Our fallen angels

Just one moment of madness and Zinedine Zidane’s glorious football career ended in shame with a red card send-off.

Worse still, Zindane had inspired France to the final of the Fifa World Cup and his presence at the penalty shootout could have even made the difference.
Though Zindane is still being hailed the hero by the French public, the red mark on his career will always remain. If France had won, probably the effect would not have been so severe.
Zidane had been known to lose his cool before. Once the emotions cool down, the French may see the incident in a different light. Zidane may well get a bit of the blame for France’s defeat.
Luckily Zidane will no longer don the French colours on the international arena. Otherwise, his opponents will have a field day trying to bring him down for reasons other than football. With politics very much an integral part of sport, politicising the issue would surely have followed.
There are already murmurings along racial lines because the French team is made up largely of immigrants.
Zidane’s is not alone in the sporting world for making a mess of their last hurrah. Boxer Mike Tyson immediately springs to mind.
Tyson’s aggressiveness always got the better of him, particularly in the latter half of his boxing career.
But he left the world stage in total disgrace. In an insane moment, Tyson tried to bite the ear of his opponent Evander Holyfield.
Tyson unfortunately could not handle all the fame he got and often got into trouble with the law. His private life was a mess and this reflected on his erratic behaviour.
Leaving the world stage on a high is every sportsperson’s dream. And many have managed to achieve this despite the odds.
None can be illustrated better than former cricketer Bobby Simpson. At the height of the Packer controversy in the late seventies, Australia had lost most of their players to the cricket circus.
The Australian cricketers then turned to the retired Simpson, who was 41 but still fit. Simpson’s second coming was like a dream when he led Australia with great credit and contributed crucial centuries with the bat.
Others like tennis stars Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg have timed their exits to perfection, consigning winning swan songs to history.
That is the way to go. The world will always remember Sampras and Borg as great tennis players.
Zidane, however, can only hope that time will erase the blot in his copybook.