It was just a matter acknowledging the efforts of the people who contributed, but didn't stick it out through the end to become a full fledged member of 4ZL. I'm not trying to downplay 4ZL's accomplishments at all, if that's the way people took it.
It was also a indirect way of complementing the strong diplomatic play during the world. 4ZL and its allies showed some of the most intelligent diplomacy out of any world I have ever seen. We shrugged off all other tribes attempts to pit us against each other and mistrust each other. Certain moves also sidestepped potential conflicts that would have made 4ZL's alliances harder (IE just before 4ZL and area merged, there was a lot of diplomatic tension between area and nyx, who were not allied and vying for the same territory... that all went away after the merger). 4ZL's diplomacy and cooperation with its allies is the underlying characteristic defining the victory, in my opinion. Of course 4ZL has great players, but the diplomacy was so good that the players were never really challenged.