I’m going to start this by admitting something I very rarely say – there are some things in this world I don’t know anything about, many of them very important. For information about these things I have to rely on journalists, I need to read what they write, listen to what they say and have faith that they are knowledgeable enough about the subject not to mislead me.
Reading about Luis Suarez’ diabolical act of cheating that has tarnished the FA Cup in The Independent has worried me. One of the things I am actually clued up on is football. I know that when a ball bounces up at a players arm from less than two yards and the player makes a motion with his arm in an attempt to move said limb out of the path of the ball it is accidental handball. To state that Suarez entered the field of play with diabolical intent is simply untrue.
There are two possibilities. Either the writer doesn’t know enough about football to recognise an accidental handball (which isn’t an offence, despite a widely accepted trend over recent years to penalise such an occurrence if it significantly benefits the ‘guilty’ party). Or the writer has chosen to deliberately misrepresent the facts. I don’t see how somebody could rise to such a position at such a famous publication without a basic knowledge of the rules of football, leaving only the second option. This is what concerns me. If I know that a journalist is deliberately writing sensationalistic, headline grabbing inaccuracies about one incident, how can I be sure it isn’t happening when I read about subjects I’m not as well versed on?
The general media reaction to Suarez’ goal on Sunday has been pretty appalling, even the TV weathergirl has given her opinion on it, saying he should have admitted it. Firstly, if the handball was an accident (which as I’ve already stated it clearly was) then there’s nothing to admit to. Secondly, who wouldn’t accept that goal for their team? Fair play to the Mansfield manager who happily accepted that had his team scored such a goal he wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
Suarez has had his critics (ok, maybe that’s a slight understatement) and one of the things levelled at him is his refusal to accept the decision of the official on occasion, and now they are saying he should walk up to the referee and tell him he got it wrong. We’re all taught a couple of things growing up playing football, play to the whistle, and the ref’s decision is final. Suarez adhered to this, he did nothing wrong. Though the Mansfield goalkeeper did say something quite noteworthy, he accused a striker of SMILING WHEN HE SCORED A GOAL. Shock, horror, what’s the world coming to?
So far this season Suarez has been tripped in the penalty area by Jonny Evans, pulled by Per Mertesacker, assaulted by a Norwich defender (sorry, name forgotten), stamped on by Robert Huth, played onside by the entire Everton defence and been given nothing. At no point has anybody suggested any of these players should have told the ref they’d wronged the Uruguayan. What is often said after incidents such as these is ‘these things even themselves up over the season’, in which case Sunday was only the first of a series of contentious calls that will go in our number seven’s favour. The suggestion that he should have spoken to the ref because it was Mansfield is patronising and condescending, saying that it’s a small club having their day in the sunshine who should be treated as a special case. The fact that Suarez took the goal so happily is probably the biggest compliment that could be paid to the outstanding performance of our non league opposition and the fight they put up against us. Mansfield acted with class from the second the draw was made and deserve much praise for their conduct, and that of their manager post match.
Peter Crouch scored a goal for Stoke against Man City not long back where he clearly handled the ball more than once and it caused very little outcry, despite the fact that his manager has appointed himself moral guardian of football in recent months. John Terry cleared the ball from well behind the line for England in the Euros, nobody said he should have told the ref the ball was over the line. The list of dubious incidents that players could have aided referees with is endless, the calls for honesty from players have only emerged today because it involves public enemy number one, had it been any other player it would hardly get a mention.
I started this piece with the intention of defending Luis Suarez, but the more I think about it the more I realise I’ve nothing to actually defend him for. Our next fixture is at Old Trafford at the weekend and 100% of supporters for both sides would take a winning goal scored in exactly the same fashion as the one yesterday without a moment’s hesitation.
I’ve now seen Luis Suarez called a cancer on the game and a diabolical cheat by people in positions where they should know better, if that isn’t going more than slightly over the top then what is? I’ve asked before and I’ll ask again – will anybody who’s team has actually lost points due to Suarez cheating please tell me the incident? I’m not saying he’s an angel, but I honestly don’t recall Liverpool winning a game in which he’s deliberately bent the rules to his advantage. But I do recall several matches where Liverpool have dropped points as a result of incorrect decisions against him. If this season is going to see things evened up then we’ve got plenty more controversy to come.
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