Italian politician brands France soccer team 'blacks and Islamists'
July 12, 2006

ROME -- The far-right vice-president of the Italian senate stoked anti-French feeling in the country on Tuesday, branding Italy's World Cup final opponents "blacks, Islamists, and communists."

Roberto Calderoli, head of the rightwing popular Northern League party, refused to retract earlier comments in which he hailed Italy's defeat of France in Sunday's World Cup final as "a victory for Italian identity."

"When I say that France's team is composed of blacks, Islamists, and communists, I am saying an objective and evident thing," Calderoli was quoted on Tuesday as saying by the ANSA news agency.

His comment, in response to a complaint to the senate by France's ambassador to Italy, reiterated remarks made on Sunday in the aftermath of Italy's World Cup victory.

Italy's all-white team, from a largely devout Catholic populace, had won against "a France team that sacrificed its own identity by lining up blacks, Islamists, and communists to get results," Calderoli had said on Sunday.

Members of France's national team, composed largely of non-white players, returned to a heroes' welcome on Monday despite their defeat by Italy in Berlin on Sunday.

France captain Zinedine Zidane gave an unexpected twist to the match when he was sent off for head-butting Marco Materazzi, after the Italian player allegedly made racist insults.

But Zidane - the son of Algerians - was backed by his country's politicians. "France admires you and loves you," President Jacques Chirac told him on his team's return from the tournament.

France's ambassador to Italy, Yves Aubin de Messuziere, denounced Calderoli's earlier comments as "an unacceptable and contemptible declaration, meant to foment hatred."

But Calderoli refused to apologize.

"France is a multiethnic nation, given its colonial past, of which I would not be proud," he said. "It's not my fault if certain people were puzzled to see a team which lined up seven blacks out of 11 players ... and if certain players prefer Mecca to Bethlehem."

Calderoli, former institutional reform minister in the government of ex-president Silvio Berlusconi, has made a reputation for inflammatory comments and gestures. He resigned as minister in February after he was criticized for wearing a T-shirt lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, sparking deadly anti-Italian riots in Libya.

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