Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

‘ Un homme avant tout ’: Zinedine Zidane and the sociology of a head‐butt

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 10; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14660970802601696

1743-9590

Shirley Morrissey,

Cultural Identity and Heritage

In the hundred and eleventh minute of the 2006 World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane was ejected from the field of play for head‐butting Marco Materazzi in the chest. What provoked this violent reaction was a challenge to his masculinity in the form of a slur on the chastity of his mother and sister. This essay tells the story of the head‐butt and, in so doing, would demonstrate that only a sociological account is capable of offering a truly sophisticated understanding of the incident. It thus draws on the work of Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu and argues that Materazzi’s insults acted as a catalyst, causing divergent aspects of Zidane’s fractured habitus to clash, and the dispositions of the Franco‐Kabyle habitus to override the ‘civilized’ habitus demanded by the illusion generated by the professional football field, and erupt onto the pitch in the form of the now notorious head‐butt.