No excuses for indulging violence in sport

I suppose it was inevitable. There is now a game you can play online, where the aim is to get Zidane to headbutt Materazzi during a one-minute period, thereby collecting as many red cards as possible. If Materazzi falls over, he is replaced by an army of clones. No blood, no guts. All good clean fun, then.

The commentary on Zidane's attack during the closing minutes of the World Cup has been fascinating. It has been pretty evenly divided between shocked outrage and those who feel that at least Zidane has shown that he will not take insults lying down, but instead will make sure that the insulting party lies down very rapidly indeed.

Two heads of state have declared their undying loyalty to this Algerian-born son of France. Not bad going for what the man himself admits was not a blind flash of rage, but a calculated response.

Interestingly, he apologised to children everywhere, and then declared that he did not regret his reaction, because to do so would be to say that Materazzi was right. So he is sorry, but does not regret it. Some commentators even praised his restraint, in that he only headbutted his opponent in the sternum, unlike the unfortunate German Jochen Kientz who was left covered in blood after Zidane headbutted him in the face in 2000.

That accounted for one of Zizou's 13 other red cards before this one, but that does not make him a dirty player. He is too talented for that, you see. He does not need to be a dirty player, unlike say, Maradona, who once got sent off for kicking Brazil's Batista in the family jewels. A role model for Wayne Rooney, then.

Those defending Zizou fall into three camps. There are those who say that one moment of weakness should not detract from the flashes of brilliance during the World Cup. There are those who believe it is no big deal. There are others who believe that the nature of the insult justifies the attack.

Enter the professional lip-readers. In scenes reminiscent of Monty Python's Life of Brian, where hearers confidently declared the speaker to have announced that "Blessed are the cheesemakers", the professional lip- readers variously tell us that Materazzi called Zidane's mother a terrorist whore, or insulted his sister, or said something vicious about Muslims. Aside from seriously undermining the credibility of professional lip-readers, this tells us only that some commentators believe that someone is justified in headbutting another if goaded enough.

That should make the next sitting of the Dáil extremely interesting. One could perhaps open a book on who will get headbutted first, and by whom. Joe Higgins by Bertie? Michael McDowell by Liz McManus?

The Guardian, tongue presumably firmly in cheek, provided us with a detailed explanation this week of why Latin countries find insults to mothers so offensive, placing the blame squarely at the feet of Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Helpfully, they did point out that it is not confined to Catholic countries. The Finns, for example, with their Protestant heritage, apparently suggest that one's mother has had, how shall I put it, relations with reindeer. In Mandarin Chinese, it is sufficient to imply that one's mother is a big turtle.

We were also told that there is a programme on MTV called Yo Mamma where the aim is to find the most inventive insult involving a mother, as in: "Yo Mamma so fat she's on both sides of the family."

Nowhere in the article by Stuart Jeffries was it pointed out that Zizou, while describing himself as non-practising, is the son of Algerian Muslims. Missed opportunity, there, given that mothers are held in extraordinary esteem in Islam. Perhaps the writer felt that the situation was incendiary enough, without dragging Islam into it.

Other writers declared loftily that his actions would not make any "good kids into bad kids." True enough, but if footballers are not considered to be influential, why do they get so many lucrative advertising deals? Presumably they are paid extraordinary amounts of money to endorse products because millions aspire to be like them.

It was telling that the companies like Adidas, Dior, and a French telecom company which help to make Zidane so incredibly wealthy, earning nearly £9 million a year, were in no hurry to distance themselves from him. Of course, Zidane is only trotting after his Real Madrid team-mate, David Beckham, who allegedly earns £17 million a year, the vast majority of it coming from endorsements and advertising.

We allow our celebrities to operate by a different set of rules. Once upon a time, royalty were allowed to get away with almost anything. Prince Charles must regret that he did not live in an earlier era. Then, the only question asked about his relationship with Camilla while Diana was still alive would probably have been, "Only one mistress?"

Yet now politicians and royalty are meant to be the epitome of integrity, while celebrities are allowed to behave as outrageously as they like, with no dent in their earnings.

There is something obscene about the figures earned by celebrities, including sports stars. Certainly, sport can teach important values, but increasingly, the only values being promoted are those of conspicuous wealth and self-centred behaviour.

Zidane's action was an act of violence. It was disloyal to his team, and to his country, in that he seemed to care more about avenging an insult than about the effect it would have on his team-mates and their prospects in the World Cup final. Some have tried to justify his actions by speaking of his tough origins in Marseilles, but there are many players who come from equally disadvantaged backgrounds who do not resort to using their heads as a weapon.

Zidane missed an opportunity. He could have turned down the offer of the Golden Ball award, thereby in some way compensating for the bad example he gave to so many adoring young fans. Certainly, children will not now take up headbutting as a sport, but they will have absorbed the message that if you are talented enough, or famous enough, you will be excused and indulged no matter what you do.