View of incident depends on where you’re standing

Every reporter knows that ‘Man bites dog’ is a good story. This week’s global media storm has also taught us that ‘Luis Suarez bites opponent’ is big news, but in many different ways.

The media reaction to Suarez sinking his teeth into Italy defender Georgio Chiellini was even more rapid with the initial outcry loudest in the British press. Wednesday’s Daily Mirror front page read ‘The Vampire Returns’. The Daily Mail chose ‘Make Biter Suarez a Pariah’ as its headline, while the Daily Express went with ‘Jaws II’.

The outrage and opportunism was not just confined to the tabloids, with the broadsheet Daily Telegraph calling for Fifa to ‘Ban this Monster’ across its back page. Political weekly New Statesman worked out that an opponent facing Luis Suarez had roughly a one in 2,000 chance of being bitten, about the same probability of suffering a shark-attack at Florida surfing resort New Smyrna Beach.

Even Liverpool fans and pundits, who stuck with Suarez even after he was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra and biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, accepted their former hero had this time gone too far.

“You can’t defend him,” former Reds player Robbie Fowler told talkSPORT. “I love him as a player, but you cannot condone what he’s done.” The Liverpool Echo’s back pageheadline ‘No Defence’ summed up the reaction on the red half of Merseyside.

However, Suarez’s fellow countrymen were still sticking by their man. Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez strangely claimed the UK media would take any opportunity to run down a player who was voted last season’s English Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.

National team captain Diego Lugano forcefully told reporters they were mistaken about what they thought they had seen.

The Montevideo media also rowed in behind their national hero. Tenfield Sport argued the video evidence was inconclusive, while even Uruguay’s president Jose Mujica looked the other way: “I did not see Luis Suarez having bitten anyone. He is a great player.”

Asociacion Uruguaya de Futbol president Wilmar Valdez told the country’s Canal 10 that a 17-page dossier including videos, images and legal arguments had been compiled to fight their case. “We understand that there is not sufficient proof to punish Luis,” Valdez claimed prior to the hearing. Fifa decided otherwise.

The incident was also particularly badly timed for La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, who were both considering signing the player from Liverpool. On Monday Suarez’s ‘camp’ began a concerted campaign designed to push through a move to Spain, with his father in-law and former Ajax team-mate Gabri Garcia both appearing on TV and radio to talk up a transfer.

Tuesday’s incident caused a quick reappraisal, with Mundo Deportivo reporting that Barca were weighing up the pros and cons of continuing with the deal. By yesterday morning it appeared the move was back on, according to Madrid-based AS.

Uruguay’s Ovacion howled ‘The Worst Sentence: La Celeste left without their goalscorer’ for Saturday’s meeting with Colombia. Uruguay’s FA chief Valdez said an appeal was planned, as he claimed “It feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup.”

Lugano tweeted an indignant lament about all the injustice in the world. Both quotes were immediately picked up by media everywhere. It was clear that, when viewing the incident, perspective was all-important. And for those covering the story, the more different perspectives the better.

TWEETS ON SUAREZ

Suarez could miss potentially just 1 Uruguay game and 9 Liverpool PL games+CL games for something that had nothing to do with Liverpool ??

— Paudie O'Sullivan (@psull88) June 26, 2014

Suarez stat of the day. Luis has now been banned for 34 games since 2010 without receiving a single red card.

— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) June 26, 2014

Suarez gets 9 official match suspension... 4 months ban from all sport... Stadium ban for period of 9 match ban... 100, 000 fine... Ouch!!

— . (@altsbyaddidas) June 26, 2014

A gentle nibble for Suarez - he'll be back playing again by end of October. And can pay the fine from 4 days wages.

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 26, 2014