Forgiveness would wilt the norms that keep sport honest. Accountability preserves the incentives to avoid violence.
Forgiving Zidane's act would erode the calibration of sport’s rules; penalties are the feedback loop that keeps players from turning play into chaos. If we reward the act, we dull the incentives to restrain.
Forgiveness rewrites the battlefield rules, teaching future violators that violence pays and norms bow to mercy.
