Soccer: French pardon for Materazzi
Soccer world asked to forgive head- butt provocation
PARIS (ANSA) - With Christmas here, the French soccer world is in a forgiving mood towards the Italian defender many blamed for provoking France great Zinedine Zidane into the head-butt with which he ended his career.

The France Football magazine, organiser of the European Footballer of the Year competition, said Tuesday it was "finally time to make up" with Marco Materazzi.

In extending its laurel branch, the mag celebrated recent spectacular goals by the Inter defender but had a playful dig by mentioning a 40-yard own goal last season.

It gave its readers five reasons to "bury the hatchet" with Materazzi for the insult that caused Zizi to lose his head.

These were: "1) he played a great World Cup; 2) he is very skillful; 3) he speaks his mind; 4) he is an open-hearted man; and 5) he loves France".

The July 9 headbutt, which resulted in Zidane missing the end of his swansong for France, spurred a stream of debate in which the Real Madrid player was cast first as villain and later hero.

It soon appeared in an Internet game in which players made Zidane hit Materazzi as often as they felt like, and was later turned into a hit song that echoed around Italian beaches.

In August a Chinese businessman bought the rights to headbutt cut-outs to be put on clothes and accessories.

Last month a young Italian designer launched a line of tops featuring a stylised logo of a man hitting someone with his head.

Alessandro Ferrari dubbed his range Xqua, pronounced Perqua, to echo the "Pourquoi, pourquoi, pourquoi?" (Why, why, why?) with which French public TV's shocked commentator reacted to Zizou's act.

Materazzi, who was banned for two games - one less than his illustrious opponent - for making the French legend hit him, recently issued a charity book, What I Really Said To Zidane, which has become a bestseller in Italy.

The scores of alleged 'provocations' include "Where exactly is the sternum, Zizou?" and "What's wrong Zinedine, you haven't lost yet and you've already torn your hair out".

Other pearls include threats to tell the France midfield genius the ending of US cult series Lost or get him into the next edition of the desert-island reality show I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.

Materazzi also delights in playing against his French media image of low, scheming villain with the highbrow jibe: "French philosophy hasn't been the same since Foucault died".

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Iain Duncan Smith
Iain's great-grandmother, was Ellen Oshey, a Japanese woman. Iain Duncan Smith is therefore one-eighth Japanese

just wondering here. doesn't your sig break the forum rule?

not a real sig but added pics

I still use a pic of my little she-cousin as sig

Zidane back in New Year bang
Head- butt firecracker joins favourites like Saddam's Head

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-12-29_12923470.html

(ANSA) - Rome, December 29 - Zinedine Zidane's World Cup Final head-butt has become the inspiration for Italy's latest New Year firecracker, joining past favourites like Saddam's Head, the Bin Laden Bomb, Maradona's Ball and the Vesuvius firecracker.

The Zidane Head-Butt, which gives off a single, tremendous blast, packs a highly dangerous and illegal punch, Italian police said.

The outrageous names of the most powerful fireworks are targeted at youthful mayhem-lovers.

Last year the biggest banger was the Kamikaze, or suicide-bomber.

Evergreen favourites include Terminators, Spring Thunderers, Magnums and SAMs (short for Surface to Air Missile). Over the past week Italian police have been impounding tonnes of illegal fireworks as a traditional holiday crackdown continues.

Banned fireworks have been confiscated up and down Italy. De facto mortars and letter bombs packing a potentially lethal punch have also been seized.

The biggest hauls have come in Italy's illegal firework capital, Naples, and in Rome, where Chinese immigrants are putting their own oomph into the trade.

Some think the Chinese, whose expertise dates back longer and creates a wider variety of colour and explosions, may one day tip the Neapolitans off their longstanding perch as Italy's biggest sowers of pandemonium. But police think they may be taking some of the fizzle out of Italy's customary New Year mayhem.

"We're fairly optimistic about this year. We've collected more gear than ever. But you never know, especially with the new sources of production," said police chief Gianni De Gennaro.

The New Year is greeted as loudly as possible around Italy but nowhere more recklessly than in Naples, the city that each year has the grimmest toll of injuries and sometimes deaths.

In some places, the random firing of guns adds to injuries and near-death experiences. Last year one person was killed and 583 injured in fireworks explosions - a slightly higher injury toll than 2004-5. The death of a Salerno youth whose rudimentary device blew up while he was putting the finishing touches to it was the first fatality since 2002.

Before last year, the tolls had been declining because of a government campaign against the tradition of throwing explosives from balconies and rooftops.