When a player at any world event, be it a world championship, or in this case, the World Cup, attacks another sportsman [or woman] the vitriol that usually follows is intense, both from the fans and from the media. So when we see Liverpool and Uruguay striker, Luis Suarez, being fined such a pitiful amount and banned for the rest of the World Cup and the first few matches of the new season, we sit and wonder just where the FIFA board’s sense of outrage has gone. It seems that they have become a toothless monster in exactly the opposite guise of the player in question.
Fans across the world, using their social media freedoms, are expressing their disgust at Luis Suarez. Even die hard Liverpool fans are saying he should now leave the UK so that the club can retain their sense of corporate identity in the face of adverse media pressure that will inevitably follow once the new season begins. But there are some fans out there who are calling for Suarez to be banned forever in this game he plays and they are using five reasons for his immediate dismissal from the game.
The first is that FIFA have to consider the shame of his actions, both nationally and for his team [Liverpool FC]. And as much as fans’ outrage is calling for the player’s dismissal from the ranks of world football, one has to see that this indeed, could be a possibility. He has shamed his national side on more than one occasion and for them to continue to use his services seems to be something that is incomprehensible to some. But on the other hand, it can be argued that Liverpool FC have nothing to do with Suarez’s actions when he puts that Uruguay shirt on, so why should they suffer for his actions in a shirt that is not theirs? And I would agree with that assessment and question.
But the second reason why he should be banned for life is that he is now bringing the game into disrepute. Yes, he was playing in the national side, but it should not matter who he is playing for. Even if he was taking part in a testimonial and he lost his temper at a defender, he should still keep his actions to a minimum, and taking his teeth to another player’s body, something he has done before now, is not the way to deal with personal conflict on the pitch. If he had just done this once, then it would be a sorry mistake, but to then do it again is totally unjustifiable. To bite and to then sit on the floor, holding one’s own teeth, to try and lie yourself out of a situation you have just put yourself in, is nothing more than cowardice and shows him for the cheat that he is and always has been! We all remember the earlier World Cup fiasco!
The third reason he should be banned for life is simple; he has not learnt from the last time. Punishments and fines are there for a reason. They are there to deter the perpetrator from doing what they have done, again. This is not the first time he has failed to hold up the pride of that pale blue shirt. This is not the first time he has made Uruguay look terrible as a footballing nation. And it is not the first time either, where FIFA has had to deal with him. Fans across the world, who are supporting all manner of teams, are calling for the end to his career. Their anger is justified. Perhaps, it will be the only thing that will stop Luis Suarez?
But the fourth reason for him being banned is perhaps the most important one; he is now a flawed role model to those youngsters who idolise him. In his role as player of the year, he is looked up to by numerous amounts of young fans as the epitome of the beautiful game, the way to play, the way to be the killer striker, but this image has always been flawed. If the game is to attract young, quality players of this ilk then it needs to coach them in ways that teach that these actions of Luis Suarez, are wrong for any player! Having him still playing after late October simply shows you can do anything and then come back.
The final reason why he should be banned for the rest of his life, from any football activity, is that FIFA needs to set a precedent for his and others’ actions in the future. Only when young footballers see that actions like this will result in completely punitive actions from the governing bodies will we see more fairness in the game, players of the calibre of Suarez being controlled on and off the pitch and a sense of the rules set in place actually meaning something. A precedent needs to be set now and if that means a total ban on Luis Suarez, then so be it!
Source: DSG
