Fifa hit nail on head with Suarez sanction

It’s a hard act to follow in terms of utter vulgarity, but, yet again, Luis Suarez gave it a go. As horrific as his bite on Giorgio Chiellini was, the aftermath only reinforced the act as those around him have been throwing themselves in front of the hail of bullets, looking to condone and defend what amounts to animalistic savagery.

Fri, 27 Jun, 2014 - 01:00

Ewan MacKenna

His lawyer and Uruguayan FA member Alejandro Balbi appeared on national radio on Wednesday with a bizarre viewpoint: “You shouldn’t forget we’re rivals of many and we can be for the organiser [hosts Brazil] in the future. This does not go against what might have happened, but there’s no doubt Suarez is a rock in the shoe for many.”

He was far from alone with a maddening and worrying take on it all. Indeed on Wednesday night in Rio de Janeiro, sources say the heavyweights of South American football showed up looking for leniency. But it’s against that vile background and a complete lack of morality Fifa have stood tall and stood strong. So easily open to criticism for their ethics, even amidst the cost of this tournament, never mind the issues around future World Cups, here they deserve much credit for doing the right thing. In banning the striker for nine international games and from all football for four months you got the feeling this was the nail on the head.

The time for pandering to a man with mental issues has come and gone and now he must learn a lesson and must seek real help. Liverpool will feel hard-done by in all this as he will miss their first nine Premier League games, a league cup game (potentially two) and three Champions League ties, an absence given his influence that will shred their season from the very off. But they’ve no right to utter a word of complaint as they are part of the problem here. Too many excuses were made for Suarez when he sunk his teeth into Branislav Ivanovic a little over a year ago as the club quite clearly took the side of their employee when they needed to offer that employee a caring but firm hand.

If they saw his act at Ajax as perhaps a freak moment before signing him, then once bitten should not have led to a shyness on their part a second time around. They needed to do the right thing for football and for the player.

And that raises a key question in all of this. Should players be seen so differently from employees in other jobs and if not, then is Suarez psychologically fit to do his job?

The evidence in terms of the repeated acts of biting and the lack of remorse or even understanding shown suggests he is not. After all, while players might expect rash tackles and physicality on the field, what do they feel when standing next to the striker, a man it seems who is not of sound mind and capable of dangerous acts. For don’t forget in all of this the physical danger of what can happen if human teeth pierce flesh.

Too many have been polarised by this, explaining away what happened with psychology or ignoring psychology by seeing Suarez as a complete thug. The reality though lies somewhere in the middle.

But, away from the player himself, what’s equally disconcerting is how many soccer people – politicians and supporters – try to turn what Suarez did into a matter of mere rivalry. Uruguayan media and association board members suggested it’s all about a jealousy from media in England and Italy, in a similar way that those in the Premier League have taken sides in the past around club affiliations.

But this goes way beyond football as the idea of biting is pre-evolution and sub-human. In fact it’s always interesting to remember babies learn it’s wrong during breast feeding and that’s how far beyond the line of rational human action and maturity that Suarez goes time and again. This is far worse and far deeper than mere anger or frustration.

His brilliance doesn’t excuse him either as some have tried to suggest and even his importance to Liverpool will have been overshadowed. The image of the club has been muddied by their handling of the past and the only way to start the clean-up is to offload their greatest asset. Football may be a moral vacuum but that’s how serious a bite is in that it transcends that. They need to offload a player that, for all his talent, just isn’t worth the trouble.

During this tournament he threatened to elevate himself to true greatness and his performance against England, when not fully fit, won’t be forgotten as defenders could not control him. But what won’t be forgotten either is how he ended his tournament and his chance of greatness and destroyed his career because of an inability to control himself.

Suarez’s 14-game Liverpool ban

Premier League

Aug 16: Southampton (h)

Aug 23: Man City (a)

Aug 30: Tottenham (a)

Sept 13: Aston Villa (h)

Sept 20: West Ham (a)

Sept 27: Everton (h)

Oct 4: West Brom (h)

Oct 18: QPR (a)

Oct 25: Hull City (h)

Champions League