Race to the ball. That's all it should ever be.
It’s a shame, but if it had to happen, I really wish that this whole Luis Suarez “is he racist/is he not racist” soap opera didn’t involve my club.
The ignorance of some has clouded the judgement of many who, unbelievably, think that their player has only been punished for what he said because he said it against a United player. And others have said that United fans are jumping on the PC bandwagon, and wouldn’t care if it was against anybody else.
SO wrong, and SUCH an early 1990’s view.
There are many instances where it’s admirable to stick by your team, your player’s and anyone connected with your club through whatever circumstances. It’s called loyalty and there’s many occasions where you will argue, in context with the current issue, that black is white.
But there is a line.
There is a point where even if you love a player more than the wife and kids, if there’s the chance he’s done anything wrong you have to at least acknowledge that. You can still stick by him, offer him your unconditional support, and sing his name if you go to the next home game. But all that, coupled with club rivalry should not mean you swear blind that you’re club are being victimised again.
Murky waters
I can easily see that, upfront, this situation isn’t that clear cut from an evidence point of view. Everyone knows that. The whole “You can’t see it on TV so it didn’t happen” thought process is as laughable as it is shallow. No-one else on the pitch heard it…but counter that with the fact that if you’re going to wind someone up, and you don’t want to get caught, you’re tactful about it aren’t you?
Liverpool mentioned in their statement: “…when no-one else on the field of play – including Evra’s own Manchester United team-mates and all the match officials – heard the alleged conversation between the two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth while a corner kick was about to be taken.” Liverpool need to remember their self titled “hostile atmosphere” could have added to that problem, should any comment have been made. And let’s think back to Arsenal’s Robin van Persie’s sending off against Barcelona last season.
One piece of evidence that’s conveniently ignored by some is quite key, and starts to add clarity to the drama. It’s been reported a number of times since the accusation, but there’s some definite selective hearing and reading going on:
Luis Suarez admitted that he called Patrice Evra “El negrito”.
It all becomes a little more black and white now, doesn’t it?
Ok, so if those reported admissions are true, and it seems to be widely accepted that they are with no denial from Luis Suarez….then we’re still a bit confused because this whole “cultural differences” thing comes in to play.
There’s the notion that Suarez calling Evra what he did isn’t considered to be racist in his native country. Something which seems to be clearly true and you can hand a small piece of benefit of the doubt to him for this, and there are a lot of cultural differences between South America and Western Europe.
But Suarez had been in England for ten months. You would have thought…no, ignore that…you KNOW he was fully aware of the Kick It Out campaign that he and his peers are involved in as a professional footballer, and you also know he will have realised the ‘dos’ and ‘donts’ of England in that time.
Prior to his transfer to Liverpool, he’d captained Ajax Amsterdam. He’d been at that club since 2007, and spent a year with Groningen of the Netherlands prior to that. That’s five years he’s been in Europe, where racial remarks are looked down upon, and I can’t for the life in me think that he’s missed the boat with that one.
So…how is he ‘guilty’?
For me, if he has used this “it’s not like that in my country” stance as his defence for his ‘el negrito’ comment, then I’m afraid it’s too weak after living almost a fifth of his life in Europe. And excuses aren’t a powerful tool when you’re under investigation. I’m presuming that he did use it as was one of the main subjects of hiss defence, and if so it now starts to un-ravel as to how the guilty verdict came about.
It’s also worth noting that there hasn’t been one ounce of regret from Suarez for his ‘accedental insult’. The pure defensive, we shall fight this to the hilt attitude from Suarez, his club and his manager smacks of desperation and guilt, and when you’re weighing up a verdict, I would guess that goes against you. Had Suarez come out and said something like: “If I offended Evra, I’m sorry. I did speak to him, but did not intentionally offend him, and I regret that” – then the whole “It’s not like that in my country” thing becomes a bit stronger. But he didn’t. And it didn’t. You see, one thing you can see on the TV is that Suarez said something to Evra, which riled him judging by his reaction.
Boot on the other foot?
After World Cup 2010, I wanted United to sign the Uruguayan. I thought he was class and I still do…I said to my Liverpool supporter mates when he joined them that I thought he would be the best signing of 2011 in the Premiership. I still think that.
But had we have signed him, and he’d done what he’s just been charged with, I’d still have supported him as our player, cheered his name but felt disappointed and wished he hadn’t done it, felt embarrassed about it. He’d have gone down in my estimation a bit maybe, and I could still count him as one of ‘us’ – with a stern view that he must never do it again.
Unfortunately, I don’t see many Liverpool fans doing that, as I stated at the beginning of the piece.
Ignorance and rivalry has clouded right from wrong here, and you only need to gauge the conversations and comments from BOTH fans to realise that we’re using the issue to go to war again. We don’t need to do that, we’re the two most important teams in the world who play the most important match of the season. United v Liverpool.
But I do believe that the FA have done the right thing this time…IF they have set a precedent…something they’re not very good at.
Follow me on Twitter: @stevecrab
You sir have just written one of the most stupid articles ever! and you wonder why all the country hates your team and especially your supporters.
One mans word against another! I suppose it would have been alright if he had called Suarez a ‘Spic’ or something similar.
Why has Evra not been charged with whatever he has admitted to saying?
Get a grip of yourself man.
Thanks for one of the most insightful and thought provoking comments that this site has ever had the pleasure of receiving.
the FA should all be sacked first rooney getting his ban reduced when he clearly kicked an opponent but its ok because hes englands best player.. evra didnt seem to upset when he and saurez were arguing then he comes out while on international duty and makes the accusation. Why not when it happned??? One mans word against anothers is awful evidance.. Espaecialy when the FA felt they had grounds to appeal Rooneys three match ban!! TOTAL JOKE!!
IT is no longer glory glory time, Evra went after saurez to have him banned it was plain to see, evra even got booked and said to the ref your are booking me because im black, nah i wont be at old traford again in my life time, if saurez got 8 match bans then evra should get the same
Good and measured article. Ignore the obvious ignorant Liverpool fan. The fact is if Suarez had said “I didn’t say anything” then none of this would have happened. However he has admitted it, Evra contests it is ten times and I do have to believe him. Liverpool’s whole stance has been despicable and lacking in class. It disgusts me how they can not have the decency to come out and at least say ‘Yeah, he said it without realising the full impact, is sorry to offend anyone and will behave in the future’. But no, they have tried to make it seem like it is all Evra’s fault and there is a witch hunt. 8 game ban? laughable…if a missed drugs test gets 6 months, why should this be anything less?
Thanks Nik. Good points too…you’re right, you can liken it to if United had done the whole “It was his fault” thing when Cantona kicked the fan, we’d have been in the wrong.
Your ignorance angers me clearly the FA had enough evidence to ban cantona lol
Marky – if you’re talking ignorance, please look at the subject of my comparison so you don’t come across ignorant yourself. Read my comment again, and if you need me to spell out that I’m referring United’s reaction to Cantona’s actions, compared to that of Liverpool when a player has made a racist remark, I will do so in large, easy to read words.
Well if you cannot stop saurez on the why not.. YOULL NEVER WALK ALONE SAUREZ!!!!!!
IS IT CRABTREE , MORE LIKE CRAB
APPLE WHAT A HATEFULL PERSON YOU ARE, MANU IS BETTER THAN THIS HATE FULLNESS YOU ARE BRING A CLUB DOWN NOT ONLY YOU BUT GIGGS ROONEY NOW EVRA THE FIRST TWO WOULD BUCK THE CREACK OF DAWN EVRA HE THINKS HE IS SOMETHING SPECIAL MAYBE HE IS IN AFRICA
CRAB APPLE? ITTS MORE LIKE CRAB PASTE
in all honesty i think that the FA’s motive should be questioned here.. i think saurez is being used as a scapegoat against sepp blatter.
have you missed your drug test ya twat
God comment steve
The case brings several unanswered questions mostly surrounding the FA.
If as he is said to have stated Suarez admitted to using the word el negrito and the FA saw this as a basis to charge the player why did it take them so long to bring the case to trial.
Why did it take so long for the independant panel to convict Suarez if the case was the use of the word well he had already admitted it so surely it should have been an easy guilty verdict.
We are all guessing what really went on as only the two players know and I am sure they will have differing accounts if they were made public.
We are now left in the position where hopefully no foreign player can mis-understand the rules surrounding racist remarks to other players but my fear is where does racism stop is it just colour or can it be construed as birthplace i.e a scotsman being called a jock ,hair colour ginger ,there are no defined rules and the list goes on.
Finally with all the technology in the premier league today lets hope if this happens again that it will be picked up on camera as per John Terry incident otherwise we could see some players take advantage of this ruling with false accusations against other players and players like Suarez may well be accused again if it is just one players word against another, I know this may seem far fetched but we see players cheat and dive on a regular basis so what is to stop it if you can get a rival star banned for a minimum of 8 games say as a benchmark, there is a lot of money to be earnt in the premier league/champions league so this is a motivating factor.
The FA need to open up these hearings to the public to show how the outcomes were arrived at and not just release minutes of the hearing afterwards, they also need to make clear to clubs and players that as well as racism not being tolerated that false accusations will be dealt with in the same way.
Cultural or not Suarez has admitted his guilt by use of the word he needs to serve his ban and Patrice Evra to cool the situation between the clubs and for the good of the premier league could do a press conference with Suarez re iterating as he said to the FA that Suarez is not a racist at which point Suarez could apologise for his use of the word . This would be a positive way to move on from such a mess.
I agree – with so much media interest, and quite a lot of mystery surrounding this, it’d be good if the FA came out with a detailed, plain English broadcast of some sort, as to how they considered this, evaluated it, and made a verdict right from day one to the end. They could state that it has either set a precedent or how they will evaluate claims such as these in the future, and it’d be a big step towards minimising the problem.
However, I’m not the only person to have a complete lack of faith in the FA – for every one good thing they do, they deliver ten bad things – they’ve done good so far, how they handle the aftermath of this, and the John Terry situation remains to be seen.
You’ve got “Liverpool mates” & you want us to pay attention??
Xmanufan = prick
if suarez had d urge to say he used the world negrito,it means he doesnt feel it is bad,judging from his native language..cos if he knew dat it was bad nd implicating in england,he wouldnt have admitted using the world..i strongly feel dat there is another side to this case dat has not been made public.
IF YOU CANT STOP THE WEE MAN ON THE PITCH THEN WHY NOT.. YOULL NEVER WALK ALONE LUIS!!