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News reports in the London Times (ah, that font of wisdom) reports that what was said by Materazzi is that Zidane's mother (who was hospitalized that night with a chance of death) was “the son of a terrorist whore” before adding “so just f*** off"...
Yes, Zidane lost his temper, but yes, I would probably have head-butted the guy too.
Furthermore, on the issue of racism in Europe:
As some of you may know, I have spent all but two years of my life in Europe, and have encountered racism here first hand. In terms of soccer fans, Italians- not Germans, Brits, or most French- are by FAR the worst. Germans fans are not racist whatsoever (They cheer Odonker, who is black), and France cheers a team with at least five African or South-Asian players. The same goes for the Brits.
The Italians are the only ones to have ever threatened force against black players, especially those on their OWN teams.
Now, having said that: when it comes to hooliganism the Brits aren't racist per se... they just hate everyone who isn't British. When I was born, for example, white hooligans attacked other white hooligans for supporting the wrong team.
In Italy, on the other hand, non-white players have death-threats issued on a regular basis, and I remember times at which these threats were almost carried through.
Not to come across as too much of a Europhile, but with my experience in NC I would strongly argue that at least compared to London, which is, truth be told, becoming MORE racist, NC and the US South is still a far more racially charged environment than anything I have experienced in London.
But that's going off on a tangent.
JMO,
Solid
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