Soccer`s bad boy Balotelli

The mothers of boys who are high school seniors in Korea are breathing a sigh of despair these days, saying their children face three disasters. They are fearful that their sons` average score on the college entrance test will fall due to the PC game Diablo, the London Summer Olympics and the European soccer championships. The exciting Euro 2012 has greatly benefited from the economic crisis gripping the continent. Fans have enjoyed games between debtor and creditor countries as political competition rather than sporting events per se. The culmination of political soccer was the Euro semifinal between Germany and Italy on Friday. Italian forward Mario Balotelli, 22, scored both of his team`s goals that day. After scoring the winning goal, he received a yellow card for taking off his jersey in a “Hulk ceremony,” which became a symbol of the tournament. He was the lone black player to start for the Italian squad.

With his spectacular two-goal performance that gave Italy a 2-1 win and a ticket to the final, the Italian daily Libero posted on its front page a cartoon showing Balotelli kicking a soccer ball in the face of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Another Italian newspaper, Il Giornale, expressed excitement, saying, “It is none other than you Merkel who must leave the euro.” Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti secured the European Union’s decision that EU member states will prevent interest rates on Italian government bonds from rising at the EU leaders’ summit on the day of the semifinal. As a result, a newspaper said in a commentary, “Two Super Marios saved Italy.”

Media are lauding Balotelli for his semifinal performance but had competed to report his bad behavior, including threatening young players with darts and using cruel and abusive language, up until the eve of the match. Balotelli was born to an immigrant couple from Ghana. Skin color is an issue even in sports. His bad temper partly symbolizes his anger against racial discrimination. A combined 59 race-related incidents occurred in Italy over the past year, resulting in fines of 400,000 euros (500,000 U.S. dollars).

In the wake of Balotelli’s stellar play, a Balotelli Act that would grant citizenship to a child born to foreign parents living in Italy has become a hot issue in the country. The player`s scoring ability on the field has not only helped revitalize the spirit of Italians, who are under heavy pressure due to massive national debts, but has also accorded them a serious task. Korea in May saw an unsuccessful attempt to naturalize the Brazilian soccer player Eninho Oliveira Junior, who plays for Jeonbuk Hyundai, as a Korean national. As is the case for the Balotelli Act, the naturalization of Eninho was an opportunity for Korea as a multicultural society to display its willingness to embrace foreigners.

Assistant Culture Desk Editor Lee Jin-yeong (ecolee@donga.com)