Le Piazza Beaubourg, Paris, September 2012

A five-metre bronze statue weighing several tons stands in the square outside the entrance to the Centre Georges Pompidou. Office workers cycling home on theirVelib’ swoop down the slope to get a closer look; tourists mimic the pose of the two figures that constitute the statue; groups of hooded and tracksuited male youths point and pause; couples on an evening stroll take a detour to the foot of the monument. The artistic marvels of the Centre Pompidou are generally restricted to the paying public and rarely accessible to the passer-by. Rarer still do they reprise an image so instantly recognisable to so many. The statue is of two men, one bent forward, his head and expressionless face almost in contact with the upper chest of the other, who seems to cry out as he falls backwards. The body positions and shapes are unmistakable, recalling one of the most unforgettable moments in recent sporting and popular history: the 2006 football World Cup final and the altercation between France's Zinedine Zidane and Italy's Marco Materazzi.

Thuram and the Great Family of Man

In 2007, the Musée de l’Homme at the Trocadéro in Paris put on a display of three skulls as a centrepiece of an exhibition designed to illustrate the development of mankind. The skulls included two that were already part of the museum's collections: replicas of that of a Cro-Magnon and of a skull reputed to have been that of philosopher René Descartes (numerous European collections have at various times claimed to possess Descartes's skull). The third replica – a threedimensional model of the skull of footballer Lilian Thuram – was a new addition. Thuram was another leading light of France's 1998 World Cup-winning team, famously scoring his only two international goals in the semi-final win over Croatia. He subsequently went on to captain the national team and to gather a record number of appearances for France, including in the aforementioned World Cup final of 2006. In his extra-sporting activities he also began to foster a reputation as an activist, educator and public intellectual.

René Descartes (numerous European collections have at various times claimed to possess Descartes's skull). The third replica – a threedimensional model of the skull of footballer Lilian Thuram – was a new addition.