27 Apr 2013

'Horrible mess' - Dalglish & Cavani give their views on the Suarez bite 'farce'

Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish has waded into the Luis Suarez ban row, labelling the FA's adjudication process a 'horrible mess', and calling for urgent reform of the so-called 'independent' FA panel system.

In his column for The Mirror today, Dalglish conceded that Suarez's actions were 'unacceptable', but savaged the length of the ban imposed on the Uruguayan, claiming that the FA Panel is not truly independent. He raged:

"The FA’s disciplinary system is a horrible mess.

"The panel wasn’t truly independent and to say it was is blatantly misleading.

"The structure of an FA disciplinary procedure like this is inherently unfair, and it has now become so confused and riddled with anomalies that it is farcical"


Dalglish is right that the FA panel system is a farce, and I highlighted this during the Evra situation by showing how panel member Denis Smith had close ties to Man United manager Alex Ferguson and his family:

Suarez-Evra hearing: Potential bias and the Manchester United connection

However, the problems with the FA disciplinary process should not (IMO) be used as a backhanded way to (indirectly) excuse Suarez for what happened, which is what many LFC fans are doing. Irrespective of the level of independence, the panel imposed FAIR bans in both the Evra and Ivanovic cases:

* EVRA: Suarez admitted in his own statement that he called Evra 'Negro'. This is a reference to the player's skin colour, made in a hostile, adversarial situation. I don't think it constitutes racism, but it could be perceived that way, and the FA has to ensure that use of such language on a football field is unambiguously outlawed. Suarez deserved the 8-game ban purely for using that word on the pitch.

* IVANOVIC: In 2010, Suarez received a 7-game ban for biting Otman Bakkal. It makes perfect sense to increase that ban for committing the same heinous act again. Where is the logic in giving Suarez a lesser ban for failing to learn his lesson?! This is the point that so many fans (plus Dalglish, Rodgers etc) refuse to acknowledge.

The 10 game ban is absolutely deserved, and the FA panel's independence - or alleged lack thereof - doesn't change that.

Meanwhile, Napoli striker Edinson Cavani has thrown his support behind Suarez, claiming that 'anyone can make a mistake'. He tweeted:

"All my support to Luis Suarez for the moment he is experiencing. He knows more than anyone else he made a mistake. Those who look from outside and after a judge must understand that these things can happen. We who live competing week after week as we well know. Those who really know him as a person and will not change their opinion"



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28 comments:

  1. In the FA's report, they claim that previous conducts of Suarez had no effect on their decision on banning him for 10 games. Which means that they take into consideration the 7 match ban he received previously. I'd be fine if FA did consider Suarez's history. But that's not the case. They decided to ban him for more that 3 games because the FA made the initial statement that a 3-match ban wasn't enough. In effect, the independent panel was already influenced by the FA. I think its about time crime and punished on the pitch be clearly defined for everyone. Forget all this independent panel crap.

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  2. Theycallmemrburt11:57 am, April 27, 2013

    once bitten twice shy (pun not intentended, but its a pretty effin gud'un) Louis should have known better having already gone through this in Holland. He got seven games there but wanted a three game ban here. He should have kept the details of his desired punishment to himself as it gave our corruptable FA license to show their predujice.

    Rafa said it best when he commented

    "You cannot have an impartial FA when members of that board are also executives at Man Utd."

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  3. Big horrah to dalish who pointed out the joking FA that were run by low life,shameless and without moral maggots.

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  4. Jamie you miss the point on the suarez ban....if the norm for biting was 20 games i wouldnt be bothered ...its the fact that others have done it and got less and racism gets less....that just cant be right ...in any logical universe .the fact suarez plays for liverpool is irrelevant..id be as equally annoyed if van persie got 10 games for biting

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  5. littlepool are boring12:48 pm, April 27, 2013

    who cares, liverpool are shit, mid table muck, next season relegation fodder. a shitty club, a stagnant club that will never be good again, you've been the most boring team in the league since the EPL came into existence

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  6. They way I see it is Suarez got what he deserved. There really is no argument, it's not like biting someone is some kind of unpraised tactic on the football pitch! Hopefully he will actually learn from this and improve his behaviour. In a strange way I don't think it is as damaging to LFC as people are making out. It has become world wide news and has put LFCs name on every corner of the web, and I dont think the average person across the globe is as shocked and horrified as the people of England. I also wonder if it would lessen other clubs interest in him because I don't think Bayern will be too interested in such a controversial character and the same goes for a lot of top clubs, although if he was available for less maybe they might be

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  7. So boring infact that you come onto a Liverpool website to talk about how little we interest you! Run along now!!

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  8. Theycallmemrburt1:17 pm, April 27, 2013

    I'm just happy you can read and write. Thanks for stopping by, on your way out can you give our five European trophies a bit of a shine....theres a good lad.

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  9. And your a boring nob who has to go on sites spouting sh*te to get your jollies

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  10. Theycallmemrburt1:26 pm, April 27, 2013

    It seems that everything which is done with the mouth is the devil.
    Verbal abuse, spitting and biting are all dispised to varying degrees.
    It seems commentators cannot say enough on how disgusting these three
    sins are even if the commentator or summeriser in question has had a
    history of leg breaking tackles. Every other body part is worth less
    points for some reason.

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  11. And your a boring w* nker who gets his rocks off being a n*b on a keyboard, what a pathetic gimp u must be

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  12. The way I see it is that FA are full of bloody mancs, how can defoe escape without a single match ban for a same reason same bite and suarez gets ten? How logic is that? How can terry get just four games for racism and suarez eight again for the same reason? Its clearly pure hate on suarez and his nationality, if he was english the story would have been different, however I consider suarez and lfc made a mistake not to appeal, they could have used these facts I mentioned before, as much as it might hurt but suarez needs to leave this country because he will never win the war with Fa and their mancs there plus people will boo and hate him even more now it will be almost impossible to live with it, but we could never find his replacement im totally sure so its a confusing situation whether to sell him or not, one thing is clear that if suarez chooses to stay here he should never do something like that again.

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  13. once again im not going to insult a person like you ..as must be very lonely and unhappy if your only means of pleasure is to come on a forum of a team you dont support and hurl insults.I used to work in social care and my advice for you is to meet new people and try and get some friends life really is to short.

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  14. the thing is we live in democracywhere individuals are meant to be treated equally ..its not animal farm

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  15. Do you mean that in relation to his ban or the behaviour of Suarez?

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  16. Whether suarez is guilty or not doesnt matter.
    We all know he bit someone, the problem is the Disciplinary process the FA uses.
    JK while you tend to dislike people bringing up other incidents the fact is those incidents prove a complete lack of consistency in punishments and both the Bite and Evra scenario highlight this.

    In Australian Rules Football they use a point system to gauge the level of punishment which takes into account previous charges also.
    While it is not a perfect system it is better than the FA picking punishments at random.

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  17. Instead, they gave other reasons as to why a 3 game match ban was insufficient. Even without the FA's initial statement, there was plenty for the panel to chew on, in relation to justify giving more than a 3 match ban, as highlighted in their published reasons. In the same document, they clearly state a few things they (panel) don't agree with, in relation to the FA's view. So its not as biased as you make it out to be. The reasons (simplified in section 82) the panel gave for giving such a ban was in my view, fair enough. If Luis or club had not said initially that they disagreed with the FA's claim that a 3 match ban was insufficient, the panel would have probably taken off a game or two, as they mention this lack of appreciation of the seriousness of the situation by Suarez in section 84. Considering their reasons and the bit in 84, to say they only gave him a ban of more than 3 games 'because' of FA's 'initial statement' is a bit far fetched and typical apologists' view, as the panel, to a degree, have explained themselves.

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/138107714/Suarez-BiteIndependent-Regulatory-Commission-explain-Luis-Suarez-ten-game-bite-ban

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  18. I think he's doing it because he wants to be sold. He wanted to lower his price tag and ensure he was fit for the transfer window. Is he cynical enough to do something like that? Course he is.

    Suarez knows he's done enough to earn a first team place at a club playing Champions League football. He wants to make that step up and he sees no further reason to play for Liverpool. My guess is that a deal is already set up. You know Real Madrid and Barcelona will be buying big this summer after what the Germans did to them, which means players at all the top clubs in Europe are going to be moving about.

    No fan likes to think that their star player will do them that way. But they do.

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  19. Right. And furthermore, the "reasoning" for the length of ban was weak at best.


    I would have rather them just come out and say, we are trying to set an example that this type of action will not be tolerated and that any further similar actions will be met with just as severe punishment if not more.

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  20. That and they were mad when Suarez said that he thought a 3 game ban was sufficient.


    When they say that that particular statement was taken into account as reasoning for increasing the ban, it means they felt he tried to make them look bad so they made him look worse.

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  21. forget this whole Suarez thing. The panels are badly set up regardless of who the player is yet oddly they do get things right. Suarez`s bans on both accounts were correct imo. The idea of the panel though is wack. They are likely to be biased to someone due to who they pick. They are just to random. They get somthings right like Suarez`s ban and other things majorly wrong i.e huth`s stamp. The F.A need a massive shake up in so many areas. They can start with a better system for punishments. Scrap the totally rubbish idea that managers cant say a bad word about refs. thats called a dictatorship. Scrap the idea that seen by ref stuff cant be punished. Ref`s are people and make mistakes and prob get more grief from fans as after the FA cant correct some of the mistakes when really they could easy.

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  22. wow you must know him well to know his own thoughts.

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  23. Professional footballer who could be making more money. Not a local. Not at his first club. World class international but not in top competitions. Approaching his prime.


    Why would he stay?


    You think the support and love of the fans is going to keep him here when he could be getting that same love and a ton more money in Milan, Paris or Madrid?

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  24. for me its the comparison to aguero's challenge the week before that got absolutely nothing at all. it doesnt even matter who's was "worse", its just the difference in reaction thats irritating

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  25. I broadly concur with Jaimie's points- the FA disciplinary system is laughable, but that doesn't mean Suarez should be excused for his crimes.

    That said, in the Evra case, the dubious nature of the system means it is hard to swallow the findings of panel but I still agree that use of that kind of language, regardless of context and intention, is arguably a bannable offence in and of itself.

    One qualifying point: I agree that since this is a repeat offence.it would have sent the wrong message to ban Suarez for less than 7 games, though I don't agree with the length of the original ban.

    I think there is traction in the argument that a bite (more so one that doesn't break the skin) shouldn't incur twice the punishment of that of a leg breaking challenge.

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  26. davewestausregularguest2:45 pm, April 28, 2013

    He called Evra negrito ! perfectly normal where he comes from,and should have been acceptable !
    Evra in the mean time remains a very nasty man,proven by his antics !

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  27. Well KD, you started all of these. Kenny Dalglish refused to take appropriate measures against Suarez when he racially abused Evra. In lieu of punishing Suarez, he was rather awarded by printing a T-shirt with his picture in support of his wrong-doing. As a team of great culture and heritage, Liverpool FC needs to set great precedents. Like Rogers rightly said before, “no one is greater than the club.” I think this statement proves quiet relevant when it comes to disciplinary actions. And in fact, this is the time Liverpool FC needs to show to Suarez and the rest of the
    world what LFC really stands for. And if LFC hierarchies cannot gracefully
    accept FA’s ruling and continues to lament about it, is it that LFC supports their players being arrogant? I guess not!

    It does not really surprise me that KD is lashing out so harshly at the FA. He [KD] started this and now he continues to make Suarez to feel indispensable. Until LFC can realize that they really don’t need Suarez based on his ugly behavior, they will never come to realize the wealth of talents they have in other players. It’s true that Suarez is a wonderful player and any team would like to have him in their squad. But at the same time, LFC should understand that the game is not only about Suarez and whatever he wants to do to others on the pitch. The game is a very beautiful game and should be played in a very beautiful fashion. There are millions of kids watching the game around the world with their parents. Should parents be stopping their children from watching LFC games due to fears that they don’t want their children to mimic Suarez’s bad behavior?


    I think FA fine is quite reasonable. After serving seven matches ban for the same act in Holland, how many matches ban people expect Suarez to have this time around in England? Anything less than ten match ban would have been considered too less for deliberately biting an opponent for the second time. There are great players out there with great attitude. So, LFC hierarchies please stop the nostalgia and search the market for a possible Suarez replacement.

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  28. As that little bald kid in 'The Matrix' says: 'There is no point'.

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