It was a wonderful headbutt

Monday, July 10th, 2006

There’s a certain small part of me that must admit that Daniel Davies has a point — It was a wonderful headbutt:

In the world of football, I suppose, Zinedine Zidane’s legacy will always be controversial, forever tainted by his moment of madness in the world cup final. In the world of headbutting, however, he has secured a place in the gallery of immortals.

Oh, it was a great headbutt. Connoisseurs of the noble art of the headbutt have very few opportunities to see a genuinely world-class practitioner in action; it is a banned tactic in the Ultimate Fighting Championship these days. And Jimmy Nail isn’t on the telly as much as he used to be. But Zidane’s was a classic.

He just did everything right. There are many elements to the perfect headbutt, of which Zidane’s size and strength were perhaps the least important. I was much more impressed with his technique, which was practically flawless. I am sure that Materazzi would agree with this assessment; perhaps for the first time in his life, he was left flying through the air and falling over because of actually being hit.

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Isegoria

It was a wonderful headbutt

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