Liverpool Football club has underlined its support for star-striker Luis Suarez after he was officially charged with 'abuse' by the FA.
The wording of the FA's statement was curious in that it accused Suarez of 'abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour' towards Manchester United's Patrice Evra, rather than using the stronger label of 'racial abuse':
"The FA has today charged Liverpool’s Luis Suarez following an incident that occurred during the Liverpool versus Manchester United fixture at Anfield on 15 October 2011.
"It is alleged that Suarez used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra contrary to FA rules.
"It is further alleged that this included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra".
Liverpool immediately released a statement, making clear their ongoing support for the Uruguayan striker:
"The Club this afternoon received notification from the Football Association of their decision to charge Luis Suarez and will take time to properly review the documentation which has been sent to us.
"We will discuss the matter fully with him when he returns from international duty, but he will plead not guilty to the charge and we expect him to request a personal hearing.
"Luis remains determined to clear his name of the allegation made against him by Patrice Evra. The Club remain fully supportive of Luis in this matter".
The FA has taken its time over the investigation, which means they've probably been extremely thorough in their approach. As such, it seems unlikely they would charge Suarez unless there was compelling evidence to suggest he was culpable.
Having said that, the incompetence of the FA is legendary, and their (historically) spineless approach to tackling racism has been magnified during the last month, so they've probably felt under pressure to be seen to be doing something about it.
I wouldn't be surprised if The FA will also charged Chelsea's John Terry, but it's a fact that in the entire history of English football, no top-level footballer has ever been convicted of racial abuse, and I don't think that is going to change here.
It's not looking good for Suarez, but a charge is just a charge; it's not proof of guilt. As always, Suarez is innocent until proven guilty.
Jaimie Kanwar
The wording of the FA's statement was curious in that it accused Suarez of 'abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour' towards Manchester United's Patrice Evra, rather than using the stronger label of 'racial abuse':
"The FA has today charged Liverpool’s Luis Suarez following an incident that occurred during the Liverpool versus Manchester United fixture at Anfield on 15 October 2011.
"It is alleged that Suarez used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra contrary to FA rules.
"It is further alleged that this included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra".
Liverpool immediately released a statement, making clear their ongoing support for the Uruguayan striker:
"The Club this afternoon received notification from the Football Association of their decision to charge Luis Suarez and will take time to properly review the documentation which has been sent to us.
"We will discuss the matter fully with him when he returns from international duty, but he will plead not guilty to the charge and we expect him to request a personal hearing.
"Luis remains determined to clear his name of the allegation made against him by Patrice Evra. The Club remain fully supportive of Luis in this matter".
The FA has taken its time over the investigation, which means they've probably been extremely thorough in their approach. As such, it seems unlikely they would charge Suarez unless there was compelling evidence to suggest he was culpable.
Having said that, the incompetence of the FA is legendary, and their (historically) spineless approach to tackling racism has been magnified during the last month, so they've probably felt under pressure to be seen to be doing something about it.
I wouldn't be surprised if The FA will also charged Chelsea's John Terry, but it's a fact that in the entire history of English football, no top-level footballer has ever been convicted of racial abuse, and I don't think that is going to change here.
It's not looking good for Suarez, but a charge is just a charge; it's not proof of guilt. As always, Suarez is innocent until proven guilty.
Jaimie Kanwar
We now live in a country were the black man has the upper hand.The black man has the right to the job over the white man,the black man has the right over the white man to be the victim in England.Every news programme on the television,there is one black tv news presenter and one white news presenter.On final score on saturday there is actually 3 black news reporters in the studio.Yet there are supposedly only 2% blacks in this country,so surely this is racist against the white tv presenterst who is better at sumarising the games.On sky tv most sumarises are black Go in any prison and half the inmates ar made up of 40% blacks even though they only make up 2% of the population.Why is England bowing down to the black man.No wonder All other countries in the world either hate England or cannot stop laughing at us.
ReplyDeletei am totally disgussed with the FA and in particular with Evra. i watched the game on tv and and Evra was constantly provoking Luis and trying to get him booked.
ReplyDeleteBe a gentleman Evra and not just a united player. I do not believe Luis would do such a thing, he is the gentleman.
that has nothing to do with it you muppet its because he is south american FA and most of england very biased against Spanish speakers thats why most spaniards play in spain Look how the media abused rafa when he was in charge if rafa drew 1-1 with norwich or 0-0 with swansea english media would be calling for his head but if kenny gets those results its ok? Im not taking a swipe at kenny im just saying that since suarez his south american he is looked at as defenseless and might be easily targeted by FA. Coz if it was Lampard or Van der Vaart doing that the FA would have taken no action
ReplyDeleteall i know is that our ancestry are turning on their grave...our streets are never safe... thanks f a for a great job.
ReplyDeleteAnd there I was thinking it was a free world.
ReplyDeletethere will come a time when the thought police will knock on the door at midnight if you have a racist,sexist or homophobic thought.
ReplyDeleteha ha ha ha. good one...i personally don't think luis will be with liverpool come next jan...
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to find out the grounds on which he has been charged since their was no TV evidence and no other players / officials supporting Evra's accusation ... what is clear is that this is not be good for Luis and the club, it will have some effect on his performances (although the extent of that can never be measured) and repecussions depending on the penalty if he is found guilty after appeal. I think he will get his head down and play as he does but you can see the possibility of the boo boys and stigma of this having some impact on him - really bad timing as the next 6 points we have to play for may define our season.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Then again, nobody had been convicted of swearing into a camera like a tool before Fats went apeshit after scoring for the Mancs at Upton Park last year.
ReplyDeleteThey made a scapegoat of him and it wouldn't surprise me if, because of the slightly sensationalist public reaction to the sensitive subject of racial abuse, the FA decided to come down heavily on Suarez too.
The fact that Terry is facing similar charges might oddly work in Liverpool's favour actually because the FA might perhaps take a lenient approach to the England captain's case.
Saying that though, I'd be surprised if the FA haven't reached the end of their tether with Terry, and a fairly hefty fine along with a potential suspension for both him and Suarez seems a likely outcome sadly.
As I said before in other racism articles on this site, the accusation of racism can be almost as damaging as the verbal abuse itself, and I'm sure the FA are aware of this. They're basically branding Suarez 'a racist', so they surely have some decent private evidence to back this claim up. My guess is that Suarez's subsequent public interviews since the incident haven't helped the Uruguayan's cause.
A complete joke!!!is it april the 1st? i cannot believe the F.A. can charge a player without any evidence from officials, tv or other players including evra's team mates!
ReplyDeleteWhat i will say though is that i think this charge which is a weird one to say the least is basically the F.A.'s way of not upsetting fergie as he has thrown his and the clubs full support behind the lier called evra, and also so they dont have to charge a black player of lying about been racially abused (I mean could you imagine the headlines that would generate our already useless F.A.)And i dont know why anyone is saying "if" he is found guilty, as i think its a dead cert he is gonna cos our useless F.A. have got no balls!
As some have mentioned how can you possibly be charged with a crime with no apparent evidence of commiting it, tv pictures showed no apparent abuse or even the hint of abuse by Luis no match official or fellow Manchester Utd player came forward to back up Evra's claim, just cannot understand how this has gone this far with NO evidence and simply one players word against another. the FA have left themselves open to all sorts of accusations by players with previous or axes to grind and will have to charge individuals as they have done Luis, look forward to the conclusion of one Mr John Terry who I believe does not deny using a certain word but not in the context it was believed to have been used, wonder if he will get the same treatment as Luis I doubt it!!!
ReplyDeleteSo FA have been dragging this case on and on... doing the "investigation" for a MONTH, and it looked kinda like they were at the lost ends.
ReplyDeleteThen suddenly Blatter opens his mouth with a very strange passage that racism on the pitch is not really a racism, and the involved sides should just shake hands and forget it.
Within a couple of hours after that, FA, known for their high level of affection for FIFA (NOT!) issues a charge for Suarez.... although none for JT.
If there was anything, they of course would have charged Suarez a couple of weeks ago... but they did it only after Blatter's interview to CNN.
Looks very much like FA decided to show the world that they take racism more "seriously" than FIFA. Suarez seems to be a casualty in their little petulant war with FIFA (followng the poppy scandal, etc..)
Or maybe I just look too deep into things.
Innocnt until proven guilty? from the column writers point of view he must be guilty of something if the FA have charged him. What an idiotic point of view then to comment that he is innocent until proven guilty. Patrice Evra must surely have to prove Louis said something rather than Louise proving he never. If Louise is shown to have no guilt I hope he brings a charge against Evra for defamation of character
ReplyDeleteFrom The Guardian:
ReplyDelete' A precedent was set in 2003 when John Mackie of Reading was banned for eight matches, five of which were suspended, after making racist remarks to the Sheffield United striker Carl Asaba. However, Mackie admitted that charge whereas Suárez is denying his, meaning he would almost certainly face tougher sanctions if he were found guilty...'
Kick Evra out of football!
ReplyDeleteand so he should deny it, i would not admit to something if i had not done it...
ReplyDeletei think this is nothing but pathetic and if i was liverpool fc's owners i would go to war with the F.A. regardless of the consequence as i think someone needs to put them in their place
and David Gill ..Man united chief Executive is also on the Board of the F.A.....So how will Suarez get a fair hearing
ReplyDeleteand David Gill ..Man united chief Executive is also on the Board of the F.A....so how will Suarez get a Fair hearing
ReplyDeleteAs someone mentioned earlier the FA must surely have some snippet of evidence from somewhere or where does this end, so and so made a homophobic comment to player A Player B responded with a racist slur all with no evidence neither via tv or from fellow professionals nor match officials, individuals surely whether guilty (not condoning any racist or homophobic abuse) or not cannot be brought to task without evidence otherwise chaos will ensue and the only damage done will be done to the game of football and the fight to end racism
ReplyDeleteHe is a united player what do you expect
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you there luis will be with us for at least another 2-3 season. It's when the players reach 26-27 they become restless ,they want to be playing Champion league and winning tons of trophies. Look at the Torres, Mascherano situations
ReplyDeleteSuarez cannot speak English he spoke to Evra in spanish and out of all the comments i believe Suarez remark which is accepted in Uruguay could of said something like El Negrito which means little black man.After all Evra is little and black.I firmly believe Suarez hasnt got a bad bone in his body and this is more of a term of affection in Uruguay.Yet Evra has misinterpretted El Negrito to mean something totally different.Like the racist English press hounded Rafa out of his job they will now do the same with Suarez and if thats the case reina should upsticks and leave as the spotlight on Spanish argentinian Uruguayan players and managers at LFC means they have no future after all they hounded out a great Spanish manager so now we will just look forward to henderson,carroll adam and a british manager.At least all the press will be off our backs and we can just fade away exactly like the media wanted when Rafa had us conquering europe and us being in the world spotlight ahead of manutd and chelsea..
ReplyDeleteluis as most of us Uruguayans we are simple people there for i think he will part ways very soon, too much bull in the epl you have to admit the epl is for british and black players only.don't get me wrong is a good league but not for south Americans.
ReplyDeleteEven if Suarez called Evra "el negrito" and even if deemed acceptable in Uruguay personally I find it an uncomfortable phrase to be used, but like you point out Suarez is still learning english comes from a different country with different culture and surely the FA have to take that into consideration when considering any punishment.
ReplyDeleteBut before that we again come to the crux of the argument Luis word against Evra's without any proof and I have not read any artucles where Luis has admitted he called Evra "el negrito" which surely cameras would have picked up due to its closeness to another racist phrase, then surely all Luis has to say rightly or wrongly guilty or not is "sorry boss not say that just called him a whinging cheating moaning manc t*&t" and THAT is the truth.
Without supporting evidence Luis cannot be found guilty on Evra's say so
Like every other LFC fan, I can only hope for an "innocent" verdict but if PROVEN guilty he gets what he deserves.
ReplyDeleteI still dont see your point look at tevez epl is the only european league hes played in and i think that your being a bit too general of south americans and what are you saying uruguayans are simple people Your comment made no sense at all
ReplyDeleteI think the top 10 epl clubs should break away from the FA
ReplyDeleteIf Suarez called Evra a "negro" or "negrito" then Evra should be deeply honoured. In Uruguay we called our greatest ever footballer (captain of the 1950 World Cup Champions) "El negro jeffe" (the black boss) Obdulio Varela. His team mates called him "negro" on the pitch. Before Pele became (O' Rei) he was nicknamed "La perla negra" (the black pearl). So Evra was held in the highest regards.
ReplyDeleteI am sure the clubs legal advisors will point out the conflict of interest that exists to the appropriate board. Failing that they can always notify the police or the courts as to their grievances and allow them to adjudicate on the matter in question.
ReplyDeleteYea, but they CAN and WILL find him guilt on Ferguson's say so.
ReplyDelete"Suarez hasnt got a bad bone in his body." Unless he is biting someone's ear of or hand balling the ball on the line to stopping an african country making it threw to the semi finals! And yes I am a passionate Liverpool fan.
ReplyDeleteestas loco como vas a comparar el jefe del 50 con evra un miserable.
ReplyDeleteOff*
ReplyDeleteI know he doesn't deserve the respect, but it DOES PROVE that 'negro' and 'negrito' is NOT RACIST on the football pitch. No se puede creer lo que le estan haciendo al Lucho... Mas vale que se valla a Espana lo antes posible.
ReplyDeleteEarlier people were talking about how the mud will stick to Suarez since Evra complained against him as even if he isn't charged people will still use it as a stick to beat him with. Now he is f**kin charged.The FA do think they have a case here and Evra has been ever so slightly vindicated. Plus its weird how FIFA are c**ts coz they play down racism and FA are c**ts since they charged someone who allegedly racially abused another player. Come on what do you want people to do.
ReplyDeleteThe FA should talk to Jobsy. He knows everything.
ReplyDeleteperdoname pero de inglaterra a espana con los gallegos de mierda que tratan a los sudamericanos como que si ellos son mejores manga de muertos de ambre...VAMOS ARRIBA URUGUAY QUE NO NI NO.
ReplyDelete"I firmly believe Suarez hasnt got a bad bone in his body"
ReplyDeletelol
if they have chrged him and its still alledged he did these things then unless the FA have solid evidence then it wont get from alledged to surez becoming guilty. if it is right that surez did say 'el negrito' and this means something totally different in his own country; should he be punished, or should he be given more guidance and help on what that phrase means in this country. The premier league is a multi cultural league, we have players from all continents plying their trade in this country. FIFA should be the one organisation that solves issues by bringing FA's together. in this situation they should have brought the FA's from uruguay and england. put the evidence on the table and seen the alledged comment from both sides of the story. The english FA would say racist, however the uruguay FA would say he was complimenting Evra. from this FIFA would of been able to take the higher ground and made a decision that reflected the views of 'world football'. lessons could be learned and better guidance given to players, managers and FA's on cutural diffrences. This situation is serious, however does make me laugh a little, a uruguayan alledgedly says a racist comment to a african/frenchman and an english board has to make the decision on what is right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteNobody calls for a manager's head after just 11 games of the first season, in particular when The manager has three years left on his contract. Many called for Rafa's head, but only after six years in charge. In particular, two yrs ago the disappointment of a 7th place finish, after a strong title challenge, was too big to keep Rafa at the Club. In the end I was hoping for an happy conclusion of Rafa Vs Previous Owners's saga, but unfortunately Rafa put him in a weaker positions after a meeting in July. Rafa loved the Club, but the board remains with no choice but sack him.
ReplyDeleteOn Luis affaire: anyone is innocent until proven guilty.
F.A united! They should be called, not happy bout the charge and really surprised that terry has't!? There's far to much protection towards black people,u could call one a cu*t n they will say u bein racist or is cox am black, what would happen if suarez said evra made a racial slur towards him? Nothing! Spineless F.A, amazin how many united players get away with shite n others don, if I was saurez take the F.A and united's evra to court, to many black people use the racist card to much. And didt evra cause shit at the world cup, n lied bout Raymond domonic to get him sacked n now evra won't ever get picked for his country because he lied!!! Now that says what type of player he is, hope evra gets well and truely screwed, false accusations is damaging and am not surprised Liverpool + saurez feel aggrieved.
ReplyDeleteSuarez has been bullied by british press / people since the game
ReplyDeleteagainst Ghana (proving they dont understand this sport).
Suarez is an amazing player, humble, always working for the team, and they
are trying to frame him as a diver, cheater, racist, etc... instead of
protecting one of the best players in their league (if not the best).
The only mistake he did in his career was the bite, that was very stupid and he knows it.
I believe England is an underachiver country, in football terms, while Uruguay is the complete opposite.
They
call south american cheaters, but England is the one that won only one
world cup with a goal it was not (at home, with an english FIFA
president)
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I agree with you,England is a once great country which is now run by rupert murdochs brain washing machine,i hate 90% of everything about England.I knew Murdoch would get everyone against Suarez and maybe it would be for the best if he went to Real madrid or Barca were he would be appreciated by the whole of the world instead of only 70% of LfC fans,i do not think England deserve this great talent.England always ruins great things and before they ruin Suarez i hope he goes for his own sake and also to stop the press from having anything to write about and maybe they will then go bankrupt.They got rid of a great manager in Rafa,take suarez and reina away and we will just be another mediocre team were the press put gerrard and carra on a pedestal even though we are on our way down.I hate this country i really do.I think it is getting dangerous to talk to black people now so i wont be talking to any black person ever again as i might say the wrong thing,maybe segregation wasnt such a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteno i just know how the F.A. works...
ReplyDeletei bet man utd wouldnt though as then their protection and favourable draws in the cups would vanish
ReplyDeleteIf i were the F.A. i would be very sure i have some evidence as if not then this could and no doubt will get very messy for them
ReplyDeletelocazzo vamos arriba Uruguay y penarol que no ni no. comebackrafa i like your post but the problem is that there are way to many white trash in this world first we got to get read of them first and then things will clean up on their own...great post.
ReplyDelete