Being Luis Suarez: Bane or boon?

Sport is full of paradoxes, as crass and class inexplicably coexist. For every Bobby Charlton and Paulo Madlini, there was a George Best and Paul Gascoigne. Even now for every Steven Gerrard and Xavi, there are the likes of Mario Balotelli and Luis Suarez. All of them quality professionals but the latter lot arguably lacking in professionalism.

Let’s take Luis Suarez for instance. Skillful, agile and even good in the air for a small man, yet there is a huge divide in opinion among the public. That’s because, even though Suarez is undoubtedly talented, he goes to ground far too easily. Something that exasperates even the loyal Kop. However, his recent shenanigans have put Liverpool‘s fight for a champions league place in serious doubt.

The Liverpool striker has been convicted of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in the 1-1 draw at Anfield on October 15. He has up to a fortnight to appeal against his massive eight-game ban and £40,000 fine. The English FA is known to be rather harsh at times. But if you really think about it you can see why – racial abuse is no trivial matter. Eric Cantona was banned for 9 months for his infamous ‘kung-fu’ kick at a Crystal Palace supporter. Paulo Di Canio received an 11-match ban from the FA including a statutory three matches for being sent off during a home match against Arsenal, after he shoved referee Paul Alcock to the ground.

Now that they’ve banned Suarez, it will interesting to see how the FA would act against the England captain John Terry for another alleged case of racial abuse. Terry is embroiled in a race row with QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

Suarez will also face an FA charge of improper conduct for an abusive hand gesture. In the recent 1-0 defeat at Fulham, he raised his middle finger towards the home fans as he left the pitch.

Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish still firmly stick by their star striker. However these are just a few things on a long list of rather childlike and immature frolics that have landed him in hot water multiple times.

When Liverpool made their £22.8m move for the former Ajax man in the January transfer window, he was already serving a seven-game ban. The Uruguayan international bit into the shoulder of PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal during a game in November last year. It’s only fair to imagine that the talented striker had caught a rerun of the famous Tyson-Hoyfield game on the telly the previous night. The tabloids though thougth it was rather funny and crowned him as the ‘Cannibal of Ajax’.

Rewind to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and he brought back the ‘Hand of God’. Here we thought that Mario Balotelli loved making the headlines. With the scores tied at 1-1 heading into the shootout, Suarez had been sent off in the final moments of extra-time for deliberately blocking Dominic Adiyiah’s goal bound header with his hands. Up stepped Asamoah Gyan who fluffed his penalty against the crossbar with the final kick of the game. Uruguay knocked out Ghana — Africa’s last remaining representative in the first World Cup to be staged on the continent – (4-2 on penalties) for a place in the semi-finals.

For that, Suarez might still be the most hated man in Ghana, maybe even in England. No, wait, that’s Piers Morgan. But what has happened is a foregone conclusion. The repercussions must be dealt with. Kenny Dalglish must shoulder the responsibility of curbing his temperamental striker. As of now he could miss up to 15% of Liverpool’s season, but if this continues it could be worse. It already is, as they have to rely on the big Geordie, Andy Carroll to lead the line. He does have every right to stand by Suarez but he must make sure it isn’t a recurring thing.

——If Liverpool and Suarez appeal against his eight-game ban, he should be available against Manchester City on Jan 3rd. If he loses his appeal, he should return in time to face fierce rivals Manchester United on Feb 11th.

Games he could miss:Jan 06: Oldham (h) FA CupJan 11: Man City (a) CC SF (1)Jan 14: Stoke (h) PLJan 21: Bolton (a) PLJan 25: Man City (h) CC SF (2)Jan 28: FA Cup 4th roundJan 31: Wolves (a) PLFeb 6: Spurs (h) PL