Two Statements Issued, But Both Are Missing A Vital Word
Those
two statements of course were from Liverpool Football Club and Luis Suarez. They
were designed to put the racial abuse case surrounding Luis Suarez to bed, but
ultimately I feel that they may have just added more fuel to the fire.
Why
is this you may ask?
The
statement from the club, which was issued an hour before kick-off last night,
was done in that way to show the Football Association, that they too can play
the same game. If you recall on New Year's
Eve, the FA Committee issued its written reasons for the earlier verdict as the
team were preparing for their game against Newcastle United. Whether there was anything in this, we will
never know, so I will let the conspiracy theorists make their own minds up here
- As far as I am I concerned, it was simply the last item to be dealt with by
the close of business, on that particular day.
The
statement from the club appeared to have been written in two parts, the first
of course was the club still denying that they felt Luis had done nothing
wrong. They also added to the already
highly fuelled fire, by stating that they felt conspiracies were at work within
the Football Association. I will admit
to feeling that myself sometimes, but in this case it is very hard to find out
where, because quite simply they have followed their own procedures and brought
in a highly qualified QC to ensure that the process was done in the right and
proper manner.
Now
that gentleman would not risk ruining his own eminent career by letting people
walk all over him. He had once hell of a
mess to sort out and in issuing a 115 page document that contained his and his
fellow panellist's views, he has done that.
It has not gone down very well with shall we say the feral idiotic
supporters of Liverpool Football Club, because as I said in my earlier blog,
their hero can do no wrong. Unfortunately
sometimes even a hero can make mistakes and Luis Suarez by using a word that is
deemed as abusive in the English Language, has done just that.
I
also believe that most of them have not read the report thoroughly enough to
understand the situation. As much as I
hate to say it, I get a feeling that perhaps several of those in the Public
Relations and Press departments at Liverpool Football Club, have also not
appeared to have studied the report in the way they should have. There is an awful lot at stake here, a player's
career, a manager's career and a major Premiership club's reputation. Reputations that will continue to be
tarnished until someone bites the bullet and says that one little word, that
will mean so much - Sorry.
The
second part of the club's statement brings up the fact that Liverpool Football
Club has made strides in their own campaign to kick Racism out of
Football. What they have done of course is
commendable and I am sure will continue.
It
also mentions very briefly the Racism issue in the United States. This, if you know your history has been a
major bug bear for that particular nation over several centuries and great
strides have been made to eradicate it over there. Which brings me to ask the question, where is
John Henry and Tom Werner, in all of this?
They are after all the club's owners and we need more than a reference
to America to prove to us that they are fully aware of the situation.
The
statement of course also told us, that Luis would start his eight match ban
that evening, which quite frankly at the moment, is the only right thing that
has happened. It will of course mean
that providing we can get past Oldham, he will be back for the clash against
Tottenham on February 6th. If
not it will be the game against Manchester United on February 11th. A game, that is now guaranteed to be a
battlefield on and off the pitch. Again
if that simple word with so much meaning - sorry - is issued, it will stop what
could quite possibly become a highly combustible situation.
We
now fast forward to the post-match interview after last night's game against
Manchester City - a game we lost because, although the team tried their best,
their minds were elsewhere. We also have
a striker who appears unable to do what he is supposed to- that though is a
story for another day.
Kenny
was, as expected fielded questions by the media about the statements that had
been issued. He did as, he always does
and handled the situation very well, but rather than put a lid on the affair -
relighted the glowing cinders by stating that things had gone on during the
hearing that none of us were privy too.
What he or the club need to do now is clarify what these are and should
be able to do so, unless they are prepared to take the situation by several
private prosecutions. The situation that
the club believes they now find themselves in would become a lot clear not only
to us the supporters but to all sections of the media, if this was done.
His
support for Luis is one of a father protecting his son - for want of a better
example. I can understand him doing
this, but due to the offence committed, I feel may be a little mis-guided,
unless of course, as I have said in the paragraph above, there is more too this
than meets the eye. We must remember here
that an offence has been committed and in any other walk of life, Luis's
contract would have been terminated immediately without any further comment.
Now
to Luis's statement and as a supporter of the club, I commend him for making
it. It is heart-wrenching to be honest, because
I feel that he still does not understand the severity of the situation. He has made a mistake and let's face it, we
all do. To help put that mistake right,
he must say sorry, even if it is through tightly clasped teeth.
What
Luis must now do is learn from that mistake and ensure that the use of words
that can be deemed as having different meanings in different languages in other
parts of the world.
He
must also now immerse himself in projects that will help rid of the world of
racism, not just the racism that still appears to exist in the sporting arena. This will help repair his tarnished image and
ensure that he can continue in his chosen career, because that has been damaged
quite possibly beyond repair unless as I have said throughout this article, he
utters that small word, that can mean so much, to so many people - Sorry.
I
will finish by saying that I have been a Liverpool supporter for nearly 48
years and it has if the truth be known, it has broken my heart to witness, what
I have witnessed over the last eight weeks.
We are now a club in turmoil once again. Supporters are fighting with
other supporters, because our views differ and that is something that the
arrival of Kenny Dalglish on the 8th January 2011was supposed to
have put an end too. We are also and I
hate to say this, going to witness the demise of a once great club because
there is a misguided belief that strange forces are at work, trying to destroy
something that they don't like.
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You too, like lots of journos seem to be missing something. Evra was complicit too. Two wrongs certainly don't make a right but the FA acted partisan in pursuing one part, Suarez's, and omitting Evra's part in the drama, ALL WITHOUT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE ACCUSER'S ALLEGATION.
Where would law be if one got charged merely by the word of another? It is what makes the FA look like a kangaroo court and where the crux of the matter might fall.
As to Suarez using such a word, I guess in all this furore we'll never really know, will we? The media labeled him racist before the hearing and it all got lost in the resultant noise.
I will take offense at use of "feral idiotic supporters of Liverpool Football Club". LFC fans are no fools, and support of a perceived injustice doesn't make them stupid. In this case it is patronizing in tone to be fair and honest.
The FA has goofed big time and it's hard to see them redeeming themselves. They've also made it hard to enjoy future North-West derbies. I'm disturbed people I expect objectivity from don't see the failure of this mock trial and the FA.
If this makes me one more feral idiotic supporters of Liverpool Football Club, then I wear the tag with pride.
The sham moralism of the British media on this issue has been shameful - and I didn't expect you to join in. It got its pound of flesh today - a token foreign player scapegoated to appease a collective skewed sense of self-righteousness in our reductive and binary cultural purview. But in reading the statements today you can tell Liverpool and Suarez wanted to fight but felt cornered by the media and a growing number of anti-racist groups that have not been looking at the events evenly. I'm sad that Liverpool capitulated such pressure but glad they made a firm rebuttal in both statements released.
The FA and national media (now including the Guardian) have been over-keen to paint a black and white image but are guilty of applying reductionalist thinking in forcing their will. It is not a triumph for anti-racism but a triumph for a sham moralist witch-hunt - and the descrimination and defamation of a foreign player. And all by an FA that espoused apartheid and ignored the vulgar English brand of racism for years. I think Suarez will leave England the first chance he gets - as you can hear the powerlessness in his statement and sense the singularity in the way he has been treated. Sadly, the capitulation that you have vehemently called for will solve nothing - the player will still be branded as a racist on the terraces - and neither statement will be received in good grace by the pharisees in the media. A hollow victory for the Fergie-tainted association and their toadies - who have now enabled players to be targeted and convicted on hearsay from here on.
The FA and the English media are guilty of the very thing the claim to rail against. Quite simply, it is not a righteous position to condone the skewing of evidence based upon character preferences, Convicting upon probabilities, treating witnesses unequally, condemning one player in an instance where both are alleged to trade insults, defaming one person's character, setting up a template for hearsay convictions, and completely ignoring the cultural and linguistic elements of a case between two foreign players. Also, where you to do a modicum of research on Luis Suarez you would that his character history and social work in this area is impeccable.
In the interest of fairness I would hope that you would have the good grace to publish this response in the comments but I fear for the sense of equity in today's British media. I am saddened that you have rushed to the populist and polarising sentiments concerning this case, not taking the time to look at the complications therein.
I can't say that i agree with a single word you've written.
I value your opinion, but quite simply don't share it.
I will refrain from getting into detail about all of the things you've stated, mostly because i'm keen to put these events behind, and because i have become fed up reading the huge amount of self righteous articles written by British media/people.
I will point however, simply as an observation to the information you may have missed when writing your article, that Luis Suarez has been, and currently is, involved in projects to help rid the world of racism.
Recently I had the chance to read the report in some detail, and I did so fearing the worst - that it would prove Suarez's guilt beyond a doubt, and if that was the case, not only should he serve an 8 match ban, the club should ship him out.
But, it didn't prove that. What it came down to was a significant number of points of contention where the panel agreed it could go either way. They could believe Evra's version, or they could believe Suarez's - albeit the latter much less succinctly expressed through a translator. On each of those counts, they systematically opted to take Evra's word for it while conceding that Suarez could well be right. That's not anywhere close to an ironclad finding that can decide a man's reputation and career. That's merely the same he-said-he-said argument protracted into 115 pages, with the panel essentially concluding "we believe Evra because he looked like a more impressive witness". So, nevermind the lack of concrete evidence, it's just an acting contest now? The more articulate witness wins? Perhaps if we hired a professional actor we could secure our own FA convictions on any charge we want.
I have never assumed Suarez's innocence, but nor have I ever assumed his guilt. And the report did nothing to change that. If you go by the facts in the report (nevermind whatever info we were 'not privy to'), you have to conclude that the evidence is inconclusive. Not enough to hang a reputation on. But the FA had to rule one way or the other, and conspiracy-theory or not, it was always easier to justify a ruling against Suarez rather than have to face up to the vilification and media furor that would surround them if they let an accused racist go.
I was hoping to get some closure on the case after the report came out. Either he's innocent and let him go. Or evidence shows he's guilty and sadly he shouldn't be allowed to put on the Liverpool shirt again. But in the end we got a different type of closure - inconclusive evidence, but the FA chooses to assign guilt anyway because Evra was a 'more impressive' witness - and LFC must either suck it up or risk dragging Suarez and the club through the mud for another 6 months. That's a pity.
The 'judgement' was nothing of the sort - as a detailed scrutiny of its one-sided interpretation of every aspect of the episode demonstrates so manifestly.
Rather it was an adversarial submission driven - as one would expect of such a one-eyed document - by a QC steeped in the art of being adversarial.
Who better to batten down the anti-racist hatch? Had the FA desired real impartiality they'd have appointed anyone other than a QC.
As it was, the report had but one design which was to justify the pre-determined decision of the FA to find Luis Suarez culpable of racist related behaviour to make example of him for all the world to behold how racism is dealt with in this country.
The Uruguayan street colloquialism term 'negro' [pronounced negg-roe] as distinct from the English term 'negro' [pronounced knee-grow] has no racist connotations whatsoever. In the context used by a Uruguayan from Suarez's neck of the woods it is the equivalent of an Englishman using the term 'lad' or 'pal'. It can be benign or assertive/aggressive.
As for the FA representation of the host of alleged slurs 'heard' by Evra - utterly risible and groundless. But who needs actual evidence to destroy a man's reputation when an agenda deemed immeasurably more pressing needs driving home.
And so the sole evidence as to what transpired that can be gleaned from the video evidence is wantonly overlooked. Despite it being clearly evident that Evra was the aggressor and Suarez was his target. Or that, following this hassling of Suarez, there was no actual 'explosive' reaction from Evra to indicate a racial slur. Merely a continuation of the same hassling that he had wilfully initiated - to demand an answer we are led to believe as to why Suarez had "kicked" him 5 minutes earlier. Suarez had but one objective which was to get as far away from the United man as he could. When the referee called them together there was no indication from Evra that he's been racially abused.
So when did the abuse the Commission have deemed a fact actually take place?
I think any truly fair minded person knows the answer to that. It's another word beginning with 'N' but not remotely racist.
Poor article. Basicly the same nonsense spouted by every hypocrite journo in England. Excellent comments though and for those I say thank you! It's good to find some sensible people in this world gone mad.
The only thing the 115 page report proved was that there was no evidence whatsoever against Suarez.
The main question is probably how is it possible that 45,000 people including Evra's team mates who stood a few feet away and dozens of cameras missed the alleged five, seven or more than ten times Luis Suarez racially abused Evra? Occam's razor, anyone? The simplest explanation is that it never happened.
Why should the "sorry" word be used/issued ? There is no need for that. LFC will not demise as mentioned by you because it will still be there eventhough we die of old age. There are millions of LFC supporters around the world and even if it is in financial need in future, the supporters/fans around the world will support it financially. All the team need to do is to win trophies for the club and fans. The British media has been biaised and and so is the FA. LFC motto is "YNWA" and if any so called supporters/fans feel so strongly about the issue then they can leave and support Manchester United instead.
I think it's you who should be saying sorry.
Terrible article.
The previous comments posted have told you why.
No need for me to elaborate.
Reading the comments here made me proud to be a Liverpool FC supporter.The true voice of the LFC fan base;intelligent,articulate and fair-minded;rings out loud and clear.The same cannot be said for the article or its author.
You seem to be missing a fundamental understanding: When you plead guilty, you say sorry, when you plead not guilty, you don't - otherwise you are admitting guilt, and why would he admit guilt if he believed he had not said anything racially motivated?
Yes, he said sorry for using the word, if it caused offence to anyone in general - and you could include evra in that - but to make a personal apology to a lying scumbag like evra would be too much - when you believe you are innocent.
If you go to court, people who plead guilty will often say sorry, as it helps to mitigate the sentence, but for those who plead not guilty but are found guilty, having to serve a sentence is bad enough without saying sorry for something you haven't done. evra lied, and Luis was found guilty on probability alone.
I'm glad he never said sorry to evra and I hope he never does.
Information is power and now I'm a !@#$ing dcitator.