Carnival better off without its carnivore
THE carnivore has been ordered to leave the carnival. At a Fifa disciplinary meeting in Rio, Luis Suarez was found guilty of biting, banned a period of time commensurate with a third offence of assaulting opponents with his teeth and had his World Cup accreditation revoked. Suarez is discredited in every sense, his status changed from player to pariah.
The Uruguayan’s supporters rallied around, appealing the punishment and unconvincingly offering mitigating circumstances that instantly melted in the heat of the Rio sunshine and dismissive global glare. Suarez was not just in the spotlight any more; he was in the searchlight, tracked down, accused, charged, sanctioned and expelled. Adios.
To understand the revulsion towards Suarez here it is important to appreciate events at this marvellous World Cup in Brazil. It is a party.
It is special. It is what the game should be about, on and off the pitch, combining sporting drama over 90 mesmerising minutes and camaraderie between rival fans all night long. The teeth Suarez embedded in the shoulder of Giorgio Chiellini attacked the essence of these friendly games.
Outside the hotel where the sheriffs of Fifaville met in judgment on Suarez, the party went on across the 4-kilometre length of Copacabana beach.
Thousands of supporters from all around the world mixed with thousands of Brazilians, swapping World Cup shirts and stories. They celebrated arguably the greatest tournament in history.
They talked of Neymar, Lionel Messi, Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. They listened to a Rio guitar band rocking the Fan Fest with a rousing cover of Satisfaction. Across town at the Dutch training camp, Louis van Gaal welcomed the legend Zico with a smile, a hug and an orange No 10 shirt. These are the golden games.
It was not an irksome Italian limpet that Suarez attempted to maim in Natal. It was football. So fair play to Fifa. It underpinned its usual rhetoric about fair play with a response of substance and significance.
Of course, Fifa is a governing body containing individuals of questionable scruples, and is run by a slightly preposterous, socialclimbing, Machiavellian overlord, yet for once Sepp Blatter’s organisation deserves real praise.It got it right. It reflected the disgust.
Just as Messi, Muller, Neymar and company have lit beacons across Brazil, lighting up this tournament and spreading the word about flair play, so has Fifa sent out a vital message on fair play.
In sentencing Suarez to a ninegame competitive international suspension and four-month ban from all footballing activity, Claudio Sulser, chairman of the Fifa disciplinary committee, said: ‘‘Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch and, in particular, not at a Fifa World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field.’’
It is not solely Suarez shaming the game. The television pictures of a Ghanaian player kissing his wad of money delivered in a cash convoy from the airport was a terrible image to be beamed around the world; it depicted the footballer’s creed of greed, coin before country. Whatever the specific tensions between the Ghanaian players and their FA, it was a supremely tacky episode. Pay to play. Not pretty.
Ghana went out on the same day that Suarez did. Sadly, damagingly, the Uruguayans failed to read the history of Suarez and learn from Liverpool’s initial muddle-headed defence during the Patrice Evra saga.
ONCE again, sorry seems to be the hardest word. A word of advice to the Uruguayan FA: it is best not to defend to the indefensible if you want to retain credibility.
The president of the Uruguayan FA, Wilmar Valdez, saw only conspiracy where the rest of the world saw bite marks. Valdez described Suarez’s punishment as ‘‘excessive’’, ‘‘tough’’, even ‘‘severe’’. Rising through the lexicon of angry descriptions, Valdez was about to smash the ceiling. Next stop? Savage?
One of the most distinguished footballing nations, Uruguay, former champions of the world, have tied themselves up in knots over the Suarez affair. The failure to appreciate the enormity of the offence was bad enough. The dancing to Suarez’s tune was worse.
Uruguayan officials and media can blame the English press all they like but if England’s most important international, Wayne Rooney, had bitten an opponent for the third time he would never, ever have been allowed to represent England again. No chance.
The campaign to ban Rooney would have been even stronger than the desire for justice to be served on Suarez. The FA was castigated by most English newspapers for going to Uefa before Euro 2012 and trying to reduce Rooney’s suspension for battering a Macedonian. Embarrassingly, the FA’s shameless stunt succeeded. Rooney had his ban reduced.
Anyway, back to Valdez and his slick polluting international waters.
Hilariously, he questioned Fifa’s judgments with the words that ‘‘I don’t know exactly which arguments they used’’.
Suarez bit Chiellini. The facts prove that, ending the argument. Suarez is guilty.
IT IS frustrating that such a great nation as Uruguay, home to such intelligent footballers as Diego Forlan, can fail to acknowledge properly Suarez’s offence. Uruguay’s captain, Diego Lugano, defended his man and criticised Fifa, saying: ‘‘Everyone would like a just world but this world doesn’t exist.’’ Nonsense. It is a more just world now that Suarez has been called to account.
If there can be little sympathy for Uruguay, there has to be some for Liverpool, who pay Suarez’s handsome wages and will now be denied his services because of his misdemeanour in another’s shirt.
When the puff of smoke from Maracana floated into the cloudless Rio sky, signalling the Suarez verdict, Liverpool went into lockdown, the Anfield clan gathering their thoughts on what to do with their problem child. Suarez has let them down again, ignoring all their attempts to help him.
It is known that last summer Liverpool congregated those who care about Suarez, from family members to team-mates, to a meeting in which the player was urged to change. Liverpool learned from Kenny Dalglish’s ill-judged handling of the Evra incident. They realised that the politics of denial, as now practised by the Uruguayans, are self-defeating.
Liverpool tried to coax Suarez along the road to redemption. It appeared that Brendan Rodgers, Steven Gerrard and Sofia Balbi, Suarez’s bright, conscientious wife, had succeeded. Suarez enjoyed a wonderful season, being named player of the year by fans, players and writers. It was impossible to vote against him on his formidable work across the season.
Now, he has transgressed again. Suarez is a good role model in many areas, particularly off the field. This is a more complex situation than many observers contend. Suarez deserves to be vilified but not completely demonised. Yet Liverpool have to get rid of him. Let Barcelona have the goals, the assists and the stigma of Suarez.