It defied belief on various levels. For one thing, why bite an opponent? If you’re hungry, have a kit kat (other snacks are available). And most snacks don’t come with a mouthful of hair. But Suarez has even done this before, when playing for Ajax in the Netherlands. It is a bizarre thing to do once, let alone twice when the first incident invoked a seven match suspension.
Suarez may well have a ban topping that and possibly even the eight match ban handed out for abusing Patrice Evra last year when the FA are done with him. It is hard to imagine the Uruguayan appealing his ban, given the apology already issued, Liverpool’s condemnation and the FA’s suggestion that the usual three match ban is insufficient.
Clearly he deserves it too, in order to send out a clear indication that his actions are completely beyond the pale and deserving of scorn and condemnation. Yet there is something strange about all of this. Biting, anti-social and disgusting as it is, deserves a severe ban, but no more surely than a dangerous two footed tackle? Or any other form of on field abuse, whether it is racial or anything else.
So Suarez may wonder why the players who sometimes clatter into him with determination to take him out at all costs, and potentially risking breaking his legs, are not treated equally as severely. It has already been noted that the player is no stranger to controversy, having been banned for the spat with Evra last year and been accused of diving numerous times (like no one else has done that).
So whilst Suarez is being rightly condemned, you wonder if the criticism is more than it would be for most if not all other players. Maybe if a media friendly Englishman would continually misbehave on the football field he would not be treated the way Suarez would. Suarez of course, is from Uruguay, and has a win at all costs mentality as has been noted by many. This is why he is attacked. But the same English press who attack him hail the win at all costs mentality in other players, even when it goes over the top and can endanger opponents through crunching tackles.
Should Liverpool sell Suarez – or even sack him? Of course not. Should Chelsea sack John Terry? Should Manchester United have fired Eric Cantona?
So ban Suarez, yes. But let us at least be consistent – although in reality is probably far too late for that.
