The crime, the punishment and the future of Luis Suarez

SOMETIMES life hits you hard. It’s something you eventually come to expect and accept as a natural consequence of living.

You get knocked down, but usually manage to get back up again. In LFC’s case though, it seems like we can barely get to our knees before being handed another flattening blow; and if others are not there to provide it for us we seem more than happy to do it ourselves, one way or another.

It’s a bit like setting your car on fire before anyone else gets the chance; the old one was stolen anyway, and things have been too quiet for too long. Something is up. Not the perfect allegory, but when mentioned in context with Liverpool FC and Luis Suarez it sort of makes sense. He has his own way of creating trouble for himself and the club, but it’s something we have come to expect. Whether we accept it or not is up to each and one of us.

The crime

Luis Suarez bit Branislav Ivanovic. I would not believe it if someone told me, but I know it because I have seen the footage – and I burst out laughing because of the absurdity of it. It’s a strange thing to do for a grown man; you expect toddlers to do this because they can’t express their anger in other ways, but it’s rare to see a grown man overcome with a type of rage that makes him revert to his most primal childhood instincts. It should not happen obviously, but it did – and Luis deserves to be punished for it.

The punishment

I think we all expected the English FA to use this opportunity to put their foot down and bask in the glory of their own decisiveness. I am tempted to say they still have a sore one after LFC refused to bend over during the Evra-affair and was waiting for another opportunity to strike, but that would perhaps be an overly conspiratory way of looking at it.

Still, ten games seem excessive to me when we look at it in context. By handing out a ban of this magnitude they have indirectly stated that biting is worse than (allegedly) abusing someone racially, and far worse than spitting (Goran Popov vs. Spurs). Not to mention Callum McManaman’s insane tackle on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara, but that’s a whole different category of crime and should be treated differently.
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Biting, spitting, poking someone in a cavity, grabbing their privates or pulling their hair; I think we can all agree these are incidents that should be treated similarly. None of them are career threatening, but it’s not something we wish to see on a football pitch. It’s just weird behaviour. So why is it so difficult for the FA to create a set of rules deciding what type of punishment the players can expect when overstepping these boundaries?

Crime X = Punishment Y, regardless of who you are. It’s not rocket science.

If these rules were written down and existed for everyone to see and be aware of I would not have any problem with Suarez’s punishment at all. What I can’t accept is the way the FA seems to decide these bans by arbitration, because it opens up too much room for interpretation and therefore perceived corruption. It’s not good; not for the players and the clubs, and certainly not for the FA who seem to have a knack of setting themselves up for failure more often than not.

The future

What happens now? Listening to Brendan Rodgers’ pre-Newcastle press conference gave me hope in regards to Luis still being a Liverpool player next season, but I’m also asking myself if he thinks enough is enough and goes somewhere he feels he will be treated like everyone else.

Like Rodgers and also Pepe Reina said: It looks as if the FA are punishing the man instead of the behaviour, and there is no doubt in my mind that this will add to Luis’ feelings of being persecuted. Yes, in some ways he has only got himself to blame – after all he is the one who ends up in these situations – but sooner or later he could become fed up being everyone’s scapegoat.

As mentioned, I remain optimistic about Luis still being here when the transfer window ends, but I think we will have to put up a fight to keep him. Ian Ayre recently said he is not for sale, and we will see whether or not this statement will come back to haunt him when some of Europe’s heavyweights start testing the owners’ resolve with bids in the £40m region. Hopefully our management have done their part in convincing the player to stay by then.
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