A burden too heavy to bear for the hero of the banlieues
When Zinedine Zidane walked off a football pitch for the last time on Sunday, it was not simply as a footballing genius. Despite his sending-off for headbutting an opponent in the closing minutes of the World Cup final, he had become a national emblem as perhaps no footballer of any nationality had before him. Yet the 34-year-old's career is a study in football's limited power to change the world.
Everyone who has ever played the game has struggled for absolute mastery of the ball. Zidane came closest to achieving it. His former teammate Didier Deschamps, longtime captain of France, said: "Zidane achieves on the field what everyone dreams of doing just once. If I had trained day and night I would never have got there."
France for many years stood out among western European nations in seeming immune to the intensities football generates. Until their country reached the World Cup final in Paris in 1998, many Frenchmen had never even watched a match. When Zidane defeated Brazil with two headed goals that allowed his side to lift the trophy, one writer declared the litany of French heroes now read Voltaire, Danton, De Gaulle and Zidane.
The son of an Algerian warehouseman became the model immigrant. Zidane worked hard, loved France and his Algerian grandparents, and although proud of his origins rarely mentioned Islam.
Many French politicians concluded that he and the multiracial team would help poor migrants "integrate" into France. Patrick Mignon, sociologist at France's national sports institute Insep, says they "seized on football as a 'miracle solution'."
It was always a questionable one. France had had ethnic football heroes before, notes the political scientist Patrick Weil. Indeed, a survey in the mid-1980s showed that of the 600-odd men who had by then played for France, at least a third had immigrant origins or came from outside metropolitan France. France's two great footballing heroes before Zidane were Raymond Kopa (originally Kopaszewski), son of a Polish miner, and Michel Platini, whose father was Italian. But with football starting to become a mass spectator sport in France, it seemed possible that Zidane could mean more.
He indisputably touched the country's poor immigrants. Ethnic youths celebrating French victories sometimes wave Algerian flags for Zidane. At the height of anti-Muslim feeling after September 11, a bearded Muslim standing outside a mosque declared on television: "I am a Frenchman and I belong to the community of Islam, just like Zinedine Zidane: he is a Muslim and he belongs to the community of football."
Yet Zidane could not change such people's lives. Many white Frenchmen revered him while voting for the far-right Front National party.
Long before last November's riots in the ethnic suburbs, Zidane's limited power was apparent. When France played Algeria in Paris in October 2001 - the first encounter in decades - French youths of North African origin drowned out the Marseillaise before the match and later invaded the field, forcing the game's abandonment. Despite Zidane, they did not consider themselves full Frenchmen.
The next spring Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National finished second in the French presidential elections. Most observers had thought him gone, destroyed in part by the team that he had disparaged before their World Cup win as foreign mercenaries who "don't sing the Marseillaise, or ignore it". Before the second round of voting, Zidane called on voters to disavow a party "that does not correspond to the values of France". Le Pen lost the second round, but he had already shown that the team's message was not getting through.
Many of the rioters last autumn had cheered when Zidane scored for France. But the country they so vocally supported had still stuck them in the banlieues. Similarly, in the US, black sporting heroes have not eradicated the ghettoes.
Amid France's disappointments, one man remains unquestioned. Since 2000 "Zizou" has regularly been voted most popular Frenchman in Journal du Dimanche's poll. The Muslim saint is displacing the topless revolutionary Marianne as the national symbol. That status seemed undiminished yesterday. Sympathy rather than anger was the predominant reaction - in apparent recognition of what his country owed him.
Zidane retired from the national team in 2004, but without him it floundered. Zidane returned to save the nation. He and his fellow genius, Thierry Henry, led a mediocre team with a strong defence to the final. If Zidane's header five minutes before his dismissal on Sunday had gone in, the World Cup would have been largely his. To the crowds serenading him on French streets - future rues Zizous - he had transcended his team. Even some players seemed to think so. William Gallas, France's centre-back, said afterwards: "It was his last World Cup and everybody wanted to win for him." Not for France but for Zidane - but then they had become almost the same thing.
Zidane gave France its greatest communal moments since the Liberation of 1944. Sunday's final will probably score France's highest-ever viewing figures for a television programme. But as the final ticked on, Zidane's physique - limited even in his prime - began to let him down. His bent back succumbed beneath the weight of a nation. Whatever the Italian defender Marco Materazzi said to him, it was probably his frustration at the game that prompted his retaliation.
Because football unleashes such emotions, we tend to exaggerate its power. In truth, even had the team won, Zidane would not have redeemed the lives of the unemployed in France's banlieues. Equally, his red card will not worsen their plight. At least it was an epic end that befitted an epic figure.
无力的足球英雄
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上周日德国世界杯(World Cup)决赛上，当齐内丁?齐达内(Zinedine Zidane)最后一次走下绿茵场时，那并不仅仅代表着一位世人公认的足球天才的离去。尽管在比赛最后阶段，齐达内由于用头撞击一位对方球员而被红牌罚下，但他仍然成为了一个国家的象征，在他之前，或许没有任何一个国家的球员享有过这种荣誉。而通过这位34岁球星的职业生涯，可以研究一下足球在改变世界方面有限的力量。
任何一位踢过球的人都拼命努力，以求完全掌握足球的技巧，而齐达内最接近实现这一目标。他的前队友、曾长期担任法国国家队队长的迪迪埃?德尚(Didier Deschamps)曾说道：“在球场上，齐达内完成了其他所有人梦想能做出哪怕只有一次的动作。即便我没日没夜地训练，也永远无法达到他的水平。”
多年来，法国在西欧国家中独树一帜，似乎不受足球引发的激情影响。在1998年法国闯入世界杯决赛前，许多法国人甚至从未观看过一场比赛。当齐达内用两个头球击败巴西，使法国队捧杯时，一位作家宣称，法国的英雄谱现在应该这样排列：伏尔泰(Voltaire)、丹东(Danton)、戴高乐(De Gaulle)和齐达内。
作为一位阿尔及利亚仓库保管员的儿子，齐达内已成为移民的楷模。他努力工作，热爱法国和他的阿尔及利亚祖父母，同时尽管为自己的血统自豪，但很少提到伊斯兰教。
许多法国政治家已做出这样的结论：齐达内和由多个种族球员组成的法国队，将有助于贫困移民“融入”法国。法国国家体育运动学院(Insep)社会学家帕特里克?米尼翁(Patrick Mignon)表示，他们“把足球作为一种‘神奇的解决之道’。”
这从来都是个有争议的话题。政治科学家帕特里克?魏尔(Patrick Weil)指出，法国以前曾有过少数族裔的足球英雄。实际上，上世纪80年代中期进行的一项调查显示，在那之前曾代表法国踢球的600多名球员中，至少有三分之一有移民血统，或者来自法国本土以外的地区。齐达内之前两位伟大的法国足球英雄是雷蒙德?科帕(Raymond Kopa，原名Kopaszewski)和米歇尔?普拉蒂尼(Michel Platini)。前者是一个波兰矿工的儿子，后者的父亲则是一位意大利人。不过，随着足球开始成为法国一项拥有众多观众的运动，齐达内的意义可能会更大。
他无可争议地影响到了法国贫穷的移民阶层。庆祝法国胜利的少数族裔年轻人，有时会为齐达内挥舞阿尔及利亚国旗。在9?11事件之后、反穆斯林情绪高涨的时候，在电视上，一位蓄着胡须的穆斯林教徒站在一座清真寺前宣称：“我是一个法国人，属于伊斯兰社区，就像齐内丁?齐达内一样：他是一位穆斯林，属于足球社区。”
然而，齐达内无法改变这些人的生活。许多法国白人崇拜齐达内，但还是投票支持极右派政党国民阵线(Front National)。
早在去年11月少数族裔聚居的郊区发生骚乱之前，齐达内影响力有限就已显而易见。2001年10月，法国队与阿尔及利亚队在巴黎交手――这是数十年来两国首次交手――在比赛开始之前，拥有北非血统的法国青少年的呼声盖住了《马赛进行曲》(Marseillaise)，随后他们涌入球场，使球赛被迫取消。尽管有齐达内，但他们还是不把自己完全当成法国人。
次年春天，让?马里?勒庞(Jean-Marie Le Pen)领导的国民阵线在法国总统大选止步于中第二轮，此前绝大多数观察人士预测他会出局，部分原因在于他曾在法国队夺取世界杯冠军前，将球队贬为外国雇佣军，称球员们“不会唱马赛进行曲，不拿国歌当回事”。在第二轮选举前，齐达内呼吁选民抵制这样一个“与法国价值观不符”的党派。尽管勒庞在第二轮选举中败北，但他已经证明，国家队的宣传没有成功。
当齐达内为法国队进球之际，许多去年秋季参加暴乱的人也曾欢欣鼓舞。然而，这个他们如此声援的国家却仍将他们困顿在郊区地带。同样，在美国，黑人体育英雄也无法根除黑人聚居区。
尽管法国有诸多令人失望之处，但有一个人的地位始终不容置疑。从2000年起，在《星期日报》(Journal du Dimanche)进行的民意调查中，“齐祖”（Zizou，齐达内的昵称）每次都当选“最受欢迎的法国人”。这位穆斯林圣徒正取代胸部袒露的革命女英雄玛丽安(Marianne)，成为法国的国家象征。直到昨日，他的地位似乎仍未动摇。大多数人的反应都是同情而非愤怒――这显然是对齐达内为法国所做贡献的认可。
2004年，齐达内退出了国家队，但没有了他，法国国家队步履艰难。为了挽救这个国家，齐达内重返国家队。他和自己的天才队友蒂埃里?亨利(Thierry Henry)一道，率领一支防守能力很强的普通球队走到了最后的决赛。在周日的比赛中，如果齐达内下场前5分钟的头球破门的话，世界杯很可能就属于法国队了。对于那些在法国街道上为他高歌的人群――未来的“平民齐祖”而言，他超越了自己所在的球队。甚至连一些球员似乎也这样认为。法国队中后卫威廉?加拉(William Gallas)赛后就表示：“这是他的最后一届世界杯，每个人都希望为他赢下这场比赛。”不是为了法国，而是为了齐达内――不过这二者之间几乎没什么差别。
齐达内让法国出现了自1944年解放以来最伟大的公众时刻。周日的世界杯决赛，可能成为法国历史上收视率最高的电视节目。但随着总决赛一分一秒地过去，齐达内的体力开始下降――即使在他的黄金时期，他的体力也是有限的。他在一个民族的重压之下弯下了腰。无论意大利后卫马克罗?马特拉齐(Marco Materazzi)对他说了什么，引发他的报复行为的都可能是一种挫折感。
因为足球释放出了这种情感，我们往往会夸大足球的力量。事实上，即使法国队获胜，齐达内也无法改善法国郊区失业人口的生活。同样，他得到的红牌也不会使他们的处境恶化。至少，这是一个英雄般的结局，配得上一位英雄人物。
