“What could Materazzi have possibly said to send him over the edge? Answers are beginning to filter out. According to a FIFA employee transcribing what was said during the match, Materazzi’s called Zissou a ‘big Algerian shit.’ A Brazilian television program that claims to have used a lip-reader said Materazzi called Zissou’s sister ‘a whore.’ The highly respected French anti-racist coalition SOS Racisme issued a press release stating, ‘According to several very well informed sources from the world of football, it would seem [Materazzi] called Zissou a “dirty terrorist”.'”
… “Zissou is the son of Algerian immigrants who has sparred verbally with Europe’s far-right political machine for more than a decade. He is an outspoken anti-racist on a team that has defined itself by its multiculturalism and stubborn insistence to stand up against bigotry both inside and outside the sport. Materazzi on the other hand, will be playing this year for the Italian team Lazio, where his father was the former coach. Lazio’s fan club, The Ultras, are notorious for their Fascist-friendly politics. Lazio’s hardcore Ultras, known as the ‘Irriducibili,’ have members in Italy’s extra-parliamentary far right and try to use the club to recruit. The group has frequently used racist and anti-Semitic banners, one time hanging a 50-foot banner that said their opponents were a ‘team of niggers.'”
… “We don’t know with iron certainty what Materazzi said, but if it turns out to be more of the anti-Black, anti-Muslim, garbage that has infected soccer like a virus, the Italian team should forfeit the cup. They should voluntarily give the greatest trophy of them all back to FIFA as a statement that some things in this world are more important than sports. Racism will be the death of soccer if things don’t change. Italy can set the sport back on course, with one simple, stunning gesture.”
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