Still troubled by Liverpool’s Luis Suarez T-Shirts
It’s one of those issues that is truly divisive, and there don’t seem to be many fence-sitters regarding Liverpool’s support of Luis Suarez at Wigan on Wednesday night.
I understand Kenny Dalglish’s desire to support his player, much as I do the Liverpool players’ unity in the face of adversity – but this was the wrong gesture at the wrong time. Liverpool, as a club, are and always will be bigger than an individual player, yet the decision to warm-up in those T-shirts almost created a question mark against the club as a whole rather than just against Suarez. Obviously that’s just a perception, but it shows how poorly thought-out this public relations exercise really was.
On what grounds were the rest of the squad convinced that such solidarity was a good idea? Presumably because they ‘know’ and ‘like’ Luis Suarez, and think that he ‘isn’t a racist’. Well, I don’t think anybody really thinks that the Uruguayan is actually a racist – he’s charged with making racially-inappropriate comments. He can be innocent of one and guilty of the other – and remember, all the Liverpool players have already admitted to not having heard the exchange between Evra and Suarez.
The FA’s penalty may well seem harsh to Liverpool, and that’s presumably because there remains so much uncertainty about what actually happened in that Anfield penalty area – but then equally, if that grey area does exist, how can Liverpool make such a definitive statement about the player’s innocence.
What will happen if something else comes out of this; a previously unheard detail that further incriminates Suarez? If the published judgement further stains the South American’s character, how do Liverpool back-track through Dalglish comments and those T-shirts? Wouldn’t the club then face the embarrassing reality of forever being tied to this incident?
This has all become too tribal. Liverpool fans think Suarez is being harshly-treated, most others disagree. That’s fine, because that’s the nature of the support that has grown around the game. But that shouldn’t extend to the club, it’s a business – removed from supporter passion, and should have reserved judgement until a complete explanation for the verdict had been received from the FA.
Without dumbing this down to a ‘no smoke without fire’ debate, eight game bans are not just handed-out for no reason. The FA works without prejudice, and with the aim of protecting the interests of the game in this country, and so there must be something within this case that they believe warrants the suspension handed-down.
Posted on December 23, 2011, in General and tagged Liverpool, Luis Suarez, Patrice Evra, Racism, The FA, The Premier League Owl. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
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Just like the FA – you are part of the problem. You are descriminatory. You publish a piece assuming that Suarez is guilty and the whole team is complicit in defending their friend. Why don’t you address the real problems about this issue?
By all accounts so far the case has been determined on hearsay and a deference to the Man Utd player’s testimony (which was given twice to Suarez’s single testimony). Liverpool have to fight this even if the ban gets extended. If they don’t, it sets a precedent for players to get other players banned, criminalized, and defamed without evidence. Suarez might even have a legal case as the FA have not shown parity in the treatment of both players in an incident where they both allegedly traded insults. The sanctimonious English media have joined the witch-hunt, even attaching Suarez world cup hand-ball video to the story on the BBC website. Foreign players will feel even more aggrieved if Suarez gets hanged and Terry is let off.
The FA are trying to act like they are taking the high road on this but they don’t have any moral authority. You can’t arbitrarily decide to get tough on such allegations all of a sudden, without precedent, and without equitability.
But the FA has opened a can of poisonous worms here – and I think their political attempt to be tough will have a very negative impact on the game. Toadying up to them will only condone the nasty and vitriolic actions we will now see on the terraces, where only an allegation can see players publicly defamed and demeaned. The FA, keen to get a dig in on Blatter, have walked into new territory and shown themselves to be biased, inconsistent, and one could even say someone racist in their rushed and sham moralism. And Man Utd fans that have supported the vile actions of Rooney, Keane, Ronaldo, Best, et al over the years spout their propaganda without doing a modicum of research on the epithet that Evra used against Suarez.
In short, I am trouble that you are troubled by Liverpool’s actions. Why should they lie down and be willing scape-goat?
Why the delay? This is highly unsatisfactory.
It is true that further revalations could come out about Saurez, but simliarly they could yet come out about Evra. Clearly he said something offensive to Saurez. The big question is was there a racial element to what Evra said or was it just an insult.
There is much ‘speculation’ that Evra said (in Spanish) to Suarez, ‘don’t touch me Sudaca’. Sudaca basically means South American immigrant, and would be deeemd very offensive when said in a heated argument, equally as offensive as Negrita. A bit like an English person saying ‘Don’t touch me you Spick’
Is ‘spick’ less offensive than ‘nigger’? Two horrible words but an interesting question.
It will be interesting if the FA punish Evra equally.
the FA panel works without prejudice? even the member of the panel who ha s a history of links with the ferguson family????? give me a break…..
clearly you have joied a suite of parrots in this case without using your brain…..certainly nobody is alowed t make derrogative comments about ather people’s nationality….a this is exactly what patrice evra did….without even being charged for this……still thinking about the work without prejudice?
“The FA works without prejudice”
I wish you had put that nearer the start of the article, so I could have stopped reading then
If the FA believe that there is something that warrents this lenght of ban then they should simply say so. To delay this long while the world moves on is negligent. They cannot simply give a ban that is more than twice what they would give for violent conduct, heavily therefore imply racism, then walk away without further explanation. They have easily had long enough to explain their decision and should have had it available on the day.
The FA works without prejudice? Do me a favour…