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Sports as a Civilizing Mission: Zinedine Zidane and the Infamous Head-butt

2008; University of Toronto Press; Volume: 19; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3138/topia.19.11

1916-0194

Yasmin Jiwani,

North African History and Literature

Zinedine Zidane, hailed as sports athlete par excellence, has come to symbolize the success of the postmodern French state, the new France pluriel. In this paper, I interrogate this image of Zidane through a critical examination of the news coverage pertaining to his infamous head-butt against Marco Materrazi in the final match of the World Cup of soccer in the summer of 2006. In mapping this coverage, I focus on Zidane’s “fall” and “redemption,” drawing attention to the racialized discourse that was used to define and advance particular explanations of the event. I argue that the coverage not only reproduced Orientalist frames (animal imagery, violence and irrationality) but also underscored associations between Muslims and terrorists in its speculations regarding what Marco Materrazi had said to provoke Zidane’s actions. I contend that athletes of colour who are held up as “race ambassadors” are used strategically by the state to deflect attention from critical debate and to obscure state violence. This is a strategy common to colonizing countries and white settler societies. At the same time, women remain on the sidelines confined within a discourse of chivalric masculinity.