Thursday, June 29, 2006
I thought it was Ribery who was on the right wing in the French team...
...but more fool me, it's the ancient, hate-filled tosser; Jean-Marie Le-Pen piping up from beyond the grave to castigate the French national team for being more les noirs than les bleus. I could understand criticism of the coach (Raymond Domenech) or that the average age of the team would not be significiantly increased if Le Pen himself (78) was added to the team.
Le-Pen comes out with the argument favoured by fascists, former soldiers and old people in general that it is a disgrace for national players not to sing their national anthem - pointing his hate-filled fascist finger in the direction of clown-cum-keeper, Fabien Barthez and Zinedine Zidane the ageing superstar of French football. Domenech countered pointing out that "...the Spanish don't sing, the Argentineans don't sing [the national anthem]", which is true, especially in the case of the Spaniards whose anthem has no words. Dick.
Lilian Thuram, the Guadaloupe-born record French cap holder, responded brilliantly in a Press Conference. His sentiments brought a rousing round of applause from the assembled French media.
"He's the type of person [Le Pen] who'd turn on the television and see the American basketball team and wonder: 'Hold on, there are black people playing for America? What's going on?'
"When we take to the field, we do so as Frenchmen. All of us. When people were celebrating our win, they were celebrating us as Frenchmen, not black men or white men. It doesn't matter if we're black or not, because we're French. I've just got one thing to say to Jean Marie Le Pen. The French team are all very, very proud to be French. If he's got a problem with us, that's down to him but we are proud to represent this country. So Vive la France, but the true France. Not the France that he wants."
Le-Pen comes out with the argument favoured by fascists, former soldiers and old people in general that it is a disgrace for national players not to sing their national anthem - pointing his hate-filled fascist finger in the direction of clown-cum-keeper, Fabien Barthez and Zinedine Zidane the ageing superstar of French football. Domenech countered pointing out that "...the Spanish don't sing, the Argentineans don't sing [the national anthem]", which is true, especially in the case of the Spaniards whose anthem has no words. Dick.
Lilian Thuram, the Guadaloupe-born record French cap holder, responded brilliantly in a Press Conference. His sentiments brought a rousing round of applause from the assembled French media.
"He's the type of person [Le Pen] who'd turn on the television and see the American basketball team and wonder: 'Hold on, there are black people playing for America? What's going on?'
"When we take to the field, we do so as Frenchmen. All of us. When people were celebrating our win, they were celebrating us as Frenchmen, not black men or white men. It doesn't matter if we're black or not, because we're French. I've just got one thing to say to Jean Marie Le Pen. The French team are all very, very proud to be French. If he's got a problem with us, that's down to him but we are proud to represent this country. So Vive la France, but the true France. Not the France that he wants."
