to pay him the many millions of dollars they have been giving him since he came to prominence in world soccer in the nineties? The answer came without hesitation: They will sponsor him for as long as they promised, and perhaps even further. Score one for Zizou.
Then after interviewing both players and other observers, the members of the FIFA disciplinary committee issued their decision. Zidane was rightly punished and fined for his terrible act. Neither did Materazzi the provocateur escape, being suspended and fined, and also publicly castigated for his conduct. Since the Italian will continue to play, you can look at his punishment as being the more severe of the two, because it will have a longer-lasting effect on the player and his national team. Score two for Zizou.
Finally, we learned a few days ago that a song about Zidane’s butt had reached the number one spot on the French single hit parade. Initially the song——Coup de Boule——was e-mailed to about 50 friends of the lyricists and composer, but quickly invaded the Web, with French radio SkyRock putting it on its play-list and ringtone sellers and music labels fighting for the rights.
According to Reuters, Warner Music France bought the song from the trio and two days after its release on July 20, the tune was No. 2 in the French charts, selling 17,000 copies. At ten days 75,000 had gone, as well as 110,000 downloads, and now Coup de Boule is the best-selling ringtone in France. Score: Zizou three, Materazzi nil. A pretty good thumping, I’d say!