Shocking, outrageous, corrupt, the FA are at it again.
The Football Association have banned Luis Suarez for 10 domestic games for a little nibble on a Chelsea centre back and the football community is up in arms, apart from Branislav Ivanovic obviously, he’s still recovering.
How very dare the FA, their anti-Liverpool Football Club agenda is continuing, not only did they ban him for inconclusive racist abuse on Patrice Evra but now this, a this that is fully deserved. We as fans need to be a little more rational with our criticism of English football’s senior governing body. Let’s take a look at it objectively so we can come to an agreement on where we should perhaps stand as Liverpool fans.
Luis Suarez; our best player, our hero, our villain and the proud owner of the famous number 7 shirt. He’s been superb the season, scoring crucial goals and creating little moments of magic that bring smiles to the faces of fans young and old. Whether he likes it or not, a role model to not only fans but the players he trains with every day, his attitude to his work is first class according to Brendan Rodgers, so who are we to disagree. “But Ben, have you seen what Jermain Defoe did to Javier Mascherano? He only got a yellow card don’t ya know. How is that fair?!”
Simply put, it isn’t. Times change, if it happened now you can bet Defoe would be punished in a similar vein to Suarez. Even then though the track record of Luis Suarez and Jermain Defoe aren’t really comparable in terms of previous convictions. You may think that what’s gone on before doesn’t matter, well the hard facts are that it does. A brief analogy for you, if you’re caught shoplifting and you go to court the most likely outcome is that you could be fined or given community service, lets compare it a 7 game ban similar to the ban Suarez could have received.
You’re clean for a year.
You’re arrested for assault. The judge looks are you, convicts you for the assault, more community service but wait, a previous conviction, we were caught shoplifting in recent memory of this particular judge and quite evidently we haven’t learnt our lesson. Uh oh, the judge doesn’t look pleased, he’s put another 50 hours on that community service. I’m going assume you’re following this. Luis Suarez is a victim of his own actions. We’re all in agreement that he should be banned but we’re so separated on how long his ban should be, we shouldn’t really be having to defend Luis, we should be worried if anything, worried why on earth he has these sorts of moments, it’s not very normal is it? I have faith in the club that internally he’ll be dealt with properly for his own good
The simple math could look like this:
A 6/7 game ban for the bite, we couldn’t really argue with could we? You team that up with his previous misdemeanors and BAM! A 10 game ban which we’re describing as harsh. Remember also, I’ve failed to mention the fact that we bought this man while he was serving a suspension at Ajax for biting the neck of an opponent, this all adds up and influences the decision of the 3 members on the independent panel. Not everybody at the Football Association.
As fans I feel we have a responsibility to support our club through the tough times just as much as we do the triumphs. We’re never obligated to defend the indefensible though, nor should we, Luis is the only one that has to answer to this, his mistakes have cost the club dear on and off the field. It’s a great shame but it’s the way it is. I know not everybody will agree with me but I think we should accept the ban and give Luis the rest in preparation for next season.
Of course I’m interested to hear your side so feel welcome to leave a comment about this topic or if you’d like to contact me directly on this @DoctorBenjy is where you can find me on twitter :)
YNWA
Ben Carr