Terrorism and the World Cup
Just yesterday, almost 200 people died in Mumbai, India as several bombs exploded one after the other during a ten-minute period during rush hour. Hospitals are now unable to cope with hundreds of wounded victims awaiting treatment.
It’s been a little over a year since the London bombings.
When will they stop?
I am no soccer fan. But with the whole world going crazy over the recently concluded World Cup, I had no choice but to give it a second look. The only players I know are of course, Becks, Rooney, Gerrard, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho.
I was supposed to watch the final in a pub near work last Monday with my workmates. But as I was not too well on Sunday night, I woke up late on Monday and had to watch the game from home. I missed the penalty shoot-out as I had to leave just before it started. But I saw the headbutting incident.
It’s been the talk of the soccer world the past few days. What provoked the French captain to headbutt Materazzi? And I just heard from the news that it was something Materazzi said about Zidane’s mother and sister that provoked him. He said he shrugged it off the first time and the second time as well. But on the third instance, he just had to do something as a man. He said he preferred to have been punched in the face than hear something as bad as what was apparently said. Materazzi denied this saying he didn’t say anything that Zidane has not heard from any other opponent.
The fact is, whether or not what Materazzi said has been said by others in the past is irrelevant. Heckling is common in all sporting events. However, if you heckle your opponent’s family or personality, you get no help from the referee. If you heckle the referee, you see the red card.
